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Any press is good press, right? Sort of… If you are an early stage startup and you are paying for a PR firm, it really might not be worth it. Over the last few months I have noticed an influx of emails coming from PR agencies who are representing early stage startups. First off, this is awesome; I love celebrating milestones and spreading the good word about your company. But when you are an early stage startup you have more dire things to spend your money on than someone out there sending emails and networking on your behalf – like making sure your product is so badass that it is impossible for the media not to write about it.

In light of this, I have decided to list 7 can’t miss ways to get your company some press without hiring an expensive PR agency. Good luck!

Leverage Your Network

Dig in to your LinkedIn and Facebook contacts, you definitely know someone working in the media industry. And if you don’t, make friends – and fast. As an entrepreneur you should be quick on your feet and be able to get introductions to whomever you want thanks to how easy it is to network.

Comment on Industry Specific Blog Posts

If you are a startup focusing on mobile payments, then you’d better know every mobile payments blog out there and read them every day. Take the time to provide insightful comments on the blog and create genuine dialogue. Generally, the author of the post will read every comment – with the exception of maybe TechCrunch. Either way you will get a swirl of opinions back from other readers.

Email Journalists, Create Relevant Dialogue

Almost every author page includes the contact email of the specific journalist. Like I said above on commenting, take the time to email the author and provide some insight on his/her post, and throw some compliments out and share it over social media to score some serious points. You do not necessarily need to mention your startup in the context of the email – a savvy journalist inspired by your comment will look you up anyways. And undoubtedly your company is linked to in your signature, anyways.

Follow/Tweet at Journalists

Make sure you are following the journalists who specialize in your company’s industry and keep an eye on everything they are writing. Every once in a while give them a RT and add a little flare to it. DO NOT just @mention them and say you want to talk about your product, or you might get iced. Engage them positively, and they will look you up. Again, make sure your info on Twitter points them to your company.

Pitch Your Story, Not Your Company

I get excited when writing about cool founding stories or about people that I generally connect with. When pitching to journalists on any medium, make sure your personality and founding story connects with them. Yes, this is tough, but do your research on who you are pitching to and cater the pitch to ensure a connection. They do not just want to hear about another location based app with game mechanics layered on top of it, but the story behind why you embarked on building the product to begin with is likely to strike a more meaningful chord.

Target Your Prey, Plan Your Attack

Events are no doubt important to go to as a startup employee, but use your time wisely, as there are a slew of events out there that can be a complete waste of time or that never draw a new crowd. If you are going to an event every night you should really evaluate the value spent at the event versus in front of your computer doing ACTUAL work.

When you are at said uber-valuable event, take the time to case the place. Meaning, check out who’s there and put a game plan together. This can happen even before you get to the event thanks to registration lists on places like Eventbrite and Meetup. Every event that I go to, I spend the first few minutes doing a lap and making mental notes of the 3 people that I HAVE to talk to and will not leave without doing so. Don’t just sit by the bar waiting for circumstance.

Bring some business cards, but have some fun conversation before giving someone your pitch. If you get their business card in return, ALWAYS follow up with an email the next day – “Hey great to meet you, enjoyed our chat. Let’s grab a coffee/beer sometime.”

Email Us!

We want to tell your story and break exciting news. We realize we do not get the eyeballs that TechCrunch gets (yet!), but hometown support says a lot about your startup when it comes to legitimacy. As startup-ers ourselves, we understand a lot more about your development than the average journalist, not to mention we’re invaluable cheerleaders beyond the article (yes, we are continually asked about “who’s new in the X space?”, “who has a big idea and is looking for Angel investment?”, etc. since you tend to meet a lot of people as journalists). If you’re pitching non-local media such as ones out West, it doesn’t look great to have a blank press page. Let us break some ice for you!

Are you a PR agency working for an early stage startup and have a great rebuttal? Send it to us, and we’ll publish it!