

Get Your Startup Covered by Any Blog - adebelov
http://www.virool.com/blog/6-tips-to-get-your-startup-covered-on-any-blog/

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VSerge
I'm sorry, but this is really basic stuff, and I doubt it will help any
startup founder who has done even ten minutes of research on the topic of PR.
Founders without famous backers or extensive networks should look at more
advanced marketing and communication techniques, and try to create or
participate in a movement that resonates with the press, through a marketing
story and through a compelling answer to the question "Why is this done". In
getting press and customer interest, I strongly feel that answering why should
come before answering how or what. This is why great pitches != great
products. Also, it's a very hard process, and lots of PR agencies are
surprisingly bad at this. This is one of the reasons why a business co-founder
is so important for a startup.

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adebelov
@VSerge, this wasn't meant to be a comprehensive list of advanced strategies.
I just threw some quick thoughts, posted on company's blog and posted it on
HackerNews with hopes of starting a discussion about ways people got PR. I
guess it wasn't apparent in the post, but I would love to hear more tips from
the community about things that worked/ didn't work for them.

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sixQuarks
With all due respect, those are good points, but it looks like you got your PR
coverage mainly because you're a YC-backed company. Am I wrong?

P.S. - the links to the press coverages are all broken.

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adebelov
@sixQuarks there was a mention in TechCrunch that happened as a result of YC
experience. The rest of the press: PandoDaily, VentureBeat, ReelMarketer,
etc., happened because of a mix of things: pure hustle (applying the rules I
outlined), and positioning our company as a thought leader in the space.

Thank you for pointing out the links.

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kjhughes
#0 Build something worthy of coverage.

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flexxaeon
I agree in theory, but worth is subjective.

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jtoeman
Actually, it's not that subjective. Fundamentally you need to understand the
blogger's job, which is not what you think it is. Their job, like it or not,
is to contribute to page views. This could come due to sensationalist
headlines, exclusives, "breaking" news, consistently high quality reporting,
in depth analysis, etc. In some places, it's many of the above (eg
TechCrunch), in others, it could be a very specific niche.

Now that you understand the blogger's job, you should be able to understand if
your pitch is "worthy" to _THEM_. If it's not, DON'T pitch it, period.

The above might sound simplistic, but after running a marketing firm for four
years, I can't tell you how often this advice is unknown, overlooked, or
worse, ignored. Your news is "worthy" if it helps a blogger do _their_ job, if
not, it's just plain not worthy.

No matter how much you are proud of your accomplishment, if it's not
interesting to the readership of an outlet, it's not interesting to the
blogger, and that's that.

~~~
flexxaeon
Well now you're talking about the worth of the story, which is different from
the worth of what was built, is it not?

An amazing pitch is not an amazing product, and vice versa. Yes a great story
is going to get eaten up by bloggers. But that doesn't apply to rule #0 above.

~~~
jtoeman
well, the topic is about getting your startup covered, not whether or not your
startup is building something worthy.

i guess it comes down to this: quality of worth as it pertains to impact in
the real world does not directly correlate with quality of worth as it
pertains to the value it has as a news story.

i maintain, however, that if your goal is coverage, then by definition "worth"
is only relevant to the ability for it to be covered at all.

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dangrossman
I'd love more coverage of my startup, Improvely, but I don't think I'm going
to be throwing any parties on the other side of the country to attract the
tech press. Personal e-mails to bloggers that covered similar companies didn't
go anywhere either, so my 'launch' consisted of posting to my personal
networks on FB/LinkedIn/Twitter/Yammer.

I would think snooping around their profiles for phone numbers and cold
calling would be seen as creepy. Is that really something people do to
bloggers/journalists they don't already know?

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Mystalic
As a former journalist, there is one simple way to press: get introductions.

If you don't know people who know journalists, meet them.

A strong network is essential to the success of any startup.

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sethbannon
One thing to always remember: reporters are people too, so treat them as such.
Too many entrepreneurs hurt themselves by treating reporters simply as a means
to an end.

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sharkweek
As someone who has found himself working on the seedy underbelly of PR (mostly
joking), this is something so many pitches fail to achieve.

TechCruch's Jordan Cook wrote a great article about dealing with email as a
reporter -- <http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/05/i-hate-email/>

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1simonsayz
Good post. Item number 6. Build Relationships. Tim Ferriss wrote a blog post
about how to build relationships with important people. It might complement
it. Just check it out: [http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/12/10/how-
to-get-g...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/12/10/how-to-get-
george-bush-or-the-ceo-of-google-on-the-phone/)

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reiz
Many thanks for writing this. I enjoyed reading it. Maybe that are basics, for
social media guys. But for tech Start-Up guys this blog post is very use full.

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iag
Solid tips.

Tip #7 - Be persistent. You might fail a lot doing this, but keep trying.
You'll find your magic formula one day.

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lylemckeany
Yes! Persistence is key. These days, everyone is too busy. If you really feel
that talking about your startup would be an excellent fit for the blog, keep
pestering them...in a good way.

