The crypto and blockchain industry is one that's entirely online-based, which means it needs a strong web presence. Positive media engagement can position this business as an influential voice within its sector; however, effective public relations might be key for positioning them well with investors or new customers without having to spend money on advertising.
Today, we have with us Michael Hummel, Founder of Establish PR. He explains the importance of effective Public Relations and shares his journey from being a team of 1 person to a rapidly growing company of 20+ people.
Let's get straight into it and read his amazing journey in marketing.
Shahmeer: 1 - Please brief our audience about your journey as an entrepreneur until your current position at EstablishPR?
I have a background in direct response marketing - I built an agency shortly after dropping out of college and it rapidly scaled to a 7-figure run rate.
Basically, I would generate leads for two primary niche markets and show them how to work the leads to grow their business.
I didn’t love that work, but I recognized my strength in client acquisition so I started to teach agencies how to acquire clients and have now helped 1000 agency owners with their systems and processes.
PR actually occurred after I had a Yahoo press release about my company and saw the profound impact.
After that, I was hooked on the idea of PR, authority building, and combining direct response marketing with PR.
2. What do you know about your work now that you wish you’d known when you first started?
Not to play it small. My first agency that grew to over 100k/mo within the first year was just me and 1 other person - primarily out of fear of hiring more and thinking I could do it all.
For the first year of Establish PR, I continued with that mindset. Luckily, I started to think more significantly and in less than a year, we went from a team of 3 to over 20.
3. What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your craft’s learning curve?
Massive action and building team culture for innovation.
Everyone I bring on the team is highly invested in delivering the best results for our clients and also continuing to innovate on processes we already have in place.
This allows us to grow faster than most.
4. As you know Social media is the most prominent way of reaching to masses, How do you integrate social media with PR?
The combination of social media and PR is necessary to have an effective campaign. The whole idea of PR is to get more brand awareness and social proof. My team shows our clients how to leverage every social platform and combine it with the PR they are receiving.
5. Why do you think Blockchain projects need to focus on marketing more than any other industry?
Simple, it’s so early-stage… People are terrified of a rug pull. What just happened with Luna is a testament to why every single project needs to educate its potential investors and communities to know what their road map is.
There are thousands of projects that have great core teams, but nobody knows. For them I have one thing to say, Go Big or Go Home. If your project has the potential to revolutionize the world, put everything at stake.
6. There are a lot of fraud projects in the Blockchain space. How do you ensure that the project/product you onboard as a client isn’t a fraudulent product?
When it comes to blockchain, we have a different onboarding process than most other industries because of this.
We vet the project, the founders, and the whitepaper to look for common red flags. We would never want to associate with a short-term play. As avid crypto/web3.0 believers ourselves we only work with projects we believe in and would invest in ourselves.
7. How different is Blockchain marketing from other industries?
It’s similar in the fact that shifting public perception is key.
Key differentiations would be that there is a strategy for what publications each project should get on. Some mainstream, tech, and crypto-specific to make sure it’s going to have a long-lasting impact.
8. Your website’s homepage mentions “Control the Narrative”. Do you think that someone can control the narrative, especially today when the internet has gone global and people express their views openly?
100%. The idea behind “controlling the narrative” is we are in the information age. In 30 seconds, anyone can google you to learn more about you personally, your business, etc.
If they just see your website, Instagram, discord, Twitter, etc... It’s as good as them seeing nothing. Our job is to predict what those search terms are so we can give accurate information about each project, the team, and the legitimacy.
The issue is when people talk about themselves, nobody believes it… IT’s all about third-party sources confirming the information.
9. What are the top challenges you currently face as a CEO? And how do you go about tackling them?
We are hiring like crazy and searching for top talent. People that are passionate about the industries we work in and those who want to serve our clients to the highest degree.
I work primarily on ensuring the client experience is as optimal as possible and they see an overwhelming ROI working with Establish.
10. Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for the company?
The goal is to get to 3000 retainer clients we serve in the next 2 years.
There are a lot of old-school PR strategies that have left a bad taste in people's mouths and we are reforming the industry.
Shahmeer: Thanks for sharing your journey, Micheal! I'm sure it will inspire many people to take on their own projects and achieve success.
Hackers, Thank you for taking time out of your day so that we could maybe learn something new from each other :) If there are any questions or topics y'all want me to cover in future episodes feel free to reach me through Linkedin ;)