How I Got My First 50 Customers for a Press Release Distribution Service Without Paid Ads
A huge amount of money is spent in advertising campaigns and this opens bright doors for influencer marketing. There was something different for me. It's the road. It's the road that leads me down to my principles of value and community, to smart outreach. I launched PRWeb, my service for distributing press releases, without any budget and a few marketers when I started. But I managed to sign up my first 50 customers on cash payment in the first 60 days-all without spending a single paisa on paid ads. I'm going to lay out in this article the exact tricks I got, what worked the best, what didn't, and how you can replicate this for your SaaS or service-based startup.
My Reason to Build a Press Release Distribution Service
Before tactics, some context. PRWeb was born out of frustration. Freelancing as a publicist for small businesses, I observed how ridiculously expensive and outdated the traditional platforms PRWeb, Newswire, and BusinessWire were. Several launches needed visibility but they couldn't afford to spend $300 per release.
So, I decided to develop a press release mechanism that was more affordable and contemporary: meant for small businesses and startups. My central offering: super fast distribution to a pool of journalists, media outlets, and online publications at a fraction of the traditional cost.
Now that part, this is how I got my initial 50 customers without spending a dime on Google Ads, Meta, or PR firms.
Step 1: Understand your Audience Deeply
My ideal customer, in other words, wasn’t Coke or Apple. It was:
Startup founders ready to launch that new product
Small businesses needing online exposure
Marketing agencies working with local brands
Authors and creators wanting to announce their launches.
With this knowledge, I created very specific messaging and content that mattered to those specific customers' needs. Not ranting "press release distribution services" into the void, everything was tailored toward actually solving real bootstrapped business problems using PR.
Step 2: Write Content That Solves Real Problems
I opened a blog on PRWeb. Not the run-of-the-mill stuff, though, but practical, long-tail content. Some of my very best-performing articles include:
"How to Submit a Press Release for Free in 2024"
"Best PRWeb Alternatives for Small Businesses"
"Press Release Format That Journalists Actually Read"
Make sure to include the important SEO keywords "budget-friendly PR services," "news distribution platform," and "PRWeb pricing" all naturally. Each article had a soft CTA to point back to my platform.
Results? Organic traffic began to trickle in from Google within 2 weeks, while in the first month, 5 of them made a direct entry through the blog.
Step 3: Inside Relevant Communities (Not Spamming)
Several online communities were joined to get my audience:
Reddit (r/startups, r/entrepreneur, r/marketing)
Facebook Groups for small business owners
Not in the form of spamming my links but by adding value, for example to:
Someone on Reddit posted a question asking, "How do I announce my startup launch without spending a fortune?" I breakdown free and low-cost PR tactics and mention that I own a lightweight press release platform designed for exactly this.
That gave me 3 paid signups from that thread.
Step 4: Partner with Micro-Influencers and Niche Agencies
The list I've come up with includes 10 small digital marketing agencies and independent writers with freelance PR licenses:
I offered them:
A 20 percent commission for the referrals
White-label options for their clients
Trial access to use the service free of charge
Generated these ad partnerships into reliable lead generation. Agencies liked it because they could add a service to their offering and get it at the same time. I got 12 clients within the first month from these partnerships.
Step 5: Cold Email-but Personal
Over that initial three-week stretch, I probably sent around sixty cold emails, not bulk email templates that looked spammy, but well-researched personalized messages to benefactors.
For example:
"Hey [Name], I saw that you launched your startup recently on Product Hunt, so congrats! If you're planning any media outreach, I run a budget-friendly press release service made for bootstrapped startups. Happy to offer a free test run. No pressure at all." This sounded pretty human and actually helped.
In total, I bagged 7 paying customers plus some good feedback that I used to improve the platform.
The Results: 50 Customers, All Organic
A little summary on where my initial 50 customers came from:
Content marketing (blog posts): 8
Reddit et al. and Indie Hackers engagement: 10
Cold email outreach: 7
Partnering with small agencies: 12
Word of mouth/referrals: 6
Direct website traffic from social shares: 7
Not only did I save thousands of dollars by avoiding advertising, but I also built an incredibly loyal early user base who gave feedback, spread the product, and became repeat customers.
I Learned Along the Way
Content never fades away: Write once, earn forever. Communities - gold mines. You need to give real value, not a little bit.
People trust people - not platforms. Build trust one message at a time.
Simplistic sells-clear, cheap, and easy to understand.
Final Reflections
You don't need a big marketing budget to get your first 50 customers. You need hustle, empathy, and clearly perceived identity in what you're serving. Substance, not traffic, should be the main target, especially if you are releasing your own service SaaS, agency, or marketplace.
I built PRWeb to address a real problem that I faced myself. Authenticity resonates, and clients came not because I had the loudest ads, but because I had clear value.
