Mastering Growth P2P #6: PR Training for Growth/Scale

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffet

Smart companies know the value of a good story. Compelling narratives help ventures raise their profile, connect with customers and shape opinions, ultimately accelerating their growth. A good PR strategy is essential for ventures to get their messages out in the media.

In this P2P session, Vivienne Hsu, managing director at Cognito Media, will provide ventures with the essential elements of creating successful PR strategies, the ins and outs of the media and the metrics to help them make informed decisions.

Vivienne will discuss:

• What PR is, what makes good media coverage and why is it important for ventures

• How to build a PR toolkit

• Understanding the media and how to engage with journalists

• How to evaluate whether your PR strategy is working

Agenda

10:00 – 10:05 a.m. — P2P introduction by Nathan Monk

10:10 – 11:20 a.m. — Media training session with Vivienne Hsu

11:20 – 11:30 a.m. — Break

11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. — Questions and networking

About MaRS Mastering Growth P2P

Mastering Growth P2P is a monthly P2P series designed for MaRS high-growth ventures and corporate partners who are utilizing the latest marketing technology, tactics and trends to scale. Our Mastering Growth P2P sessions bring together visionary founders and growth thought leaders to educate and transform the way we go to market and scale. Growth is the new metric for success and we want you to be prepared to deliver it.

Guest speaker:

Vivienne Hsu

Vivienne has over 15 years of strategic communications expertise spanning multiple sectors including FMCG, healthcare, automotive and finance. Her career has been built with over a decade of market insight, branding, advertising and digital planning experience working some of the world’s largest blue chip multinationals prior to joining Cognito. Vivienne leads Cognito's Europe Middle-East and Africa business from its London office and focuses on developing robust B2B integrated communications strategies and campaigns, by helping clients navigate the complex regulatory and ever-changing technology requirements. She also runs Cognito’s digital and social media practice, championing new technologies and media platforms to effectively reach key audiences in innovative and differentiating ways. Vivienne is part of the U.K.-Canada chamber of commerce, Investor Director of Bouche Media and an avid traveller.

Host:

Nathan Monk

Nathan is a senior growth expert, mentor and entrepreneur who is passionate about closing the growth marketing skill gap in Canada. He brings nearly 15 years of experience in sales, marketing and brand building, having worked directly with over 1,000 early-stage and high-growth, later-stage ventures. He was one of the original members of the 'lean' movement in Canada, the founding director of Techstars Next, created the Startup Bookclub, and brought Eric Reis's Lean Startup Day to Canada. Nathan is trained in Osterwalder's Business Model Generation, by Osterwalder himself, and Steve Blank's startup growth methodologies.

Most recently, Nathan initiated the first GrowCamp in Canada for MaRS, a six-day growth programming camp that included high-growth ventures, corporate partners and collaboration with Google Canada. It was the first of its kind in the country and lead to the creation of the Growth Marketing Playbook, now available to entrepreneurs.

Nathan holds an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.