How to work as an IT PR specialist and why your boss doesn't have to be Steve Jobs
Judging by recent events, the technology agenda is becoming number one in all news feeds. This applies not only to the play with the main character, whose name is Telegram, but also to all sorts of seriousness of articles on artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and big data. Journalists spend a lot of time searching for disturbing stories about how someone vomited after completing another VR game. Therefore, in IT, PR managers greedy for hot topics came running. Perhaps they called us, but only as an outsider, able to explain to ordinary people how to use the application to automatically turn on the multicooker. Nevertheless, the founders and employees of technology companies suffer from great intelligence and need those who can simply and briefly explain the essence of the product to potential customers, investors and the media.But everyone forgets about the good old conflict between techies and humanities, which is especially acute when a very confident representative of the communication elite tries to use standard methods of attracting attention. Therefore, all appearances in IT are similar to each other. People are sitting around, analyzing the speeches of Steve Jobs from the series “Stay Hungry, Stay Reckless”. On habr.com, by the way, it is also there. But no one can even imagine that he will interact with such a guy as Richard Hendricks from Silicon Valley, from whom he directly expresses confidence and recklessness. No need to get upset and run away in search of a new leader. There are some simple tips to make your time in the IT company more meaningful and effective.
User stories or just add water
Do not aggravate the situation and do not try to come up with something extraordinary so that your founder does not have painfully difficult to wade through too original and most often hypocritical epithets describing the product. Instead, describe the functionality of the service, its distinguishing features and “pain”. What is pain? This is a description of the problem you are hoping to solve with your product. It looks best in a household case. Tell us how the employees of one of the banks terribly long and dreary collected comments about their work on sites, forums and social networks. They cried, looked for mentions, cried again and did not understand how to analyze the entire flow of information knocking down their feet. But then you appeared. Not quite experienced, not really communicative, but very diligent, not wanting to get profit, but to improve the world a little. It's enough.Turn on emotions
Not a single article, speech or negotiation should go without an emotional connotation. As described earlier, you need to convince people that there is a problem, it is common and very spoils work or life. Inside IT, they are used to using facts, but it should be recognized that it is the hottest discussions that are emotionally charged.
Many of us remember by heart the songs or quotes from the movie that we watched ten years ago, but only rare birds recall the moments of the working meeting a week ago. Even if there were many, a lot of facts and graphs. It is worth remembering only one thing. We sell the idea and sell it to people, and people do not like diagrams, at least most of them. Write about the product in a fun and interesting way.Personification
The technology works in two directions. The first thing to do is to stop putting pressure on the boss and try to enroll him in a circle on stage speech, and then get him to lead a stylistically thoughtful instagram. We, small humanities, are used to working for the public, but demonstrative being does not have to please your founder. There is nothing wrong. Just sit in a quiet office and carefully consider the promotion tools and select the most comfortable social networks.
And the instagram will wait, although it is quite possible that your kitty Frontend developer takes excellent photos and will be happy to post posts with beautiful cacti and backlit keyboards. The second point, no longer associated with the persona of the boss, concerns the definition of their audience. Of course, the great creator of the software product wanted to spit on some strangers, but no one has canceled the market rules. Alan Cooper, the so-called "father of Visual Basic", long ago formulated a concept by which the developer should determine the average user of the system. The essence of the concept is that if you want to develop effective software, then it must be designed for a specific person. The idea is true for advancement.Strong base
You do not need to frantically send out press releases using huge Excel spreadsheets, although this is not so bad at first. Focus on communicating with existing customers and try to make their life as easy as possible.
Explain the functionality of the service, do newsletters with updates and do not forget to call and listen interestedly about problems. It is empathy that will make you a good employee in the IT field, because there is often not enough sympathy and sincere interest in ordinary users here. It is necessary to establish feedback between the client and the developer to see all the problems and shortcomings of your product. Do not forget about the strategy. Gather with colleagues and think a little about what values and messages you would like to convey to your customers, where you are striving and what your main goal is.And as the creators of the ruthless PR man say, PR is love. Therefore, love your colleagues and clients and do not try to change them.
