I totally hear your frustration. I've become incredibly burned out on launching startups / small products that flop.
I'd say one thing - Techcrunch is definitely NOT the only game in town for PR. They are very fickle and clique-y. There are huge startups that never made a dent in TC. PR is all about building buzz from the ground up, exclusives are a load of crap and mostly reserved for established players anyhow.
If you're not getting any coverage from anywhere, yes maybe there's something at the core that isn't compelling (and you need to talk to customers / users first to determine that), but chances are you aren't spending enough time sending fun personal emails to lower-level bloggers and journalists. If you aren't in the elite old-boys club, you shouldn't be focused on approaching the journalists who are.
But PR and "viral" launches are hard work. The idea of the massively hockey-stick organic viral launch is largely a myth propagated by a few outliers (aka survivor bias).
And good PR does not make a success, either. I've built 2 things that made big PR splashes (everything BUT TC haha) and neither landed me either fame or fortune. The one product was blogged about by the New York freakin Times, and it never achieved escape velocity. PR isn't a long-term marketing strategy. Its a one-time high and believe me the downslope doesn't feel good either
Honestly, there are 2 types of folks who make it: the lucky ones, and the persistent ones. Its hard as hell (and heck I haven't beaten it yet) but you have to ignore the burnout and be one of the persistent ones
You reminded me of a quote by Ray Kroc, the guy responsible for McDonald's growth:
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
Fascinating, because I have a newspaper cutting with this quote attributed to him that must be more than 20 years old. I'm not doubting you. It's just I've always had this quote in my head and attributed it to Kroc.
It doesn't matter, of course, in this context, so thanks for the heads up.
I had mefeedia on Techcrunch, and mentioned in the NYT, WSJ, Rolling Stone back in the day. The press didn't drive that much usage/traffic, really. It was mostly about being in a hot space though, I don't have any tricks to get press to share.
Arington "covered" my project with a one-liner post that basically asked if anyone's heard of it. This generated some traffic, but it also generated calls from about a dozen VCs that led to a handful of in-person meetings. The odd part is that being in Canada I didn't know what TC was, and didn't realize the importance of mention for another few months... though the net effect of the mention was close to zero.
Especially if you aren't doing something in a hot space or aren't creating a consumer facing app. I don't blame them though, if your product is say focused at niche businesses and has little general appear it's not going to resonate well with readers.
I'd say one thing - Techcrunch is definitely NOT the only game in town for PR. They are very fickle and clique-y. There are huge startups that never made a dent in TC. PR is all about building buzz from the ground up, exclusives are a load of crap and mostly reserved for established players anyhow.
If you're not getting any coverage from anywhere, yes maybe there's something at the core that isn't compelling (and you need to talk to customers / users first to determine that), but chances are you aren't spending enough time sending fun personal emails to lower-level bloggers and journalists. If you aren't in the elite old-boys club, you shouldn't be focused on approaching the journalists who are.
But PR and "viral" launches are hard work. The idea of the massively hockey-stick organic viral launch is largely a myth propagated by a few outliers (aka survivor bias).
And good PR does not make a success, either. I've built 2 things that made big PR splashes (everything BUT TC haha) and neither landed me either fame or fortune. The one product was blogged about by the New York freakin Times, and it never achieved escape velocity. PR isn't a long-term marketing strategy. Its a one-time high and believe me the downslope doesn't feel good either
Honestly, there are 2 types of folks who make it: the lucky ones, and the persistent ones. Its hard as hell (and heck I haven't beaten it yet) but you have to ignore the burnout and be one of the persistent ones