Yev from Backblaze here - we definitely splatter the embargo dates/times all over every document/email that we send out. If one person breaks it, other writers get upset and that's not good for anyone. We've even placed people in "penalty boxes" where if they've done it before we don't pitch them until morning-of or right as the release is occurring. We might even give them another tidbit of information so they can take a different approach than others writers (so there's still some incentive for them to write).
Re:How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers
by donaltroddyn on Wednesday July 19, 2017 @07:52AM
(#14803595)
I'm the CTO for a startup that is launching our public beta next month. Do you think it's work trying to find the "dream" journalist and giving them a launch exclusive or is it a case of the more, the merrier?
Who do you consider to be your dream journalist / dream publication? For publicizing your launch it's very challenging to get the interest of outlets I mentioned elsewhere in this thread unless you have name-brand funders and / or an established track record. Here's an example of a new company that was able to get this kind of attention because it had these elements:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40439810/this-new-site-sells-foo...
If you don't have these then getting your dream journalist to cover your launch will depend very much on how compelling a story you're able to craft around your product and the impact it will have. Don't underestimate what you're doing but also be very critical about it. I like the simple question mentioned in the Backblaze piece: >be really honest with yourself: if you weren’t involved, would you care?
What are a few "premiere outlets"?
Yev from Backblaze here -> for us it depends, and I imagine the type of story would dictate it. For example, our Hard Drive Stats stories don't really belong in Inc. for example, (they'd be more "at home" in places like ZDNet, Ars Technica, etc...) but something like this we might have pitched to Inc. Fortune, or something similar had we decided to pitch it.
TechCrunch, Recode, Fortune, NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, MIT Tech Review, to name a few. Of these TC is the one you would typically go to for announcing your launch or new funding. The others don't tend to cover launches of brand new startups and have a higher bar but there are other angles you might use to pitch them.
I would add:
Getting good PR in premiere outlets will give you so much more than just the first 1,000 customers. It can open the door to all kinds of opportunities, from being invited to speak at the conferences your customers attend, better recruiting, being noticed for partnership and business development deals, an being top-of-mind if you start looking for funding.
Embargoes are a tricky logistical detail, if you're using one, you don't want to leave any room for error. So aside from mentioning it in the pitch, also include something like "Embargoed until 4/13/17 at 8am California time" in stand-out font at the top of any fact sheet, press release, etc. that you share with the journalist and be sure to mention it in all your confirmation emails.
Once you get awesome PR, figure out the best way for it to live on your site going forward. I see lots of startup landing pages these days with logos like TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, etc across the bottom but no links to said articles. I can understand why, for conversion rate optimization, you may not want to include the links on your landing page. But for ultimate credibility and (possibly SEO juice) consider having a separate section on your site for press where the actual links to the articles can be found.