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As a journalist who agreed to Blekko's embargo, I'll give you my take. Very few companies can get journalists to agree to an embargo. Most startups don't have the luxury. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Zynga, Foursquare can do it. It's a question of importance and dilution. When you agree to an embargo, you don't know how many other sites you are competing against and you judge whether it's important enough to cover even if you don't get much interest in your version of the story. Blekko, as a well-funded entrant with great tech cred trying to bust into a very interesting and nearly monopolized field, clearly counted. If you are smaller and don't have that buzz, you don't have that luxury. Depending on your size and market, you don't need a PR firm (a good PR advisor is worthwhile). For many companies, it's better to figure out the place and writer you really want to cover you and offer an exclusive. You can then get follow-on press from other places by offering them untold angles -- especially ones that that writer or place would be interested in. As a journalist, I hate embargoes, even as I understand why and how they are useful. But the best advice I can give is not to think of blogs/publications as simply places to exploit. Writers can smell that from far off. Learn to cultivate relationships. Be a source. Critique our stories. Suggest trend stories and cool stuff other people are working on. Ask to talk off the record when you meet us at events and conferences. Learn to speak openly and honestly on the record. In turn, you'll likely find writers you like. Writers will tell you things off the record (things we can't print) and are people who may write about you not just in this venture, but in your next. Writers are, like you, part of the tech ecosystem. |