6 ways to get press coverage for your startup

However, dealing with online press specializing in startups is a different ball game.

Follow these six tips for dealing with tech and startup publications, and see why a selfie might be more effective than a press release:

1. Ask, “what’s in it for their readers?”

Ask this fundamental question before making any pitches. A product launch is rarely a good story—it needs to be interesting to the journalist’s readers.

It could be an amazing new piece of technology that makes you think, “Wow, humans are pretty cool,” an inspiring story about a “mum entrepreneur” or an idea so ridiculous it worked.

The story angle will depend on the publication and specific journalist. VentureBeat writes mostly about funding rounds, so it might not be worthwhile to pitch them your product’s beta launch.

It’s not worth going for news coverage at all if you can’t think why someone would want to read it. If there’s no story, Product Hunt, Hacker News or Reddit may be more fruitful.

2. Hit the target

I know first hand that a relevant pitch to a handful of journalists is far more effective than blasting a mail merge to hundreds of writers.