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The KTA Advantage

Krause Taylor Associates was formed in 1996 by professionals who have decades of combined prior experience in technology public relations, and who feel that traditional PR firms weren’t able to keep up with the fast pace of the high-tech markets, nor able to develop the unique, creative programs needed to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Most of all, they saw PR being treated as a “hit-and-run” program—dealt with only at the time of product introductions and then forgotten until the next introduction. And they wanted to create a practice that would help clients with long-term brand building, combined with real-time results.

KTA co-founder Barbara Krause sums up the firm’s view of public relations, “Public relations is not a one time event, or a discrete program. PR is a process that builds upon itself, and needs to be integrated into a company’s marketing and sales efforts.”

The firm’s second founder, Betty Taylor, echoes Barbara’s comments, “The hard part of PR is after the product launch. Our staff has worked on all sides of PR—as corporate officers, as journalists, and as PR professionals—and that gives us an advantage in helping our clients get results.”

This founding philosophy must be working, because KTA has worked with, and helped build, some of the biggest names in high technology, including Apple Computer, Netscape/AOL, MicronPC, OmniSky, Palm, and LoudCloud among a host of others. In 2004 alone, KTA has helped catapult newcomers such as Six Apart and Mirra to international recognition, as professional journalists and trade experts study and report on their products in forums such as the Wall Street Journal, major on-line publications, Silicon Valley media, and penultimate stages such as Demo.

Why do these people—and the marketing executives that work for them—continue to choose KTA to manage their public relations programs? Comments from our clients consistantly center on three key reasons:

• Experience. KTA’s professionals didn’t earn their reputations during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. They have been covering high-technology and working in leading companies virtually since technology burst onto the country’s radar. They’ve helped companies get through both boom times and bust, and have stuck by their belief that brands are built over time, and can’t be simply bought through advertising.
  
  KTA’s professionals have a unique perspective because they have experience working on all three sides of PR—as journalists covering high-tech and business, as corporate executives and managers trying to achieve quarterly marketing and sales goals, and as PR professionals helping leading and emerging companies raise their visibility.
  
  
• Connections. One client summed up KTA’s network of connections succinctly: “The KTA partners have great contacts, they know everyone there is to know in technology PR.” Another benefit of decades of combined experience in high-technology, KTA’s professionals have solid access to the leading technology journalists, editors, and analysts.
  
  But KTA’s network doesn’t only extend to press and analysts. The firm’s professionals also have connections with creative agencies, advertising agencies, and a wide array of specialists and consultants who can be pulled in to help on projects that have unique characteristics. This ability to implement entire PR programs led one former client to state, “Our success in [PR] was more than we expected and required far less investment in time and effort because we could trust KTA’s advice and execution so completely.”
  
  
• Results. At the beginning of any project, a KTA professional will ask a key question, “What are the sales and marketing goals over the next twelve months?” This stems from the firm’s belief that PR should be integrated into the larger company effort, that PR shouldn’t be simply an article-generating function but should support the rest of the company. KTA’s experience in dealing with direct sales companies, indirect sales (through channels) and with the financial communities helps them develop PR plans that will mesh with larger corporate goals.
  
  This approach has been proven at client after client. Judy Bitterli, CEO of Powered, Inc. stated, “KTA effectively positioned Powered as the leader in the eduComerce space, delivering new business and building credibility with the analyst and journalist communities.”

While experience, connections and results are qualities that KTA clients have noted most often in their comments, there are other advantages that may influence your decision to contact KTA to learn more. Krause Taylor Associates is a small public relations firms that is focused on the technology markets—from software to hardware to services, from consumer to enterprise. KTA’s size and specialization provides a number of benefits:

• Partner Involvement. KTA is unusual among PR firms because its partners personally manage each client account, providing seasoned PR expertise and daily interaction with each client. This contrasts with large PR firms where partners often “sell” an account and then lower level account managers do most of the day-to-day work. KTA’s approach assures clients that their needs are top of mind in the agency.
  
  
• Flexibility and Affordability. One of the chief complaints about large agencies is that their overhead leads to large minimum retainer commitments. KTA’s size makes them much more flexible and able to address client needs on a project or retainer basis depending on client needs and goals.
  
  
• Customized Programs. KTA develops programs specifically for each client’s individual needs. Larger PR firms, much like large advertising agencies, tend to fall into formulaic patterns in developing programs, especially for their smaller clients. KTA develops individualized, professional PR programs that fit the client, without resorting to the “edgy” feel that epitomized dot-com era PR and advertising. The goal is to stand out in the crowd with unique programs that actually help sell and raise visibility.