So you're ready to launch. Now what?

If you are an early team member at a startup company, raising a Seed or Series A round is a huge milestone. But today’s market is hyper-competitive, flooded with capital and large funding rounds, making it difficult to convince others that your company is worth covering. And if you think 2021 was hyper-competitive (Crunchbase and Bloomberg have both reported that records were shattered), don’t expect 2022 to be any less so. Pitchbook reported that in just the first week of 2022, the venture capital industry had already raised $12.8 billion for startup investments. This doesn’t include funds raised late last year by firms like Norwest Venture Partners, which announced a $3 billion fund in December. 

Here are six must-do tips if you’re planning to land a big fish story in early 2022. (Bonus tip: These work even when the market isn’t crowded.)

1. Know your target reporters. When it comes to pitching your story to the media, you need to know much more than journalists’ names and email addresses. Get familiar with what they cover, how frequently they post stories, and which of their recent articles were particularly impressive or on-trend so you can refer to them when you connect. Note that reporters change beats, so make sure your research is up-to-date. Sure that TechCrunch reporter wrote about your friend’s Seed stage enterprise data company a year ago. That doesn’t mean she’ll cover your digital health company today. By scoping out the journalist’s recent bylines, you also can avoid pitching a duplicative story. If the reporter just wrote about the latest chatbot technology, your pitch can’t be exactly that. By following their bylines and social media posts, while also understanding which trends drive news coverage, you’ll be more successful at pushing your news. 
2. Don’t spam your targets. If your pitch feels canned – generic, impersonal, and basically blah – it won't get the attention you’re looking for (unless the attention you want is a quick click into their trash folder). Even worse, if you’re sending out dozens of emails from a computer program to any and every reporter on your list, software might actually detect you as a spammer and block your email. If you’re hiring someone to do the job for you, be sure you ask about their process and how they target reporters. You don’t want to be associated with spam when you announce your first big piece of corporate news.
3. Develop a media strategy for today’s media market. Gone are the days when you could send out 50 pitches and see your news in at least 20 outlets the next week. Sure, that may work for some high-level companies (the Apples, Googles and Metas), but it’s highly unlikely most companies will get the coverage you are looking for with this approach. Read the stories that are getting covered leading up to your news. Get a feel for why they are getting covered. Really understand the landscape. Then plan your media hunt based on what you learn. Go for quality and the rest will follow.
4. Give the reporter time. Reporters are getting dozens, even hundreds, of pitches every day. Give them time to read, react and respond to your pitch. Then, they still need to write. Unless you are offering breaking news from a major company, pitching someone at Bloomberg five days before a feature story publishes won’t allow them time to review the story with their editor for approval, coordinate the interviews needed to solidify the story, and write the piece. In a busy news cycle, like last fall, we worked with reporters weeks in advance of stories for daily news sites like TechCrunch. Sometimes even that wasn’t sufficient time if more interesting news was sitting on their laptop. Offering a reporter an exclusive in two days is most certainly grounds for hitting delete. Be reasonable. Reporters don’t work for you, and they can and will say no, even if you have something interesting to say. They know there is always someone more interesting out there.
5. Help a reporter. Understand what the reporters you are targeting are looking for. Do you know of data that might be interesting, but isn’t necessarily related to your story? Do you have background on a company or trend they are covering that could give them an idea for a story? Remember tip #4? Reporters are always on deadline, generally crunched for time, and typically appreciate any help that will save them precious minutes. Think about how you can help and offer it up…even if it’s not going to get your name in print. 
6. Become a thought leader. Make your own bylines by producing quality contributed content. Find those publications that accept op-eds (a.k.a. thought leadership pieces), including the ones that require you to pay to play (bonus tip: sponsored content can pay off, but be sure to do your homework as most pay to play should be avoided). And don’t stop at just one or two pieces, expecting they will make you an industry celebrity. If you want to be a thought leader, behave like one. Share insights on articles you’ve read. Comment on stories with something relevant that the reporter may not have addressed (we’ve known stories to come out of the comments bar). You have to be a leader visibly and consistently if you want to be one in people’s minds. It takes time to build influence, but it’s time well spent, especially if you are looking for coverage between news cycles.

If you want your company to succeed and the media to cover your rise to the top, your ultimate goal is to build lasting relationships with journalists along the way. By following the right path, hopefully your milestones will land in print as well.