Get featured on Direct-to-Consumer Media Outlets in 48 hours

Yes, a founder can absolutely do their own PR, but it's important to understand the components. Writing the press release and creating a media list is manageable. The challenge is the distribution and outreach. Manually pitching hundreds of journalists is incredibly time-consuming and often yields a near-zero success rate. Most publications have specific submission guidelines and prefer to work with trusted newswires or agencies. Trying to submit directly often leads to your email being ignored or caught in a spam filter. A hybrid approach is often best. Write the press release yourself to ensure the messaging is authentic, then use a distribution service like MediaBoost to handle the submission and guarantee placement. This saves you hundreds of hours and ensures you get the desired outcome.

The cost varies dramatically based on the approach you take. The 'free' option is doing it all yourself, but this is labor-intensive and rarely results in placements on major sites. You'll spend dozens of hours with little to show for it. On the high end, a traditional PR agency charges a monthly retainer, typically starting at $5,000, with no guarantee of results. This is often out of reach for early-stage D2C brands. A middle ground is using a press release distribution service, which charges a one-time fee for guaranteed placements. This provides a predictable outcome for a fixed cost. You can see our current package pricing for specific numbers.

The timeline depends on the service and package. With a distribution service like MediaBoost, after you submit your release and it passes editorial review, publication on media outlets can begin within 24 to 48 hours. The editorial review process itself is quick, usually taking a few hours during business days. Our team checks for compliance with publisher guidelines to ensure your announcement is newsworthy and properly formatted. You will receive a full report with live links to your placements within 3 business days of publication starting. If your package includes startup directory submissions, those can take up to two weeks to be fully processed and appear.

Announcements with concrete, verifiable news perform best. For D2C brands, this includes new product line launches (especially with an innovative or sustainable angle), securing a significant funding round, or announcing a major retail partnership (e.g., 'Now available in Target'). Other strong topics include achieving a major sales or user milestone (e.g., '1 Million Customers Served'), receiving a key industry award or certification, or acquiring another company. The news must be external and impactful, not just an internal promotion. Announcements that are purely marketing-focused, like a seasonal sale or a minor website update, are often rejected by editors and are not suitable for a press release. The story needs to have substance beyond just trying to sell a product.

Editors reject press releases that read like advertisements or lack a genuine news angle. To avoid this, use a neutral, third-person tone. Your headline must state the news clearly, not just a marketing slogan. For example, use 'Brand X Launches Vegan Leather Handbag Line' instead of 'Discover the Best Handbags of the Season.' Ensure your release is properly formatted with a dateline, a clear introductory paragraph, founder quotes, and a company boilerplate. Our AI-powered editor helps guide you through this structure to ensure compliance with industry standards. Most importantly, be truthful and avoid hype words like 'revolutionary,' 'game-changing,' or 'world's best.' Stick to verifiable facts and figures. Our editorial team reviews every release to catch potential issues before submission, maximizing your chances of approval.

Yes, but indirectly. A customer is unlikely to read an article on AP News and immediately buy your product. The real value is in how you leverage the coverage. Placing 'As Seen On Business Insider, AP News, and Yahoo Finance' logos on your website, product pages, and in your ads builds immense trust. This social proof is critical in D2C, where customers are wary of new, unknown brands. Seeing your company featured on a site they trust acts as a powerful third-party endorsement, reducing friction in the buying process and increasing conversion rates. It also helps with B2B relationships. When you approach potential retail partners, investors, or collaborators, showing them you have credible media coverage demonstrates market validation and professionalism, making them more likely to engage.