How to get your startup featured in tech news and major media publications?
All early stage startups wish they’d be featured in major press but struggle to get there.
Possibly, the most exciting time in the life of a startup is when you are ready to reveal your product or service to the world. You’ve been working hard, reading in parallel about the success of others on TechCrunch, and now you want the community to see what you and your team have been up to for the past year or so.
Probably, in the beginning, you thought your product was so good, editors of tech and business outlets, such as Mashable and Wired or even Bloomberg will reach out to you for an interview by themselves. But it didn’t happen, did it? So it is clear now there is some PR work to be done.
But where to start? Shall you write a press release and send it to journalists? Or do you need a PR agency? Or maybe it is better to hire a PR manager? And generally speaking, what is public relations and how to approach it right?
These questions are of concern to almost every startup founder. Especially, if your product is aiming at a global market and there are plenty of foreign publications. You have no idea who would be the right contact, who’s beat your startup will fit and should you pitch an editor or a reporter and if there is any difference? Looks like it’s getting even more complicated.
Let’s start from the beginning. Why should an early stage startup bother with PR? What goals are you chasing?
Publications in tech and business media will help you to:
increase domain authority,
attract attention from angel investors, venture capitalists and potential partners,
target your audience,
hire employees.
Also, articles about you in the media will help to build not only the brand image of your startup but your personal brand and your reputation overall, which might be useful if you are fundraising and planning to launch another product in the future.
So, with this in mind, let’s figure out how you can get your startup featured in tech news and media publications. First, these are major news hooks or simply your startup company news which you can use to attract journalists’ attention:
a launch of a new product,
entering a new market,
fundraising news,
a new partnership,
a new product feature,
startup’s HQ relocation,
a new milestone (for instance, your app now has 1 million downloads, or it was used by a celebrity),
if you have pivoted to address new challenges and meet new needs (like, during COVID-19 many small businesses started to produce products and provide services which were needed especially during the pandemic. For instance, a gin company started creating sanitiser).
a new patent or a license,
a new prototype,
a fresh piece of research analysis,
finally, if someone is buying your startup.
If your news hook isn't newsworthy in itself, you can still find a way of framing the information into a piece of a content, so it has some merit. You can pitch your story, of how and why you decided to launch a product or service, or you can react to what’s already in the agenda. For instance, there is a feature in the Business Insider about climate change and you have a solution that vastly reduces CO2 emissions. This would be the best time to reach to a journalist with your pitch about your product. And there could be other options apart from a news announcement.
So, now, let’s learn different content types where you can fit in with your startup:
a feature – a longer piece of writing than a news story, covering an issue in greater depth,
an interview – when a journalist asks you in-depth question related to experience, motivation, DAU/MAU, number of users, revenue, recent development, plans, etc,
op-ed - opinion editorial or opinion piece, where you express your point on a matter,
listings or round-ups – a list of startups or products, like 10 best apps to sleep better,
your product review – in-depth analysis of your product/ service, comparison to competitors,
a podcast or a YouTube channel review/ interview – basically, same as an interview but video.
Pitching to request an interview or to be mentioned in the news is a different approach. And we will look into this later. But the first thing is to identify the right person to contact. Now, when you know how you can attract the attention of journalists and editors, you need to learn who to contact.
Usually, among publication staff there are reporters, senior reporters, news reporters, contributors, columnists, critics, writers, journalists, editors, op-ed editors, contributors editors, managing editors, assistant managing editors and an editor-in-chief. Confusing, right? Because at some point, depending on how you wrapped your story, it could be of interest to any of them, except editor-in-chief, maybe. Let’s dive-in into this topic in our next blog post!
It's never too early to start thinking about PR for your startup. Whether you're early-stage, pre-seed, or already funded. Contact us to receive step-by-step advice for startups looking to get good press coverage without an agency.