The 2026 PR playbook for startups: execution

Part one was about strategy: the “why” behind PR, which stakeholders to chase, how to move them, and which media channels to pursue. You have the map, but now you need to understand the territory and how to move effectively inside of it.

Three practical considerations remain before you are ready to pitch: what actually earns a journalist’s attention, which activities are worth the effort, and how to conduct yourself effectively and ethically.

Newsworthiness

So what makes it to the media? Can you pitch anything you want? Not really. To determine what gets covered and what doesn’t, it helps to understand the concept of newsworthiness. If something is newsworthy, it is important and interesting enough to be covered in the media (whether it’s a news announcement or not).

The “gatekeepers” mentioned in the last piece all have their own perceptions of what is and isn’t newsworthy. Newsworthiness varies by outlet, by person, and changes with time. We can break it down into five main components.

Timeliness comes first and can be determined in two ways: short-term and long-term. Short-term timeliness is controllable, as the source decides when newsworthy information, such as funding announcements, is released to the media and typically covered that same day. Long-term timeliness, however, depends on external developments beyond the source’s control, such as breaking news, regulatory changes, or cultural trends that align with the current zeitgeist.

The second factor is impact. And when we say impact, we mean scale. Some stories make it based on sheer size because they involve staggering revenue, eye-watering funding rounds, or skyrocketing headcount. Bigger numbers make bigger stories, which explains why funding rounds remain such reliable triggers. They arrive with a figure and a set of backers that together signal validation. To be clear, a non-funding-related action that has an outsize effect on the industry, society or a human life, is equally newsworthy. A case study of new technology that saved a person’s life, which would have not been otherwise possible, is also a good example of impact.

Geography matters more than founders expect. A national desk may wave aside what a local or regional outlet would treat as a genuine event, and trade titles care about their own patch above all else. Starting close to home is usually the easiest way in, and it is the lever most startups overlook. Wanting US or UK hits as a small startup in mainland Europe is usually wishful thinking, but European startup outlets may have better openings.

Name recognition goes a long way. A well-known investor, a notable advisor, or a marquee client can elevate an entire story by lending credibility. A journalist who would pass on an unknown startup will often look twice when a familiar name is involved. “Celebrity” counts, especially if you have a real celebrity, like when the legal AI platform Legora hired the aptly-named Jude Law as a spokesperson.

Conflict is the most volatile of the five factors. Newsrooms are drawn to tension and disagreement, but picking fights can backfire on young companies trying to build goodwill. There are exceptions, mostly in the form of a clear, defensible stance on the trajectory of your industry. (Mudslinging at competitors is not something wise for early stage startups to do.) Even so, this is a rare exception, not a strategy.

Before pitching anything, look hard at your own company, technology, product and people, and be objective about genuine newsworthiness versus merely interesting to you. Study your target channels, and what they cover. What do they find newsworthy? That will show you what is newsworthy, to whom, and where.

Activity tracks

Across those channels, think in terms of sustained activities rather than one-off hits. Three tracks are worth knowing.

News is the obvious and easiest one. For an early startup, a funding announcement is usually the most valuable of all. It carries a number and a set of named backers, which together read as validation you cannot otherwise claim alone. Milestones such as a new product launch, a marquee customer, a new market, a hire senior enough to signal intent work similarly, but may be newsworthy only in trade and smaller media. For news, journalists tend to appreciate a well-written, factual press release. Don’t believe those that say the press release is dead!

Thought leadership is the second track, and the most misunderstood. It’s not shameless self-promotion, just like PR isn’t. It’s a contribution to the industry and community by sharing a point of view, insight or constructive criticism about your field. It’s your contribution to a larger conversation. In PR, the value of that contribution needs to be substantial enough to warrant a third-party media platform, which in turn lends you a higher level of credibility. Thought leadership comes in many forms, but op-eds, podcasts and speaking slots are the most common. 

Profiling is the third. It can take the form of Q&As, features and company or executive profiles that give a face and human identity to a business. Sometimes labelled “slots” or “series“, these are out there for the taking once you have traction, so understand which outlets and journalists do them, what truly interests them, and pitch them.

Not everyone has frequent newsworthy items or time for thought leadership. But ideally, you’ll have a good enough mix. Once you’re solid in your PR journey, more activity tracks become available, but that’s for another time.

Keep it human

A last word, because this is where the whole thing can come undone. Everything rests on real people trusting real people. The temptation to automate the human away is strong and growing. A PR agency was recently caught pitching journalists using a roster of fake, AI-generated PR pros, all without telling clients. Journalists notice, and they do not forgive it.

A similar logic applies to a number of other lazy shortcuts: blasting emails without checking relevance, fully AI-written pitches, etc. It wastes journalists’ time and weakens your credibility, and it is the quickest way to undo months of careful work. Use AI the way good journalists do. Follow them and see what they think about AI, you’ll find they appreciate it for research, analysing notes and internal documents and a number of other secondary tasks. This is a very fluid area, so stay up to date.

Your PR methodology

PR is not rocket science, but few take the time to learn it. This article aims to be less a set of tactics than a practical framework to help founders think about PR without overcomplicating it.

A reputation doesn’t rest on one headline but many trusted sources over time that tell a consistent story about who you are. Build that, and the big title you always wanted might eventually come to you. But never mistake the foundation for the cherry on top.

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