How to Get Press for Your Project

I recently wrote some press advice to fellow Indie Hacker Chris McCormik (@chr15m) and he suggested I post it here:

The truth is, I don't think getting press can really be productized. The closest someone has come to my knowledge is:

justreachout.io

Which I found out about through Indie Hackers. A former co-worker at Wired had this advice when I asked him about getting press for [my project] Filter RSS:

"I'd start on your own. Go research reporters that covered [competitors like] Nuzzel, Google Reader, Google Reader alternatives, etc.

Make a spreadsheet with names, outlet, links to relevant coverage, and then their email addresses and Twitter handles. (You can pay someone on Fiverr to do the email addresses/Twitter handles).

Then come up with individualized pitches for them depending on what you want them to do. I'd simply start with trying to get them to use the product."

The idea is to do a reporter's job for them. Think of the headline, the story, and sketch it all out. Then pitch it to them. Like for Slingcode, I'd find the outlets that write about coding for kids. Then see the type of stories they do. Then maybe pitch a round-up of "Best Free Tools For Kids To Learn Web Development". The key is to not just make it about Slingcode, but actually offer value to a reader using your existing knowledge, and doing your own research.

That way, from the reporter's perspective, they're getting a high-value article with research that they didn't have to do, for free. Does that make sense? It's kind of a weird endeavor. But as someone who used to get pitched for product coverage all the time, I can tell you it has a good chance of success.

If you do get an article, be sure to post links to it everywhere and promote it for the reporter.

The longer play is to present yourself as a resource to tech reporters who cover things that you're interested in and working on. Be there whenever they need something explained, or need a quote, or need some background on a technology that they're unfamiliar with, etc.

That way, if you're quoted in an article, they can mention "says Chris McCormick, founder of Slingcode." This helps your SEO and link juice while still being completely above board in providing value to the reporter and readers.