Question on Cortland's podcast with Dmitry Dragilev

First-time poster here... hello IH growth community!

So... I'm usually skeptical of PR for growth -- tons of pitches to journalists with a really low probability of getting featured. Even IF you get featured, you still have to (1) convert traffic into customers and (2) somehow sustain traffic.

So I was REALLY surprised to enjoy Cortland's podcast on PR with Dmitry from JustReachOut.

But before I jump in and start pitching journalists, wanted to ask the community:

What percent of your "growth time" do you invest in pitching journalists vs. cold prospecting emails or other approaches that might give faster, clearer results?

And... is pitching journalists something you do from Day 1 or introduce later?

My notes on their podcast below if you haven't listened:

Most people approach PR wrong

• Trying for big PR wins early (e.g., NYT, CNN, TechCrunch)
• Expecting big PR wins -> sustained traffic and high conversion rates
• Cold-emailing journalists long pitches about your cool new company (they don't care)
• Stunts and things unrelated to your business

How Dmitry thinks about PR

• PR can create sustained traffic if you approach it right: Start with niche publications and blogs; focus on SEO impact for low-volume, low-competition, high-intent search terms.
• Focus on the right journalists: Ideal is if they're currently looking for something that's relevant to your business. (Check #journorequest and Help a Reporter Out, etc.) Less ideal but still good is if they've recently written articles on your topic.
• Smoke test pitches to journalists: Dmitry suggested a tactic where you pitch a research study you don't yet have to see if the journalist is interested... then, if they are interested, do the research. Interesting.