Is PR worth it for a startup?
Often, yes, because it does things ads can't. Coverage in a publication your buyers trust makes a new name credible, gives investors and partners something to point to, and builds the links and mentions that search engines and AI assistants look for.
It works best once there's something to send people to: a clear website and a product people can buy or try. Coverage that lands on a half-finished site is wasted.
What counts as a story for a startup?
Not the launch itself, usually. Journalists hear from new businesses every day. What gets coverage is a story readers care about.
- The problem: a frustration lots of people share, and what's changing about it.
- The founder: an unusual background, a strong opinion, a reason for starting that people relate to.
- Your data: patterns from your own customers or product, shared with permission and with care.
- Customers: a real person whose life or business is different because of what you do.
- Milestones with substance: a first big partner, a new market, a result you can prove.
- Comment: a clear, expert view on news already happening in your field.
How do you get PR for a startup, step by step?
This is the order we'd work in for a new business.
- Fix the basics: a clear website, a short About page, founder photos and a one-paragraph description journalists can lift.
- Write down three or four story angles from the list above, and test each one: would a stranger care?
- List the publications your buyers read: trade titles, local and regional press, newsletters and podcasts.
- Find the specific journalist at each one who covers your subject.
- Write a short pitch for each: the story in two lines, why it matters to their readers, and what you can offer (data, a founder interview, a customer).
- Send, follow up once, and move on if there's no reply.
- Watch the news in your field and offer the founder as an expert when a relevant story breaks.
- Share every piece of coverage on your site and channels, and use it to pitch the next tier of publications.
Should a startup target national press?
Eventually, and sometimes sooner than you'd think, if the story is strong. BidScript, a UK bid management software company we work with, was featured in The Times in July 2026. But most startups get further, faster, by starting with trade and regional titles, which are more open to new names and often reach buyers more directly.
Our guide to getting featured in the national press covers the step up.
Can founders do their own PR?
Yes, and early on it often works well, because journalists like hearing from founders directly. What it takes is time: finding the right journalists, writing pitches that fit each one, and replying quickly when someone bites. Journalists are often working to same-day deadlines, so slow replies lose stories.
Bring in help when you've got more stories than time, when you want to reach publications you have no way into, or when PR needs to run alongside SEO and ads as one plan.
What PR mistakes do startups make?
Most come from treating PR like advertising.
- Announcing the launch and nothing else.
- Paying for distribution and calling it coverage.
- Pitching every journalist with the same email.
- Using sales language: "disruptive", "revolutionising", "the first ever".
- Making claims you can't back up with evidence.
- Getting coverage, then not using it on the site, in sales or in ads.
How should a startup measure PR?
On what it does for the business, not on the number of clippings. Track referral visits from coverage, branded searches, links to your site, mentions in AI answers, and enquiries that mention where they heard about you.