Wouldn't it be wiser to spend time and energy trying to get coverage within your startup's domain rather than technology blogs? Obviously tech coverage would be good for networking, funding negotiations but why is domain specific coverage not even mentioned, surely it is vastly more important?
Yeah it's wiser and brings more traffic, links, etc. than one post on TechCrunch. But being on TechCrunch is some kind of a label, it's good for your reputation, especially for upcoming fundings.
Great post - what a lot of people forget - or don't do well is to highlight and show-off the press they already received. This was also missed in the article. Writers tend to think along similar lines and if you can show that there are others writing good things about you - and can present a log of what's been said in the past - it gives journos a great starting point for their next article about you or your startup. The guys at Presstler are working on an interesting solution for this - providing automated Press Pages - www.presstler.com
They're pretty good (although I think I read them before here on HN), except maybe the seventh.
Trying to be on press every month is pretty optimistic. You should also take into account that writers cover news that are interesting to their readers. A minor change, a new feature, usage stats... they don't get usually covered for new/small startups because they're not so interesting to their readers.
Also, you can be annoying if you start to send non interesting pitches every 2-4 weeks, so take care with that.
How about, create something actually useful and share it with some people? So much intelligence and time is wasted in this community on gimmicks and a big marketing push to just try and make an easy buck
Some of us who genuinely create useful things (as evidenced by existing users) still have a difficult time getting traction in the PR world, myself included.
It's a frustrating realization that crafting a thoughtful and engaging product isn't enough to "make it big". A lot more to the story, but still.
The web startup scene + typical tech blogs is an old boys' club - all that matters is who you know. And that's why it's all bullshit.
Are you aware of the what the "old boys' club" really is? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_boy_network - "social and business connections among former pupils of male-only private schools".
Techcrunch was founded in 2005 (most of those private schools are 100+ years old) and often publishes articles by people who cold email them. Yes, knowing a reporter helps, but all those people are pretty accessible over email and twitter and ultimately tech blogs are pretty much the furthest thing from an "old boy's club".
Yes, it can be frustrating to have to pitch your startup or product and get rejected or just ignored even when you know it in fact is really good, but that is simply the nature of press. This article is trying to help you get more press with less struggle. Give it a try.
Deciding that "it's all bullshit" might make you feel better temporarily but it is not going to get you any closer to your goals.
