“There is no peacetime. There is pre-war or post-war.”

That’s the advice Lulu Cheng Meservey, chief communication officer at Activision Blizzard, gives startup companies managing their PR.

Meservey said that companies — just like countries — need to maintain a form of combat readiness to be prepared to respond to a wide range of scenarios.

She shared that and other communication strategies for startup founders at the Build Summit in New York this week. The event was organized by @APompliano and @andruyeung.

Among her recommendations was to cultivate the press in advance and build a “healthy” relationship, which she defined as one that didn’t need the media.

“If you are dependent on the press, it’s not going to go well. They will have you over a barrel. You need to have your own channels. The press should be a nice to have, not a must have.”

One mistake startups make is they fail to engage with the press early.

“Reach out to them when you don’t need anything,” Meservey said. “If it’s a pitch, it will be more effective when you have a relationship with them.”

One change in PR over the past number of years is that companies need to vet and be more selective about the specific reporters they work with, not just the media outlets.

“You have to be really judicious about who you are approaching. Anyone can be a reporter. There is no quality control. No barrier to entry. In the olden days, if they worked for a big publication, they were relevant. Now, I’m going to scroll through six months of their stories.”

Meservey said social media is crucial for modern corporate communications. The platform you select depends on the goal and audience you want to reach.

She suggested Twitter/X as a good place to reach VCs and founders, while Instagram and TikTok are a better way to target consumers. You need to be on LinkedIn for hiring and brand building.

“Linkedin is super underutilized because people spend a lot of time on there. Their MAU is really high, but I’m sorry to say that 99% of the content is like so and so has a work anniversary,” said Meservey. “And so, it’s actually pretty easy to stand out on LinkedIn.”

The most important point about communications for founders is to remember that they cannot delegate the vision and you are communicating with everything you say and do and wear.

“You can’t outsource standing up for your company. Everybody should be helping you do it, but you have to be there. The founder always runs comms.”