As an example, for startups who want to see how powerful this stuff is in action, here is a case study of a startup which I was part of which got acquired by Google through doing PR following this approach:
http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2015/02/21/took-startup-0-40m-pageviews-got-acquired-google/

I also wrote a step by step guide on how to do your own PR if you want to steal the step by step of what to do from here:
http://www.criminallyprolific.com/2015/08/how-to-do-diy-pr-for-your-startup-without-spending-a-penny/

Currently building a tool to help startups do this on their own as well – https://www.producthunt.com/tech/justreachout

As a founder of B2C early stage startup. I would rather focus on talking to the target audience and building a better product and customer acquisition and adding value. PR and Influencer outreach usually happens best when done organically and it take time. Long story short, Press Coverage can be a huge boost – to the Business and one’s ego, but I just don’t think about Press coverage as a “Do It Now” kinda goal.

I hope I made some sense. 🙂

http://blog.clarity.fm/the-hackers-guide-to-getting-press/

I get a lot of pitches that are too long. Even if I like the pitch and think it’s a good story, I have a 2-minute rule with email. If I can answer it in 2 minutes, I answer it immediately. If I can’t answer it in 2 minutes, I save it for later. Guess what happens to emails I save for later? They rarely get answered at all, because despite wanting to get to inbox zero, I have 2,000 emails marked for follow up and when I did some calculations I figured out it would take me 3-4 weeks, 8 hours a day, with no new emails coming in, to work through those 2,000 emails. Want your email to get read and responded to? Make it very short, and make the answer easy.

Want to know what my favorite pitch is? Nobody ever uses it, but it’s the one pitch that is almost guaranteed to get a response from me, and perhaps other journalists as well. Here it is:

“Hi Josh, what stories are you working on these days? Anything I can do to help?”

If you sent that to me today, my response would be “Yeah, my book on chief marketing officers is coming out in March, so I’m writing a lot of articles about CMOs. I’m also gearing up for my next book, which is about how millennials are changing how marketers need to approach every demographic, not just young people. If you’ve got anything that can help me in those two areas, send it over.”

Maybe you have something you can help me out with, maybe not. But if what I need doesn’t match what you want to pitch me on, your pitch wouldn’t have worked anyway. At least now you know what I’m looking for. You’ve also started a dialogue. If you then say “Sorry, can’t help you in those areas, but if you ever need ABC, I’m your man,” you’re now on my radar.

Again, nobody ever tries this approach with me. I bet nobody tries it with other journalists. Try it out, along with the other tips above, which are great.