
The Underground Guide to Press Coverage for Startups - kapilkale
http://www.giftrocket.com/blog/underground-guide-to-pr
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taylorbuley
The advice here is good but it really varies by journo/outlet

I was a mag technology writer at Forbes, then a dot com guy, and now help run
the website. If anyone wants to talk about how to approach journalists (no
pitches please) just email me w/your HN username and I'm happy to help talk
through your ideas: taylor.buley@gmail.com

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steve8918
One question: It sounds like the author is advocating changing around your
story to get as much coverage as possible, ie. saying how gift cards are bad
for the environment when in fact it wasn't necessarily something they thought
was central to their product.

What effect does this have in terms of credibility? If a particular company
says one message and then says another message a few months later, just to get
press, wouldn't that tend to decrease overall credibility, even though it may
increase exposure?

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sskates
Startups aren't fighting for credibility, startups are fighting against nobody
caring. It's good if someone reads one story about you and then reads another
one a few months later. Even if they get mad at you for changing your story,
that's much better than them not caring, at least they've heard of you.

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evanwalsh
Maybe it's just me, but I think calling a number from a WHOIS record could be
very creepy for the call receiver.

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rokhayakebe
It isn't. It's public information. Creepy is digging into someone's somewhat
private information.

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sskates
Great post, thanks guys, we've been struggling with the exact same thing. I
hadn't thought about calling them- I can see how that would significantly
increase the response rate.

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jpulgarin
I'm confused. GiftRocket sends the recipient the money via PayPal, so they can
spend it anywhere? What's the difference between this and PayPal?

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kondro
This article isn't really about whether GiftRocket is a cool service or not.
It is about getting PR coverage. It really doesn't matter if their service is
good or not.

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charlesju
Great post as always. Keep them coming. TC should get you to do some guest
posts.

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rokhayakebe
Write the story for them. Let them edit it.

