Hi friends! I’m back! I got married on April 18th and then went on an AMAZING 2 week honeymoon to South Africa and have been playing catch up ever since I got back.

Here I am literally dancing down the aisle to my best friend and favorite human.

And before I move on…10/10 recommend South Africa. It’s FAR to travel to but it’s so so worth it. We did a safari, wine country, and then closed things out in Cape Town. My new favorite country - seriously.

Ok back to business!!

This week we’re talking about PR and how to get started for free or cheap. Let’s go!

Two simple ways to do PR (without a $5–10k/month agency)

This is a refreshed article from Mar 2024. Yep - I originally wrote about this topic over two years ago, and this is a revamped, revised version of that content. Ya learn things over time, ya know?

Back then, my scrappy PR playbook walked founders through building a media kit in Canva, manually sourcing target podcasts in a spreadsheet, and having a teammate cold-pitch the hosts. That approach still works! It’s how I landed on Gong’s podcast and a bunch of other sales/GTM shows.

But since writing the original, I’ve found two tools that do most of the heavy lifting for you — to the point that I genuinely don’t bother with a media kit anymore. One is proactive (you pitch them), one is reactive (you are notified when media outlets are looking for a source). Used together, they cover both modes of getting yourself in front of new audiences without paying a PR agency $5–10k a month.

Quick reminder on why this is worth your time: PR is a classic GTM multivitamin. You’re stacking top-of-funnel awareness driving inbound leads (one of my clients got 5 the same day their podcast aired), backlinks/SEO, and credibility you can point sales conversations toward later.

Tool 1: PodPitch (proactive)

Some clients come to me wanting to start their own podcast, and that is a great marketing move. BUT, it’s also very time intensive and expensive to do well…so it’s not where I suggest anyone starts their PR journey. That is generally something you grow into overtime as you have more resources and bandwidth.

Getting booked as a guest on a podcast though is relatively easy and inexpensive. PodPitch is hands-down the easiest way I’ve found to land podcast guest appearances.

Whenever I’ve set it up — for myself or for most of my clients — we’ve booked 10–15 podcasts in the first 30–60 days. Not an exaggeration. It really is that effective.

How it works:

Set up your profile (bio, expertise, links, prior episodes if you have any)
Tell it about your target audience — who you want listening
PodPitch finds podcasts whose audiences match yours and automates the outreach

A few things I’ve learned running this:

Don’t pitch yourself in first person. Have a teammate send the outreach on your behalf. Pitches from someone else on the team land way better than “hi, it’s me, please book me.”
Run it in sprints, not constantly. Because the tool is so effective, I usually recommend a full pitching cycle once a quarter rather than letting it churn all year. You don’t need 50 podcasts on the calendar — you need 10–15 great ones plus space to actually do them well.
They just added newsletter pitching. You can now use PodPitch to pitch yourself as a guest contributor or interview subject for newsletters. I haven’t tested this yet but I’m planning to soon — newsletters are an underrated distribution channel and I’m bullish on it as a format.

If you want to try it, here’s my link which will give you $100 off your first month.

Tool 2: Qwoted (reactive)

Qwoted is the opposite shape: instead of you proactively pitching media, journalists post what they’re working on, and you get notified when one of their requests matches your expertise.

Setup is similar:

Create a profile
Tell it about yourself and your areas of expertise
Add the topics you care about

From there, you’ll get alerts when reporters are looking for sources, quotes, or input on relevant stories. You respond with your take, and if it lands, you get the mention.

I’ve used Qwoted to secure PR mentions in HubSpot, Business Insider, and other notable outlets — all from the free profile. No agency, no retainer.

For founders or operators with niche expertise, the free tier is more than enough to get going. Genuinely one of the highest ROI tools in my stack right now.

How to think about using them together

PodPitch (proactive): Run a 30–60 day sprint once a quarter to fill your podcast pipeline.
Qwoted (reactive): Always on. Check it a few times a week and reply quickly when relevant requests come in.

That’s it. Two tools, no agency, real PR results. If you’ve been telling yourself “we’re too early for PR” — you’re probably not. You just don’t need to do it the expensive way anymore.

Let me know how it goes!

With love and gratitude -

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GTM for Startups by Jess

Two simple ways to do PR (without a…