Sometimes people ask me if we can get them on TechCrunch or sites like Wired – and we could, but we don’t.
We don’t offer that as for most companies there is no ROI, and it’s not unusual for PR companies offering coverage on sites like TechCrunch or Wired to charge $10,000 or more.
Going direct for a sponsored post is pricey too… the 2019 media kit listed a Techcrunch tweet ‘starting at $7,500’.
If you’re not paying for a labeled sponsored post directly to TechCrunch, then your 5-figure payment is basically paying someone who has an existing relationship with the journalist… and for some publications, backhanders may be involved.
(I don’t know what happens with any given site, but I can tell you this practice of backhanders is very common.)
Paying To Get Published
But regardless of the high prices, and often a lack of traffic that comes with it, it still remains a popular practice to pay to prove you’re a legit company.
A site like Techcrunch has a lot of brand value, and is something SaaS and tech owners want to have for status – so it’s overly expensive and harder.
Bear in mind there are tech companies with hundreds of millions to billions in funding – so dropping $100k to get 5 big-name sites to mention their company at the start is not uncommon. So why would these influential news sites (and the people involved) do it for less as demand is super high, and scarcity – very high?
Pitching Newsworthy Stories
And of course in the end sites like TechCrunch want something newsworthy, so you can just pitch directly. Unfortunately, chances are you’d be ignored unless you have big actual news – and even then no guarantee anyone will even see it, just because of the noise. So it’s very hit-and-miss, and what newsworthy stuff gets covered is selective.
For example, TechCrunch often writes three times a day about PerplexityAI, because they have been funded and are arguably more newsworthy as a platform… but at the same time they have never covered Semrush (except for paid placement or casual mention) – a company that’s actually profitable and is stock-listed, with a $1.7B market cap (both are equally as popular as platforms at the time of writing).
That at least seems worth an article and is newsworthy, but maybe they did not pay enough or know the right person…
So being newsworthy is only part of it, unless what you do is ridiculously newsworthy.
If you have a great story it’s worth emailing a bunch of people who write for tech sites in general or using a pitchbook/muckrack to send a quick outline. This can work, but who picks you up can be quite random, and sometimes you put in a huge effort only to literally get no coverage – or you get coverage, but it brings no traffic or sales and is just an ego boost for your brand.
The key is generally being newsworthy – and then that’s just traditional public relations, the way Elon Musk does it, for instance. But that’s not worth it for most businesses, as direct marketing is a lower-hanging fruit, and getting actual news coverage can be hit-and-miss, or just not worth the cost.
If you have a good overall SEO and content strategy then exposure on a major site can be worth it for the boost to Google traffic. However, you also have to consider your ROI as some sites can cost $10,000, while similar sites could cost $500, and so the ROI can be very different.
Media Coverage, The Smart Way
In the end, traditional media is more of an ego rub and isn’t needed at all for a company to succeed. Alex Hormozi has not been covered once on TechCrunch – but is at 9 figures and involved in multiple successful companies, including one SaaS that sold.
That’s why we’re a lot more selective about picking publications to publish to, going for those which actually give a business ROI, and combining that with leveraging content marketing and Google for long-term traffic and sales growth.
Schedule an appointment with our team to learn how we can get your content on publications that can give your business ROI.
