Mastering PR and Press
Turn media coverage into a strategic engine for credibility, growth, and brand authority.
Help the user with mastering pr and press using insights from 9 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter.
How to Help
- Identify the objective - Determine if the goal is social proof for investors, a launch spike, or B2B sales credibility.
- Refine the narrative - Simplify the product mission into a jargon-free story that is truly remarkable.
- Target the right journalists - Match the story type to specific publications and reporters whose beats align with the news.
- Develop the outreach plan - Craft direct, value-driven pitches and prepare data to support the emotional vision.
Core Principles
Press as a tactical tool
Jason Feifer: "You don't go out and raise money if you don't know what the money is for. You shouldn't go out and try to get press if you don't know what the press is for."
Media coverage should be treated as a tactical tool for specific business goals like funding or awareness rather than a goal in itself. Define the purpose before you begin.
Match news to media patterns
Emilie Gerber: "And I'm talking about TechCrunch specifically here only because the reality is they are the publication that's going to be most likely to write your funding story, that's just kind of the way it works. And it's not a bad thing, they're actually... They don't have a paywall, they tend to do a very good job, they understand it. It's a well-oiled machine, and so we know if you've done a story with them, it's going to pretty much go how you want to plan it."
Match your news to publications that have a well-oiled process for that specific category of story. For instance, TechCrunch is often the best fit for venture funding announcements.
Minimize friction for consumer press
Emilie Gerber: "The barrier to trying the product is very low, you can quickly type in a query, get the answer, and then see the power of the tool. It takes one time to see the power of the tool. So in that case, I think just organic press is enough to generate that."
If you are launching a consumer product, ensure the value is clear and the friction to try it is nearly zero. Use simple comparisons to known tools for instant clarity.
Prioritize audience value
Jason Feifer: "The editor, the writer, I'll just say it as plainly as possible. They don't care about you. They don't care about you. They care about their reader or their listener or their viewer."
Success depends on providing value to the journalist's audience rather than highlighting benefits for your own company. Research the publication's mission before reaching out.
Avoid generic PR blasts
Jason Feifer: "Finding the writers and editors who you're actually going to reach out to, who are going to most receptive to you. And also making sure that because you did the prep, you can figure out how to tell your story in a way that they're going to be interested in."
High-quality PR requires identifying specific individuals whose beats align with your unique story angle. Tailor every outreach to match their previous work and avoid mass pitching.
Use B2B press for validation
Emilie Gerber: "So I think, yeah, that's the value from the B2B perspective and it's not necessarily going to directly drive signups, but when that AE is sending their sales emails and they can link to a story, I think that really helps. Also, candidates too, when you're reaching... If it's a recruiter reaching out on LinkedIn and they only have 100 characters to make their pitch, linking to that story can be really powerful."
For B2B startups, the most important outcome of press is the third-party validation it provides. Use coverage to build credibility with buyers, candidates, and sponsors during the sales process.
Templates & Frameworks
- Airbnb's Bottom-Up PR Strategy (Virality is a myth (mostly)) - How Airbnb used the 2008 DNC and a deliberate bottom-up press strategy to get broadcast coverage
- Seth Godin's 'Remarkable' Test (Generating buzz) - A simple litmus test for whether your launch idea will generate buzz: Is it literally 'worth making a remark about'?
- PR as Credibility Asset (Not Lead Gen) (Zoelle Egner) - Use PR coverage strategically as an attachment in hiring emails and cold outbound, not as a direct acquisition channel
- Superhuman's Cultural Zeitgeist Press Strategy (How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1,000 users) - How Superhuman generated 5,000+ signups from a single strategically timed Medium post about the Mailbox shutdown
- Slack's Press Blitz Launch (How to find and win your first 10 B2B customers) - Slack used the founding team's prior experience and reputation to execute an impressive press campaign that drove 8,000 day-one invitation requests
- The 3-Step Press Pitching Process (Jason Feifer) - A high-level workflow for securing media coverage.
- PR Agency Vetting Criteria (Emilie Gerber) - A set of criteria to evaluate potential PR agencies for a startup.
- Meg O'Hara's Cold Email Pitch (Jason Feifer) - A successful cold email pitch that resulted in a podcast episode and article.
See references/artifacts.md for the full list with details.
Questions to Help Users
- "What specific business outcome are you trying to achieve with this press coverage?"
- "Can you explain your product mission in one sentence that a second-grader would understand?"
- "Which journalists are already writing about your specific category or your competitors?"
- "What is the most remarkable or surprising part of your story that people would feel compelled to talk about?"
- "How will you use the resulting article to build long-term credibility in your sales or hiring process?"
- "Is your product currently in a state where the friction to try it is nearly zero for a new user?"
Common Mistakes to Flag
- Using press as a primary driver of B2B user signups - Press is far more effective as a credibility tool for sales and recruiting than as a direct acquisition channel for early B2B customers.
- Crafting complex or jargon-filled launch announcements - If a non-technical family member cannot understand your product value immediately, journalists and their audiences likely will not either.
- Relying on automated PR blasts or mass-pitching lists - Reporters ignore generic outreach; successful coverage requires identifying specific journalists whose beats align with your story.
- Ignoring a PR crisis or responding too slowly to misinformation - False narratives spread much faster than factual corrections, making rapid and direct communication essential to protect your brand.
- Pitching the benefits to your company instead of value to the reader - Journalists prioritize stories that serve their audience's interests or provide useful lessons over corporate updates.
Deep Dive
For all 21 sourced insights from 9 guests, see references/guest-insights.md
Related Skills
- Launch Planning
- Plg Sales Integration
- Enterprise Sales Motion
- First B2B Customers
