Receiving favourable coverage in the business press is about showing credible company momentum - being clear about what you are selling to whom, why, and demonstrating that the client is effectively executing on their strategy.
For larger public companies - and their agencies engaged in investor relations, it’s reasonably cut and dry if your PR currency is audited.
The cycle of quarterly results represents an opportunity to prove growth, or progress in a time of change.
But this option isn’t open to startups. Often the key metrics available to PR come from the acquisition of new clients or customers, or funding rounds. Both of which represent a news hook and proof of growth.
For a smaller, private company, there’s no way to independently verify facts. The temptation for clients to play a little fast and loose with data is big: particularly when the metrics are funding rounds and user acquisitions which are hard to verify.
Journalists are of course required to verify facts. In Campaign magazine, for instance, when a creative or media client wins a new piece of business - the magazine requires an email from the client to confirm the size of the media spend - but I wonder how robustly data fact checking is done in the tech startup world - particularly given the pressure on journalists to land exclusives.
Take social media metrics for example, it wasn't until Facebook declared they had more millennial users in North America than actually existed that people started raising eyebrows. Nor is there any way of verifying how many of their user accounts are fake or inactive. Even now, estimates range from 5-20%. We just have to take their word for it.
So, if this issue is there at a company as large as Facebook, then what about others?
Similarly, the classic funding round story of ‘an investment of £X values a company at £Y’ - such a hook communicates credible company growth, but how can you be sure?
Bottom line: this puts the onus on the PR to ensure the client is behaving ethically - and to be sure that the facts you’re giving to journalists are correct. Seek confirmation from investors and internal teams to ensure that the data is kosher.
Both your reputation and that of the journalist are at stake; PRs have as much of a duty to be as diligent with fact-checking as the journalists themselves.