[a_shane]

There are some really great points in here, though I don't know if I'd agree that having a fully finished product is always necessary before putting out a press release - in many cases you can generate a ton of content by sharing articles and updates pertaining to the development of the product as it happens after you've done a press release about it.

People find out about the project through the press release, and ideally will join your mailing list, follow you on social media, etc in order to keep up with the project/product as it develops.

[egusa]

podcast speaker here: the problem with releasing content ahead of a finished product is that when you first contact the media about the launch announcement, this is your startup's introduction to the market. a journalist will google search your company to see if there has been any prior coverage. if, for example, a small blog covers your company, and 3 weeks later you reach out to TechCrunch, a journalist there will see the earlier coverage and may pass on covering the announcement (as the "launch" of the company was earlier covered). i am 100% for content marketing, but prior to the launch this is something a company should be more careful about. i hope the above makes sense.

[slgeorge]

Totally agree with you Egusa. Perhaps the key thing is to know which publications/sites you are targeting and what counts as 'news' for them. Traditional news outlets (eg TechCrunch or InfoWorld) only want something that is substantive and new - the end result. Content campaigns are often more informal - about sharing the journey.

A content campaign aims to inform a much wider base of people. It's best done ahead of any specific traditional 'PR campaign' for a launch. An easy way to do this is to create two lists of contacts: for your content campaign you might target amateur bloggers, industry influencers and your existing advocates.

[a_shane]

Exactly. Knowing the type of audience you want to reach before making a PR move of any sort is crucial, and can vary widely depending on the type of product you're developing/the kind of company you are/the kind of coverage you want.

[a_shane]

I should probably clarify my earlier comment, maybe an example will help: sending out a PR release for a game that's in development to larger tech news sites, like TechCrunch, is a good strategy because companies can build on the momentum of that initial announcement. It's definitely something that shouldn't be taken lightly, though, I totally agree with you there.