After moving to the UK from his native Ukraine aged just 18, Dima Vasilenco scaled the heights of London's tech PR scene - working with the likes of Google and Microsoft - before setting up his own agency in 2020.
Since then, he's made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and his agency - Good Advice - has established itself in the UK and US, with clients ranging from innovative startups to household names in banking and finance.
In this interview, he explains how he navigated the challenges of tech PR and looks at what the future holds for the industry.
- What are the particular challenges of providing PR services to technology companies as opposed to companies in other industries?
With tech PR, you have to really understand what your client does, what their products do on a deep technical level and how they fit into the wider industry. It's much harder than working with a well-known brand in the consumer goods space like Coca-Cola for instance, because everyone knows that brand and the product. Most tech companies don't have that kind of profile.
Working with tech media is also challenging, because the journalists are very knowledgeable about the subjects they write about. Whether it's cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, or venture capital, they have considerable expertise and if you can't talk to them on the same level then you're wasting their time. As a PR practitioner, you need to not only understand what it is you're promoting and how it works, but how to make it interesting to journalists who are being pitched dozens of times a day.
- Many sectors of the technology industry are very noisy and competitive - how can companies make themselves stand out?
It's about understanding the niche that your company or product is targeting. Unless you have a genuinely world-changing product that millions of people are going to want to buy, trying to promote yourself as the next Steve Jobs and pursuing only top-tier media coverage isn't going to be effective. But if you know how to reach the right audience for your product, then you can have an impact.
If you had developed an innovative checkout button for a website, for example, then you're not going to get on the front page of the Financial Times. But there are people out there who will be excited about what you've made because it has the potential to completely change the way they work. If you can get into the specific trade publications that these people read, then you can get real results for your business.
- Who are the biggest companies you've worked with?
I've worked with Google and Microsoft, and when you work with giant companies such as those you are usually playing defense, requiring a lot of reputation management and crisis management. There are many sensitivities, and there's a great deal of responsibility on you. So when you get a positive result for a client of that size, it feels really good.
But in many ways it's more interesting to work with companies that aren't household names; helping them break through and gain a competitive edge in their industry sector. We have to be very aggressive in how we present them and always push for the best possible media results. Often we are working on announcements relating to funding, or M&A, which involves a lot of sensitive information - you have to keep information a complete secret, then turn it into the biggest news story the next day. And we get these announcements into Bloomberg and CNBC - it's impossible to get a better result than that.
- What qualities have helped you succeed in tech PR?
When I moved to this country, I couldn't speak English, and my bank balance wasn't exactly healthy either. My first job was in a bar, then a restaurant, and then I was a shop assistant. When I moved into PR, I had no fear - I knew that I could make cocktails so I could work in a bar and sleep on a friend's floor if I got fired. I had nothing to lose.
And because I had nothing to lose, I was more hungry than anyone else. I wanted to reach the top so I worked harder than my colleagues. I got in before them and was last to leave at night. Every time I was accepted for a job, or got a promotion, I challenged myself to move to the next level, to keep progressing.
You need a certain amount of talent to succeed in PR, but it's mostly hard work. Say 95% hard work, 5% talent.
- What are the advantages of having your own agency?
I'd learned a lot from working for world-renowned agencies such as Edelman and Weber Shandwick, and starting up my own agency seemed like the next logical step. My idea was to take out the bureaucracy, removing all the internal politics of the big PR agencies and just focusing on doing great work and ensuring that everyone in the team is enjoying what they do.
We have the freedom to make all of the decisions when it comes to how the client work is done, and because we are a small agency we have solid, personable relationships with clients. But just because we are small, doesn't mean we're a budget agency - our fees are often higher than those of the big agencies. And clients go with us because they trust us and they believe in our processes.
- How is tech PR changing?
The tech PR industry is changing so fast and it's key to stay informed. Things can change within a matter or hours or even minutes. You can't just read the papers any more, or even wait for news sites to be updated online - you have to follow the right journalists and analysts on Twitter, because that's where you'll hear the news first.
Also, the barriers to entry for tech PR are getting lower all the time. The younger generation has a much deeper understanding of tech than previous generations as it's been a part of their life ever since they were born. As these people reach working age, they understand concepts and technologies like AI and machine learning - it's part of their everyday life. The new generation of PR practitioners are going to have an even deeper understanding of technology and how it underpins every aspect of our lives.
- Is AI a threat to PR practitioners' jobs?
I believe that AI is going to come for some people's jobs; anything that can be automated is at risk. Even in areas such as copywriting, we're seeing how ChatGPT can do things like write product descriptions for e-commerce and so on. AI could even potentially write a press release, but I think it would be pretty boring - it takes human intuition to know what's interesting and how to incorporate that information into the release in an attention-grabbing way.
When it comes to jobs that require some sort of creativity and creative thinking, I don't think that AI is a threat. PR requires human consciousness, because so much of PR revolves around problem-solving. And when it comes to problems such as those you encounter in PR, there's no single correct approach - you could have 10 people in your team and they'd all approach the problem a different way. It's just not possible to train AI to solve these kinds of problems.
- What advice would you give to someone looking to break into tech PR?
If you are going to succeed in PR, you need a really good level of resilience. You'll be working under pressure all the time. You are handling the reputation of your clients, and this is an incredibly valuable thing. In most cases, clients value their reputation more than money - after all, they can make their money back. But restoring a damaged reputation is much harder.
A lot of people think PR is making sure that things don't go wrong. It isn't - in reality, many things will go wrong, and you will need to be capable of controlling and managing the situation. Your job is damage control, and you must be flexible and agile enough to completely change course at any second.
But the most important thing is to ensure you understand what your clients do on a deep level and to stay informed about everything that's happening in the wider industry, as it will change so quickly.
