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We regularly speak with startups who are getting ready to announce a new product. Many are new to the PR process, and one of the biggest pieces of advice we often give them is this: allow yourself enough time to do the necessary PR required for a successful launch before you formally announce your product.
Why? Because the PR launch of a new product (or service) is more than just a press release. It is a carefully orchestrated program that begins weeks, if not months, before the actual announcement. If you don’t allow yourself enough time, your product launch won’t give you the results you deserve. For example, in whatever market you serve, you will find that many of your industry trade publications are open to being briefed on new product announcements before a press release goes out. Conducted under embargo (which is similar to an NDA), an embargoed advance briefing means that they will hold the story for publication until the official announcement date; in fact, many media prefer this. By engaging key media in advance of issuing your press release under embargo, the resulting media coverage is generally greater and more in-depth than if you wait to give it to them when the release goes out. Engaging the media under embargo is also a common launch tactic of industry leading companies, and something that startups should take advantage of as well. For startups, this is generally four to six weeks prior to issuing your press release. For a successful PR launch of a new product, the number one tip we can share with startups is to allocate enough time to do the PR launch right. If you do this, not only will you be doing what the industry leaders in your market are doing but you will get better results too. AI offers enormous benefits for businesses, both large and small. One of the biggest questions many businesses have in relation to their PR efforts is this: how much can they use AI in their outreach, and how much of their PR effort requires PR professionals?
In particular, startups, early stage and small businesses especially can be drawn to AI as a tool that enables them to do more PR themselves. With agency costs often out of their reach, tools that let them do their PR themselves can be quite tempting. If you simply need a checkbox for investors that you sent a press release out, then using the plethora of AI tools out there to help you do it yourself can be fine. However, if you’re trying to actually get media coverage, it is generally better to utilize PR professionals, even if it is just on a part time or consulting basis. The media has always been inundated with more press releases and story ideas from companies than they possibly can cover. With the growth of AI, the number of releases, story proposals and media queries that the media receives have skyrocketed. Making your outreach standout in this climate is both key and a challenge. A key to success is personalization - and not the kind of personalization of AI. AI, at best, can provide mediocre PR writing, from press releases to story proposals. As AI-based PR tools proliferate, it is personalization and knowledge that can get your company in the news. Like knowing that a certain magazine is interested in one type of story, that a TV station could be interested in a live remote broadcast for another, and that a certain trade magazine might be interested in a contributed article from you. And then being able to write the story proposal, segment proposal, press release or other PR idea specifically for them. That’s how you break above the noise and reach the media in a time of AI. Real personalization. Real PR storytelling. Not AI generated PR. Social media posts, blogs and SEO - all are an important part of helping create a public image. While they contribute to building market awareness, they are not a substitute for proactive PR.
One of the biggest pitfalls for organizations, especially startups and emerging companies, is to embark on a single PR campaign, with no follow up campaigns. The companies that invest money into a single announcement, then stay silent for six months to a year or more, never to be heard from again. PR is a process that builds gradually over time. Regular, consistent outreach to the media lets them know about your activities, that you are a serious player - even if they don’t cover every announcement. Social media and blogs aren’t a substitute for the multi-layered outreach of a professional PR campaign. An example in point: one of our clients spent a year of regular, PR outreach before garnering an interview (and ultimately a story) with a major business publication. What the editor told them was this: that while they had a good story, they wanted to see if they were going to be around long term. After the one year mark, they had their major feature story. Social media, blogs and SEO are great. So is proactive PR. Regular, consistent media outreach via proactive PR is an important key component. Personalization has always been important to successful PR. And now even more so, in a time of AI.
Reaching the right contacts in the media has been and most likely always will be critical to getting results in the media. Making sure the information gets to the correct reporter, producer or editor makes all the difference on whether your company gets a story. Although AI can offer a certain level of personalization, it doesn’t really achieve this when pitching a story to the media. Especially when you are reaching out to your top media targets, you need to know who the particular contacts are at a media outlet, what it is that interests them, and then tailor your outreach to them based on this information. You need to think like the successful freelance journalists do. Pitch your stories tailored to the media outlet, and make sure you have the correct contacts too. Taking this personal approach is critical to the success of your PR outreach. It can be time consuming, but it will pay off in results. AI can be a revolutionary force in business. It can also be a hindrance.
