PR for your Start-up: Which one should you choose?
Just went through PH to find startups that can handle media and outreach and found these as the top 3 -
One problem: All seem to have more negative reviews than positive.
As always, turning to IH for help - Please recommend agencies/start-ups you've worked with while in the growth phase! Thanks a bunch :)
PR is over-rated. Much more useful further down the line when you’ve actually achieved something. Not so useful when you’re just starting out.
I’d recommend finding small publications that report on areas related to your startup and then manually pitch them. If you get a response, then you know you can reach out to more or even use one of the services you listed. If no response, then you know it’s probably not a viable strategy right now.
Thanks Corey, guess this sounds like how I should go about it. Any resources that target these publications?
It's all going to depend on your industry. Rand Fishkin's sparktoro.com will eventually help with this. For now, it's probably going to take a lot of research. You can use a keyword research tool to look up a major publication and then find sites with keyword overlap or similar content.
In the early days, you're going to get your most bang for your buck with PR by doing the outreach yourself. This is especially true if you don't have outside funding and/or well-known names on your founding team or on your board. You can work with someone on strategy or take a course or something to get an idea of approach.
Thanks Jaclyn, will keep this in mind. Any resources that you recommend to get started?
Since I've done PR professionally, I learned the ropes that way and haven't taken a course on it. Here are some people who have a good approach (but I've never taken their courses): https://www.selenasoo.com/; https://www.criminallyprolific.com/; Peter Shankman also has a course and is a master of getting media (but can't find the link)
Thanks a ton for this :)
Don't bother - they're just spam farms.
I would recommend finding publications you feel are suitable for your company (use Google for this), then reach out to journalists personally. You'll have better results this way, I promise.
Thanks Tony, this makes sense! Was thinking these PR firms will make the marketing part easier but I guess not. Will try your suggestions :)