Contrary to what the first commenter says, it is smart to use proper SEO techniques in the beginning.
You're going to get what pay for in relation to a PR Firm. $1000 will most likely give you Low-Level coverage for a term of 1-Month or less. Low-Level coverage is generally looked down upon as it often involves commenting on blog posts and submitting spammy topics to various social networks. While you'll be looking for results, the Low-Level PR Firm will value quantity over quality... and as you may receive a good amount of traffic, the spammy trail of how your service was introduced will always show as a black mark on your reputation.
Mid & High-Level PR Firms will generally charge an hourly rate based on Industry and the Mediums that you want to be advertised through (web, newspaper). It will cost you well over $1000 during the research/consultation period in which the PR Firm sits down with you and discusses how you/they want your product/service to be portrayed...
You can very well do your own PR by establishing your service and then generating creative copy that doesn't seem spammy/cookie-cutterish. You should then pitch articles to A-List Bloggers and Editors of websites such as Yahoo, CNET, TechCrunch, etc. Contrary to popular belief, editors are very easy to get a hold of if you construct your initial emails to them in a professional manner. Every time I've shot an email off to Michael Arrington I've gotten a response in less than an hour (and I'm nobody). Remember, you never want to come across as spammy or else your service will never see the light of day.
If you are unfamiliar with how creative copy should look, you should peruse through some startup reviews on http://mashable.com to see what type of content they are looking for.
You're going to get what pay for in relation to a PR Firm. $1000 will most likely give you Low-Level coverage for a term of 1-Month or less. Low-Level coverage is generally looked down upon as it often involves commenting on blog posts and submitting spammy topics to various social networks. While you'll be looking for results, the Low-Level PR Firm will value quantity over quality... and as you may receive a good amount of traffic, the spammy trail of how your service was introduced will always show as a black mark on your reputation.
Mid & High-Level PR Firms will generally charge an hourly rate based on Industry and the Mediums that you want to be advertised through (web, newspaper). It will cost you well over $1000 during the research/consultation period in which the PR Firm sits down with you and discusses how you/they want your product/service to be portrayed...
You can very well do your own PR by establishing your service and then generating creative copy that doesn't seem spammy/cookie-cutterish. You should then pitch articles to A-List Bloggers and Editors of websites such as Yahoo, CNET, TechCrunch, etc. Contrary to popular belief, editors are very easy to get a hold of if you construct your initial emails to them in a professional manner. Every time I've shot an email off to Michael Arrington I've gotten a response in less than an hour (and I'm nobody). Remember, you never want to come across as spammy or else your service will never see the light of day.
If you are unfamiliar with how creative copy should look, you should peruse through some startup reviews on http://mashable.com to see what type of content they are looking for.
Questions: [email protected] (forwards to my personal email)