[stfu]

In my opinion this works only for products and services with an existing demand, i.e. in the worst case a copycat product, in the best case a product solving a very explicit problem. If your product/service is relatively innovative (i.e. for example 4square in their beginnings) and there is no explicit demand existing, these strategies won't help that much at all.

[kaedus29]

Even if you have an innovative product with no existing demand, there are still blogs/communities that this strategy will work with. What is the more generic vertical that your product is in? In 4square's case, they could hit anything mobile based, social network based, or people doing geo-based mobile development.

[dchuk]

Blog Author here: You're right, I agree. I tend to write posts targeted at founders who are building problem solving products, not the foursquares and twitters of the world.

I think in limited instances it still could possibly be a helpful strategy (if only to just start engaging the community at large and increasing brand awareness)