The most clever press-releases I've seen in recent-months have taken the form of guest-articles / guest-posts on places like TechCrunch. Of course it can't be a hard sell (no overt plugs). But they can be an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of [insert-your-vertical] and come off as an expert in that field. Somewhere in the post the magazine will reference who you are and where you work, and that alone might do more benefit than any traditional PR syndication service would.
More info:
http://venturebeat.com/guest-posts/
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/27/guest-column-column/