How I became a fixed entity in the German startup landscape in 2 weeks

There are many ways to draw attention to your company using the internet. Naturally, the best ways tend to be less obvious. After a short brainstorming session in November of 2011, FastBill Startup Tour became a reality and we began to come up with a strategy. We had two cameras, strong motivation, and a wide-variety of questions. We visited 30 startups and looked at their highs and lows.

Why? PR is an important part of any business and is often diminished by labels like “unseen short term benefits” and “value is immeasurable.” It is a huge mistake; PR has long-term profit, as it is charged with the crucial task of establishing the company via a certain image to a target group. PR can be the reason why a customer likes a brand or not.

In particular, PR should not be misunderstood or disvalued in regard to the writing and publishing of press releases. This is yet another piece of the greater puzzle; however, how to have great PR and how to manage it is not a part of this article. We can only strongly say that PR is key to the sustainable success of any company. The example of the FastBill Startup Tour should show you that PR is both practical and cost efficient.

The topic We did interviews during home visits with 30 companies in 12 cities. We wanted to provide detailed insight into the German startup scene; and, with this information, grab interest with the largest audience. We knew the knowledge gleaned would be interesting to each founder, but might be difficult if experienced personally.

It should always be authentic, real! The interviews were thus kept unscripted and raw. “Keep it just the camera” was our motto.

We did not opt for high-production bells and whistles because we wanted to quickly, personally weed through the information in order to get it out through the blog (which included a GPS tracker to allow everyone to follow it). We shot our 30-minute visits with the startups, edited at the hotel or in the car, and uploaded it on YouTube. From 20–30 minutes of material came spots around 4–10 minutes. Like we said — authentic and real.

Something special Create exclusive content that matters! We wanted to establish FastBill as a solid brand in the German startup landscape and used this mantra to do it. In retrospect, we did this well and at a high quality level. The videos were ideal for distribution via social networks (YouTube, Facebook, etc.) and that exposure allowed for a wide range of viewers. We’ve been pleasantly surprised over the following two years to often hear at events, “Hey, you are the Startup Tour people, right?” Perfect! We set the stage and had brand recognition.

What did it bring us? In addition to the visibility generated, the FastBill Startup Tour 2011 was a nice contrast to the monotony of everyday work. We had fun while maintaining crucial relationships and further networking, meeting people behind the stories and names. It was an inspiring experience and would have been worth it, even without the amazing PR we generated.

During the tour, we learned a great deal about what other founders tried and also how they measure their success. If I was given two phrases to boil it all down, I’d say “long-term belief in the product” and “team.” Additionally the basic fun and enjoyment plays an essential role in many startups. A few quotes that have struck me are found here (INSERT: FastBill Blog)

Range How far-reaching exactly was the impact of this project? To interpret the numbers, we have to consider the principle of proportionality. FastBill, at the time, was virtually unknown. In addition, our theme was “Accounting,” which is not exactly, let’s be honest, viral or sexy. In spite of the challenges, the impact was noticeable.

The hard numbers (According to Google Analytics)

• In the TourBlog (no longer online) 5245 first-time visitors, with over 12,000 page views.
• On the homepage for fastbill.com (in addition to the blog) daily hits from 400 and 1000 visitors.
• In YouTube Channel (still available) almost 17,000 hits with more than 14,000 minutes of playback time. That is almost 50 seconds per user, which is a big deal!

The most important thing, and this is crucial, our project is still in peoples’ heads. Every day, founders talk to me about their projects and know about FastBill through the Tour. Our T -shirt campaign with the slogan “Chuck Norris does not need a office …”(see picture on the right menu) is frequently worn by attendees at events, and to this day continues to be both a conversation starter and an eye-catcher.

No matter what, the Startup Tour was a success, especially given our conditions at the time. We did the entire project with a budget of 2500 Euro (INSERT: the costs are itemized here) These costs were all justifiable. Beside the face-to-face interaction, we interacted with countless more people via social networks and valuable Backlinks, for example MyTaxi. Even if the achieved growth had not been there, which it was, the media coverage propelled FastBill forward as a brand. Invaluable.

Is it possible to mimic this project? It is definitely possible to launch a similar project for other startups. The most important thing is having new and unusual approaches and ideas behind the project. Have you already conducted a successful PR campaign? Cool! I’m looking for your next great idea.

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Originally published at en.letsseewhatworks.com on April 11, 2014.