Public Relations

Also known as: PREarned MediaMedia RelationsCommunications

💡The Concept

Public Relations (PR) is the strategic management of a company's public image and narrative. Unlike paid advertising, PR focuses on 'Earned Media'—convincing journalists, influencers, and publications to write about your company organically. PR provides massive third-party credibility that paid ads can never buy.

⚠️The Trap

The most common trap is the 'Self-Serving Press Release.' Sending a massive email blast to 500 journalists stating 'We just launched Version 2.0 of our app' will yield zero coverage. Journalists do not care about your product; they care about stories that serve their readers.

🎯The Action

Stop pitching your product features. Pitch a 'News Hook.' Find a larger macroeconomic trend, a surprising data point your company uncovered, or a controversial contrarian opinion your CEO holds, and pitch that narrative to 5 specific journalists who write about that exact topic. Offer them 'exclusive' access to the story.

🌍Real-World Example

When Spotify launches 'Spotify Wrapped' every year, it is a masterclass in PR. By packaging their users' data into beautiful, shareable infographics, they manufacture a global cultural moment. It generates thousands of earned media articles and billions of social impressions without Spotify paying for a single ad.

⚡Pro Tips

In PR, 'Exclusive' is a magic word. Offering a top-tier journalist (e.g., at TechCrunch or Bloomberg) the exclusive right to break your news greatly increases the chance they will cover it.

Sign up for HARO (Help A Reporter Out) or similar services. Journalists actively post queries looking for expert sources. It is the easiest way to get quoted in major publications.

Always build a 'Press Kit' (a simple Google Drive folder on your website) containing high-res logos, founder headshots, and a concise company bio to remove all friction for a writer.

🚫Common Myths

✗Myth: “Any press is good press.”

✓Reality: A viral scandal might cause a temporary spike in traffic, but if it destroys trust with your core B2B buyers, the long-term enterprise value is wiped out.

✗Myth: “PR is dead because of social media.”

✓Reality: Social media amplifies PR. A feature article in the New York Times will be shared thousands of times on Twitter, providing immense SEO backlinks and social proof.

📊Real-World Case Studies

✉️

Superhuman

2018

success

Instead of buying ads to launch their $30/month email client, the founder wrote deep, thoughtful essays on product design and 'inbox zero' philosophy. He strategically built relationships with Silicon Valley reporters, resulting in universally glowing 'exclusive' reviews of the invite-only app.

Waitlist Size

250,000+ Users

Paid Ad Spend

💡 Lesson: Creating an aura of exclusivity combined with glowing third-party editorial reviews can generate massive pent-up demand without paid acquisition.