What Not to do to attract press coverage!

You Don’t Have a Press Problem. You Have a Relevance Problem.

Most founders think the issue is exposure.

“If we could just get coverage, everything would click.”

More customers. Better hires. Investor inbound.

So they do what seems logical: write a pitch, send it to a bunch of journalists, and wait.

And wait.

And… nothing.

Not because the email was bad. Because the premise was.

The Lie Founders Tell Themselves

You did something big.

Raised money. Shipped a product. Hit a milestone.

Internally, it feels massive.

Externally? It barely registers.

There are thousands of companies doing the same things every day.

Journalists know this. Their readers definitely know this.

So when your pitch shows up saying, “we raised” or “we launched,” it doesn’t land as news.

It lands as noise.

Attention Isn’t Granted. It’s Earned Over Time.

Here’s what actually separates companies that get covered from the ones that don’t:

Familiarity.

If a journalist has seen your name before — in a smart comment, a useful insight, a shared perspective — you’re not a stranger anymore.

And strangers don’t get coverage. Known quantities do.

This is where most founders fall short. They show up once, asking for something, with no prior context.

That’s not a relationship. That’s an interruption.

What To Do Instead

Forget “pitching” for a second.

Start by being present.

Find the people who consistently write about your space. Not the biggest names — the relevant ones.

Pay attention to what they cover:

• What angles do they like

• What stories they ignore

• What they keep coming back to

Then participate.

Not performatively. Not strategically in an obvious way.

Just… add something worth reading.

A sharp take. A useful data point. A different perspective.

Do that consistently, and something subtle happens:

Your name stops being random.

Become a Source, Not a Story

Here’s a better goal than “get featured”:

Be someone a journalist can use.

Because when they’re on deadline, building a story, they’re not hunting for companies to promote.

They’re looking for people who can help them explain something.

If you’ve made yourself that person — even once — you’re now on their internal list.

That’s infinitely more valuable than a cold pitch.

If You Do Pitch, Don’t Make It About You

Most pitches fail for a simple reason:

They’re centered on the company, not the insight.

“We raised.”We launched.”We hired.”

None of that answers the only question that matters:

Why should anyone care?

A strong story does one of three things:

• Reveals something people didn’t know

• Explains a shift that’s happening

• Challenges an assumption

If your update doesn’t do that, it’s not a story yet.

It’s just an update.

The Bar Is Higher Than You Think

Even if you’ve built a relationship. Even if your idea is solid.

You still have to make it easy.

Journalists don’t have time to decode your thinking.

They want the headline immediately.

What is this? Why now? Why does it matter?

If they have to dig for it, they won’t.

There Is No Shortcut Here

This is the part people try to skip.

You can’t automate trust.

You can’t template your way into credibility.

And you definitely can’t force someone to care.

The companies that consistently show up in the media didn’t “figure out PR.”

They invested in being relevant — over time.

The Shift That Actually Works

Stop thinking:

“How do I get coverage?”

Start thinking:

“How do I become someone worth covering?”

Those are very different strategies.

One is transactional. The other compounds.

If you play it right, you won’t need to chase attention.

You’ll already have it.