Awesome People - Ep 62
Awesome People - Ep 62
Media, PR, comms, content, coaching
Hi fellow founders and VC Friends!
Each week we deliver one awesome person to your inbox. These are the people you need to know—the marketers, sales gurus, engineers, ops wizzes— who give your startup superpowers 🚀. The best part is, everyone is hireable on a part-time basis.
Please meet Evan, Your Freelance PR & Content Pro 🤩
Evan is loved by Ustream (acquired for $100M+), Frontdesk (Series A hospitality co that’s raised $10M+), the producers of Netflix original shows, Endeavor (a leading talent agency, hi Ari Emanuel!), and others. He’s helped clients hit #1 on iTunes and secure venture funding. My favorite thing about Evan is his out-of-the-box creative thinking. Case and point: he worked on a campaign with Polaroid and Lady Gaga at the Consumer Electronics Show! Fun fact about Evan: he’s friends with the real-life Santa Claus 😂.
You can hire Evan to help your company tell its story across digital and traditional media. He can spearhead your public relations, own your social media initiatives, and drive visibility via content and digital media.
Need help telling your company’s story with content and social media? Respond to this email and I’ll intro you!
Evan was gracious enough to share some pro-tips with us here 🚀
Plan to go big
Did you know that one of the most popular live streams in Internet history started off as a baby-cam for two busy dog parents? The Puppy Cam streamers first used Ustream as a way to watch their dogs while working in the office.
When I was at Ustream and saw the Puppy Cam in 2008, I knew it had the potential to go viral. I started working on partnerships to promote the stream at scale.
Within a few weeks, we had over 3 million viewers and its first features in major news outlets. Eventually, Ustream landed features in TODAY, Reuters, the New York Times, CNN, NBC, NPR, and more. It became a household name thanks to widespread syndication of a small litter of Shiba Inu puppies.
Syndicating your content on other publications is a great way to increase your exposure. It’s free and cheap advertising that generates new traffic at scale.
Plan to go big and cast a wide net on day 1. Have faith in your story and don’t be afraid to promote it. This mindset has helped me with Snoop Dogg’s Puff Puff Pass Tuesday, Lady Gaga’s Consumer Electronics Show event, and even President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Consistency is key
At I Wear Your Shirt, every day a different client would pay us to wear their brand on a shirt. We wore shirts for a living and shared fresh photos, videos, and written content on social media 365 days a year.
We had over 1,500 clients. Our content became part of our viewers’ daily routines. That power came from our consistency. People want your content. Plan well in advance and deliver.
Use content to establish your brand voice and tools to help
When it comes to marketing and PR, it’s all about your content, content channels, and content calendars. Create a few pieces of highly-produced, well-planned pieces of content to help set the stage for your company. This video from the team at Frontdesk is a great example of a polished marquee piece with good production quality.
In addition to these marquee pieces, create and schedule supplementary posts in advance. Someone on your team should be thinking about how to share updates every day. Yes, every day. Many teams forget to share their content because they’re “too busy,” but this step is key.
Julia’s side note: I’ve definitely been guilty of this, including never sharing this newsletter 😅. Evan is 💯 right here!
Pro tip: use a tool like Sprout Social to manage your content calendar and social media.
Many platforms make you use and publish the same copy/image across all social channels. With Sprout Social, you have full control over your content and can do things like:
Customize your posts for each social platform
Assign appropriate tags for each channel
Set and schedule the posts for different publication times
Looking for some PR, Comms, or Content Help? Respond to this email and I’ll connect you!
As always, let me know if you have any questions and if you want an intro to any of the folks in this email (including the PS section 🎉).
Stay awesome,
Founder of Awesome People Talent & Awesome People Ventures (join the syndicate)
If you liked this, ❤️ it below. If someone forwarded this to you, sign up here 💌
Perks and Products 🎁
Level up your leadership skills
Brian Wang is one of the best executive coaches in the business. He’s trusted by startups backed by a16z, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures, 500 Startups, and Y Combinator. He specializes in accelerating leadership skills.
Brian runs Dashing Leadership, an executive coaching service to help founders become high-performing leaders.
He kindly offered our community 10% off his company’s Leadership Transformation Group, a facilitated peer group where startup leaders grow their interpersonal skills through self-awareness and relational practice. Think part support group, part mastermind, part group therapy, and all parts community. Learn more about the program here!
Help make Awesome People better
Wahooo!!! We have a special surprise coming in 1-2 weeks. It may or may not involve a better way to find part-time talent 😉
Do you love copywriting, words, and giving website feedback? If so, we’d love your feedback on a new MVP site before we launch. Respond to this email and we’ll email you a link for feedback by EOW 🚀
Launch Your Consulting Career (or Side Hustle) ✨
The future of work is here! And I'm all about it!
Want to be your own boss? Work from the beach? Flexible hours? Yasssss! Me too!
Last year we launched our first-ever talent accelerator to help people start consulting! In 7 days people went from dreaming of being their own boss to live client calls. We've now helped over 100 people launch their consulting careers!
Later this year we'll be running another cohort. The program will cost $1750 and I'll personally guarantee that you'll make back your investment in 60 days (if not, I'll give you a full refund).
Click here if you're interested in joining this small group. There's no payment or commitment yet. This is just letting me know that you're interested in learning more about the course when the time comes 🙏
Part-Time Opportunities 👀
Part-time Head of Comms for OfficeTogether - OfficeTogether is here to make hybrid-remote work successful. We met via multiple trusted friends in the On Deck community. They are looking for a Head of Communications to drive leads, own social media, and create meaningful content. The team raised $2.2M from Defy VC, January Ventures, and former Sequoia partner Amy Sun. Jump on now, they’re ready to 🚀
If these roles are a fit for you, or anyone you know, let me know and we’ll make the connections!
Most Recent Awesome People 🙏
Jeff - ‘Jeff of all trades’ designer. Think of him as the freelance designer who can work closely with your teams when you need an extra expert on hand. Jeff is trusted by Google, REQ, The Knot, Via, Amazon Publishing, PayPal, and more. He once worked on a Google campaign featuring Lizzo!
Michelle - Executive assistant queen. Michelle is the founder and CEO of Squared Away, a network of military spouses turned EAs. They already work with a few of my besties, including Cee Cee Shnugg (Boom Capital) and Chaz Flexman (Forward Foods, ex-a16z & ex-Pattern Brands).
Katy and Sarah - Design gurus. Katy and Sarah run a design firm focused on healthcare and wellness startups. They were recently featured on Adobe Live and were recommended to Awesome People by the CEO of Webflow.
Want intros to anyone here? Lmk and I’ll connect you!
❤️ ❤️ ❤️