PR Hot Seat: How shy founders can make friends with PR
The following Q&A is from PR Hot Seat, our new advice newsletter. The questions we’re answering are real—we’ve been collecting them for a while—but for obvious reasons, the questioners are anonymous.
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“Can shy founders do PR?”
Sandra: Yes! Maybe don’t start with on-camera interviews, but there are a lot of things you can do in advance to tamp down your nerves about interviews for online and print outlets:
- Look at the kinds of questions other founders in your field are getting and practice answering them with someone else playing the role of reporter. (Tell them not to go easy on you.)
- Make sure you are briefed on a reporter before talking with them—what their background is, what kinds of stories they write, how familiar they are likely to be with your topic. That will help you tailor your answers appropriately and feel more comfortable. Context is always important and if you know the reporter’s “world,” you’ll be more adept in the interview.
- Focus on why you’re dedicating untold hours to your company. When you’re talking about something that excites you, you’ll be animated and maybe forget about yourself just a bit.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to have a hypnotic personality; you just have to have something compelling to say or information the reporter needs.
A savvy PR pro can help you feel prepared and confident. And the more interviews you do, the easier it will get.
Sarah: This is a great question! And funny, I assumed a PR person was asking this about a founder, so I’m answering it from that perspective.
In general, a shy founder can participate in PR and do so pretty effectively because having a “face” for the company’s story is only one element of the total PR mix. It’s also possible that another person can take on the role of being the primary interviewee.
Shy founders, especially of companies with new technologies, are often quite brilliant and articulate engineers, scientists and other nerdy folk. I’ve mostly found their egos to be largely in check, with good awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses. And, very valuably, this kind of shy founder is a goldmine when it comes to certain aspects of PR: They are instrumental to understanding the company’s tech breakthrough and translating it into vital messaging. They are also usually the top expert to work with a skilled PR team on bylined articles for trade outlets, which will burnish the company’s reputation.
With a shy founder, my best advice is to see what they’re comfortable doing; coax them along but never take them out of their comfort zone. Find other leaders who are dedicated to the company (meaning they aren’t about to bounce for greener grass) to take on the external-facing role, and be sure to maximize all the other assets in your toolbox.
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