What it’s like leading Comms and PR at Google, YouTube, and Khan Academy
Kate Mason is a communications and PR trailblazer and proof that there’s more to tech than just programming or being a business guru! Kate spent her career to date running GLOBAL Comms and PR at tech companies Google (in Sydney) and YouTube, Medium, and Khan Academy (in Silicon Valley). She’s also got a PhD in English from UNSW and is an advisor at AirTree Ventures, one of the biggest VC firms in Australia. Since returning to Sydney, Kate has founded her own boutique communications firm Hedgehog + Fox. We asked her all about PR and Comms and her career to date!
Working in Comms in the tech world:
Q: Does marketing or brand management become easier at the global/ big-tech level (due to the existing brand) or is there much more at stake?
I think there are always challenges at any level. Most brands always feel they have a lot to lose — either they’re the new upstart, who doesn’t want to put a foot wrong, or a well-established company trying to reinvigorate themselves. So maybe a better way to say it is that:
There’s always something at stake: it just changes as a company grows.
A well-established brand seems like it would have an easier time of it — everyone knows you! But that can backfire if, for example, the company is seen as being boring or has had issues: then you have to focus on re-branding and helping the market to see a new version of the company.
Q: How do PR & Communications roles differ from traditional media & communications roles in media publications companies (e.g. Nine Publishing)?
There isn’t really any such thing as a “traditional” PR role — whether you’re in media, or aviation (for example), the purpose and goal of PR and comms are usually the same: to get my product some attention. However, the activities are going to be widely contrasting.
PR can be really different depending on a lot of different factors: are you in a crisis-driven environment or industry (say tobacco? Petroleum/oil? Pharmaceuticals?) or are you doing publicity for a celebrity or entertainment brand or a tech startup? Public relations can span a huge remit and can be a different beast depending on your business, product, and industry.
Most PR and comms roles require strong strategic chops, the ability to help shape and influence your executive team’s perspective on an issue, hyper-strong people skills both and outside of the company, and an ability to think and communicate on your feet very quickly. And if you can learn to prioritise and balance hundreds of different things at once, that will stand you in great stead.
Q: Are there any similarities/differences between the PR and comms role and Growth Marketing roles at startups?
Yes, PR and Growth Marketing usually both report to a Head of Marketing in smaller companies — it’s usually later in a company’s growth that comms will split out into its own function and report into a VP of Comms. Really, they’re just different ways of conveying your primary company messaging and branding.
The traditional differentiator between PR and marketing is that PR is unpaid placement in the media, i.e. convincing a reporter to write on your product. Marketing is about paying to get the message to your consumers, through advertising, online influencers etc. I say traditional because that boundary has shifted over the past five years or so, with things like paid editorial becoming more popular on the PR side of the ledger.
The other differentiator is that marketing is usually 100% proactive: everything you launch in marketing is intentional and to push forward your own agenda. Depending on the company, PR can very often by reactive, responding to a crisis, correcting an issue or working on background to change the tone of coverage. Often a big PR win for a team is *not* getting a story published, which is counter-intuitive.
Q: What are the most important piece of communications and PR advice startups and tech companies should take note of?
It is never too early to think about your narrative and talk to people in the space about how you’ll position yourself. It’s much easier to do that straight off the bat, rather than to try to play catch up. I see too many startups coming to me after there’s been a misunderstanding or missed opportunity, and if they’d spent more time on narrative strategy earlier, that wouldn’t be the case.
Tips for ambitions students:
Kate working with Waymo (Google’s autonomous vehicle project) through Hedgehog + Fox
Q: What is one piece of advice would you give to students who are studying media, communications, or marketing degrees and thinking of working in the tech or startup space?
Go for it! I think tech is one of the more exciting and fast-paced environments you could work in, and startups even more so. Your roles will be so broad and your autonomy is unparalleled.
Q: What advice would you give to young women aspiring towards leadership positions?
The same as I’d give men :) And that is:
Worry less about getting promoted and spend your energy working on an interesting range of projects and producing really high-quality work.
Your breadth of experience and your ability to get things done to a really high standard will speak far louder to managers than anything else, and if you’re in a good workplace, will result in promotion anyway. A lot of people mistake being busy or working hard for producing good results: they don’t always overlap!
Q: After your success in Silicon Valley heading up Comms and PR at global tech companies, why did you choose to come back to Australia to start your own thing?
Working in Silicon Valley for five years, I saw there was a big gap in the market for strategic messaging. Lots of firms do PR, but very few did deep-dives on the narratives themselves, and even fewer help establish powerful positioning for a company across PR, marketing, hiring, BD — every growth area.
I wanted to build a business that focuses on helping companies tell incredible stories, and then work with founders so that they can present those stories in a confident and compelling way.
My passion lies in both the strategy of creating a message or position and then in teaching great presentation skills to articulate that message publicly. I always saw the company as an international one — the fact that we’re based in Sydney almost doesn’t matter to the founders we work with, who are in the US, Asia and Australia. (On a personal note, I wanted my kids to grow up in Australia near our extended families, so it made sense to base the company here.)
This piece was written by Nitika Midha of Textbook Ventures. We organise startup events, write newsletters and cater exciting activities for student entrepreneurs across NSW.
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