The ultimate guide to PR | Emilie Gerber (founder of Six Eastern)

Emilie Gerber is the founder and CEO of Six Eastern, a top PR agency that’s worked with over 100 tech companies, from stealth startups to publicly traded companies. Before starting her own firm, she worked at Uber, where she led PR for the business development team and B2B programs. Prior to that, she worked at Box on product communications, with a focus on product launches and partnership announcements. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why, and when, getting press is worth your time • Common misconceptions about the impact press can have • The second-order effects of press • Which areas each publication (TechCrunch, Axios, The Verge, etc.) cares most about • How to craft your pitch • How to find and reach reporters • How pitching press is different from pitching customers • The effectiveness of direct communication through social media versus traditional press — Brought to you by: • Sprig—Build a product people love: https://sprig.com/getstarted?utm_source=lenny&utm_medium=podcast • Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/ • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-pr-emilie-gerber Where to find Emilie Gerber: • Substack: http://onbackgroundintel.substack.com • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilie-gerber-59612230/ • Website: https://sixeastern.com/ • Email: hello@sixeastern.com Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Emilie’s background (04:56) The value of press and second-order effects (12:57) When press is not worth your time (17:01) Different publications and their suitability (25:36) Avoiding negative stories (27:23) Finding aligned podcasts and awards (30:55) Advice for reaching out to reporters (37:23) Controversial pitches (41:16) Avoiding category creation (43:26) Examples of pitches that have worked well (52:35) Pitching to Lenny (55:42) Effective pitching strategies (57:44) Improving pitch announcements (01:03:01) Press releases (01:07:06) Crafting a compelling story (01:09:41) Traditional press vs. newsletters, podcasts, and social media (01:12:43) Building a social media presence (01:17:54) How to get a Morning Brew feature (01:19:32) Advice on choosing a PR agency (01:22:25) Timing and budget for PR (01:25:31) Lightning round Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.