How did you get your first article about your product/company published?

Question

We're still a young+small company, but we think our product can already provide good value to new users. We've been publishing our blog posts on Twitter, Medium, and Linkedin as well as cold emailing some media outlets, but haven't gained any real traction.

Thomas Riley · Accepted Answer

Trying to get an article in the beginning is wasted energy. It's often only useful if you have a consumer product.

If you do want coverage, you need to look at it from the media's perspective. They will write about you when there is a story to tell. So you need to first help them do that. No journalist - at least not a credible one - will ever write a puff piece, no matter what some PR tells you. In my experience, cold emailing very rarely works. While the other commentators here suggesting speaking to reporters in your field, I would again not bother. Reporters (especially those covering specific beats in junior posts) have got to pump out tons of articles and will have established sources already, they won't have the time to fully engage someone they don't know, so you need to make it easy for them.

What I would focus on is engaging influencers in your field. I don't mean insta stars, but someone in your target audience who others listen to. They might be blogger, people well-known in their field, other business owners, or maybe even just folk with a lot of friends. If you can get these people to shout about you, that's when you'll start seeing journalists getting in touch + your users should also grow as well. [for context, my website Lockdown Loo has been covered in 100s of media stories and we got there by doing the above. Have never used a press release].

Jackie Tan Yen · Answer

In my previous startup, how I struck out with a media feature in a local newspaper was emailing a reporter who covered a company in the same vertical. She declined, but we kept in touch and over a year later she followed up and asked for more details. Not too long later we got our feature.

That said, I would caution the allure of shiny media because most of the users that you acquire through media don't last long nor are the right ones. The "spotlight effect" is very real, and you should consider other channels to acquire users.

SUDIPTA GHOSH · Answer

Would it be applicable for mobile users?

Jackie Tan Yen · Answer

@alejandro_cantarero1 Oh yes, use cases for media exposure differ depending on the verticals and business models.

That said, I was looking at Dave's product and my impression - based on a few things - was that it was more of a B2C company and hence my perspective.

Agnieszka Stec · Answer

It's not easy, but it's worth an effort to be featured in news and content aggregators. We are still working on that :)

Booga · Answer

Find a reporter/journalist who works in your field, figure out what he/she is interested in, and send info about your project that relevant to his/her interest.

Do not give up after the first fail and keep trying.

Alejandro Cantarero · Answer

@jackietanyen Probably depends on your business, but especially for B2B I've always viewed getting media coverage more as an SEO / backlink building strategy than a customer acquisition play.

Hannah SPL · Answer

So I've worked in PR and media for years - the trick is to pitch the story in the right way to the right journalist at the right time. Now that's easy for me to say as I have a lot of experience - but for more detail I actually have a step-by-step pitching guide you can download here www.moderndispatches.com. There are also a range of tools - HARO (Help a Reporter Out) where you get a ton of journo requests every day so you can at least start getting your name out there, as well as the #journorequest hashtag on Twitter. Also, depending on your budget there's Response Source (owned by Cision - you can do a trial of their journo requests for free and get published in that time and I think you can use their press release service for a fee). I've also had successful results with Business Wire (but it costs a fortune). If you want to do it yourself have a read of the guide I directed you to above it talks you through it and hope you find it useful :)

Hannah SPL · Answer

So I've worked in PR and media for years - the trick is to pitch the story in the right way to the right journalist at the right time. Now that's easy for me to say as I have a lot of experience - but for more detail I actually have a step-by-step pitching guide you can download if you go to the link in my profile. There are also a range of tools - HARO (Help a Reporter Out) where you get a ton of journo requests every day so you can at least start getting your name out there, as well as the #journorequest hashtag on Twitter. Also, depending on your budget there's Response Source (owned by Cision - you can do a trial of their journo requests for free and get published in that time and I think you can use their press release service for a fee). I've also had successful results with Business Wire (but it costs a fortune). If you want to do it yourself have a read of the guide I directed you to above it talks you through it and hope you find it useful :)

Bryce McKernan · Answer

@currie32 for a local side project, I researched local media outlets that seemed to have similar interests. I then crafted an 'origin story' with a call to action and sent it to representatives in these companies. This way, they could see that there was an interesting story without needing to uncover it themselves. It provided plenty of information that streamlined the interview process and ultimately allowed me to control much of the narrative of their published version.

George Novik · Answer

Damn, there was so much water and prehistory... But dude, you work for months, and then your brain just won't let you write short.

Ilya Pashkov · Answer

Good project

Paul Nica · Answer

I am interested to find out as well

Dave Currie · Answer

Yes, we've looked at a couple similar companies and have reached out to the same media outlets. Often, those article were about a funding round or launching a premium subscription, which we aren't able to announce at the moment.

Tatiana Kukova, PhD · Answer

I would also like to add that you can try some PR firms. They will help you with contacts and logistics. For example, they will help you set up a meeting with a journalist.

Do not forget to polish your story (i.e., product features as well as the names of your co-founders). You can even jot down some ideas on paper and bring it with you to the meeting. The journalist may want to keep the paper in order to prepare the story as it will appear in the press.

How did you get your first article about your product/company published?

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