[inthewoods]

I think it's important to remember what journalists are looking for - a story. I've had journalists basically admit to me that they don't have time to put together all the stories that they need, so they look for interesting stories that are easy to understand. A common problem that we had early on was that the media didn't understand our data - so we worked to refine the story down to a simple sentence that just about anyone could understand - and we tested it with people outside our company.

I think the problem with most PR is that it isn't a compelling story - but the people go to the trouble of doing a full PR release (including throwing it on the wires) for something that really isn't news and will never get covered. For items like that, the blog is a perfect outlet combined with social outreach.

In my opinion, it is also worth measuring the impact of your PR - not by number of article placements, but with a brand awareness survey of your target buyers. Yes, it costs money, but you can do it these days for a surprisingly low amount of money (like $1000). This can give you a benchmark for brand awareness among your target buyers and you can then measure the impact over time.

Finally, I think the reason to hire a PR person is because they have the relationships with the media outlets that you target. Yes, they can help with messaging, etc - but at the end of the day it's about whether or not they can pick up the phone and call XXX and have them take their call. Not something for all startups naturally - and as @brackin said at the top, developing those relationships yourself is very powerful.