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Tip: Get journalists to cover your product by coming prepared with a press kit

Press coverage can mean the difference between a successful launch and a missed opportunity — and since journalists are busy, they'll often pass you by. Make it easier for them to cover you by supplying a press kit.

PR converts at 10 to 50 times higher than advertising. And the key to getting coverage is creating a thorough press kit for your company before reaching out to reporters. It should include the following:

  1. A pitch letter explaining why people should care
  2. A profile overviewing the company and founders
  3. Contact info
  4. Logos
  5. Screenshots and videos of the product
  6. Other news coverage, interviews, speeches, awards, etc.
  7. Customer case studies or useful stats
  8. FAQs

Some people even include a sample news story that journalists can edit and publish without writing their own. Here are some great examples to get you started. After putting it together, create a page on your site to house your press kit and reach out to journalists with a link to your press kit front-and-center.

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  1. 3

    It's also important not to get carried away from press coverage of your startup when it is unrelated to your product.

    e.g. I recently saw a founder being ecstatic about press coverage of his startup relocating to a farmhouse from a city due to COVID-19, his app downloads had increased on the day when the article was published.

    But, the impact would fade away sooner than how toilet papers vanished from the supermarkets since the press is not directly related to his product and unless the app solves the problem of those who is checking it out of curiosity it'll just add to the churn.

    1. 3

      But on the flipside having links to your website will boost your SEO, even after the interest fades.

      1. 1

        News articles from major publishers rarely have links to product website, they link to the tags on their own website.

    2. 1

      Totally, balance is key 👍

  2. 2

    Totally! Just added this to my website ahead of launch!

    1. 1

      Nice, good luck! 💪

  3. 2

    Media coverage would help but having an engaging community would be very beneficial in the long term.

  4. 2

    Definitely agree! This is largely why I starting building GamePressKit for the game dev space. It's difficult to get coverage on games by nature and often times advertising in the space is taken up by large studios, so press coverage goes a long way. Another great benefit of press kits in general is that it allows you to have a little more control on how you get your coverage (i.e. for games, you can choose great screenshots / renderings yourself rather than someone else try and take a quick one that may not look great).

  5. 2

    Another journalist tip. Register at HARO - https://www.helpareporter.com/ There are so many journalists searching for help in so many different spaces, one should find 1-2 questions to answer even in the most tiniest of niches

  6. 2

    THIS!

    I used to be an arts journalist (mainly covering music). It was extremely frustrating when artists would ask me to cover them, an event of theirs, or a new release but then have no information to give me.

    There is so much more to be said aside from what you are specifically trying to get coverage on. People want to know more than just he surface level information, and if you share more about yourself or your product/business, the higher the chances are that readers build a real connection.

    Make it easy on writers, and I promise they will give you better work. If you make their work more arduous, then they are more likely to just do the bare minimum.

    1. 1

      Awesome to have a journalist's perspective, thanks!

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