Certainly, AI is changing many aspects of how we do business. For your public relations voice, it is important to tread carefully. Yes, AI can speed up your writing process. Faster press releases, faster articles, faster blog posts. You get the drift. But they can also sound at the very least “canned.” Worse, automated. Which is an antithesis to what you need for PR. PR is about telling your story. About sounding authentic. While AI can help speed up the process of writing, they are at best creators of average writing. Not tools that necessarily will help you stand out from your competition. PR is all about telling your story, in your voice, to the media. To differentiate yourself from your competition and make you stand out. While AI can help out, it is the personal human touch that can make all the difference. And as we’ve said in the past, just like with the news media, not all PR practitioners have the same abilities to tell the story. Finding the ones that can tell your story in a compelling way that resonates with the media is critical to sounding authentic, and to finding a receptive audience. BYPR founder Belinda Young will speak on “Building an Effective PR Strategy” at the TiE Seattle Entrepreneur Institute, a webinar for aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs, on June 25, 2025. Also speaking at the event will be Geekwire Managing Editor Taylor Soper.
The TiE Entrepreneur Institute is a program by TiE Seattle to help aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs understand the fundamentals of building and launching a startup from successful entrepreneurs, seasoned executives and domain experts in interactive sessions. For more information on the Institute or to sign up you can visit: https://events.tie.org/TiEInstituteModule1TiENurtureMentoringProgram2025#/ PR is an important part of the marketing mix for any business. More so for early stage startups, where a single media story can propel them to the national or even international spotlight. We’ve seen this happen more than once with our clients over the years.
With early stage startups, budget can be a big factor and looking for more ways to save money by doing it yourself is a big temptation especially with the rise of AI based PR platforms that promote eliminating the PR professional or agency to do it yourself. Yes, there are many ways you can maximize your PR by doing things yourself. However, it needs to be done judiciously. We recently saw a post on one of the freelance websites, where the startup had purchased a high end PR platform subscription. But they weren’t getting results with their media pitches and outreach, and wanted someone to consult with them (briefly) to tell them how to get results. The job was closed rather quickly, without being awarded. The point is, just because you pay for the tool doesn’t mean you will get the results. Most agencies and PR professionals require that you allow them to handle all the PR for you. For early stage startups who want to save money and do some of it themselves, finding an agency or PR professional who will work with you in a hybrid manner is critical. It isn’t impossible, but it takes time. And more than posting a job listing for someone to write a press release for $100. For startups and entrepreneurs, finding good PR counsel at startup prices can be a challenge. That’s why BYPR offers these special flat rate packages specifically with the startup in mind.
These packages are designed to provide an upwardly mobile PR path for the startup, from seed/bootstrap funding through series A and B funding rounds and exit, at flat rates that fit startup budgets.
Check out our website for more information! Public relations - which includes the art of cultivating an image with the public and the media - is a highly skilled profession. Finding the answer that works for you is very individualized and should be tailored to your organization’s business objectives and goals
With the rise of technology tools including AI, there are companies out there that can provide the illusion that they are securing good coverage. In reality, it is not often the case. We are a PR agency, yet we regularly get offers from businesses - clearly not PR agencies - that they can secure PR coverage for our clients. Securing media coverage is our core competency, so why they would even send us offers to secure coverage for our clients is more than perplexing. But even funnier are the offers they are sending us. Fee based advertorials, or in online media that require “pay for play” for placement for our clients. Even more amusing are offers from other PR agencies that think we need to secure their services in order to get PR for ourselves. Really? Securing media coverage is our core competency, so why we need another PR agency to do it for us is more than ludicrous. Look very carefully at the unsolicited offers your business may be receiving for PR. If we as a PR agency are getting offers like these, it most likely is even worse for other businesses. With the proliferation of AI tools for PR, the PR industry is undergoing a change. AI is increasingly being incorporated into automated PR tools and platforms, making it easier for non-PR professionals to attempt to take on traditional PR tasks themselves.
While this may seem like a good idea to many, conducting your own PR without professional counsel is not without risks. It is a bit like representing yourself in court without an attorney. It can be done, but you might run into obstacles and challenges that legal counsel would know how to handle or head off. Regardless, with the rising use of AI-based PR tools by non-PR professionals, the role of the PR agency is changing. In the past, agencies have very often taken an “all or nothing” approach to their PR services. A client either needed to use the agency for all its PR, either ongoing or for specific projects, or they wouldn’t take on the client. But with the rise of AI in PR, an increasing number of clients are looking for a more hybrid approach to PR. That is, they want strategic counsel from an agency or solo practitioner, but handle some or all of the day to day activities in house, with periodic counsel from their outside counsel. At BYPR, we’ve long taken this type of approach with clients. A key part of our business is the development PR plans that clients own, at a flat rate price depending on the client’s size. Clients can either choose to implement the PR plans themselves, or have us work on specific projects. That way, clients can get the strategic ideas from seasoned PR professionals, but keep costs down by handling some or all of the deliverables in house with quarterly reviews of their PR program by us. Whether good or bad, AI is changing the role of the PR agency. Using outside counsel strategically for a hybrid approach to PR is a growing trend, and one that can benefit both agencies and clients by marshalling resources where the expertise is needed. |