Startup PR · Marketing
Coverage makes you easier to check, and it will not fill your pipeline.
Our public relations and corporate communications page is written for a company with a communications budget and a reputation to protect. This one is for a founder with eighteen months of runway, no press contacts and one piece of real news.
In one paragraph
Startup PR is press work for a company that still has to be explained: a round closed, a first big customer, a product going live, a founder's own argument. GullySales writes the story, works out which outlets decide on merit and which are selling a slot, and says plainly which is which.
A startup holds the thing a journalist wants and hands it over badly: a number, a change, a named customer. Most founder pitches open with the mission and bury the news in the fourth paragraph.
Much of what passes for startup press is bought. The listicle of founders to watch, the award with an entry fee, the interview series on a site nobody in your category reads: each of those has a rate card. Working out which outlet sells and which decides is most of this job.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“Three months of pitching and nothing got published”
The story was the company instead of the news. An editor covering your category gets forty of those a week and replies to none of them.
“We paid for an award and put the logo on the website”
Entry-fee awards and paid roundups are a marketing spend. Shown as proof of standing to an investor who recognises the outlet, they cost more than they bought.
“The founder said something in an interview that nobody had cleared”
Revenue, a customer's name or the size of the round, once said out loud, cannot be taken back. No line had been agreed in advance on what was public.
“The round closed and the news went out three weeks later”
Nothing had been written in advance, the investor's approval was still pending, and by the time it ran the hiring page had missed the week it mattered.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
The news audit
What is genuinely announceable across the last two quarters and the next two, and what should wait until a number is attached to it.
A written story rather than a template
The release, the founder byline or the interview answers written once and properly, with the news sitting in the first line.
A target list marked paid or earned
Every publication carries a note saying what it charges or whether its editor decides, and any fee is quoted to you before a booking.
The public line
What may be said about revenue, customer names, valuation and headcount, settled with you and whoever advises the company before the first interview.
Founder preparation
The three questions every interviewer asks, the one you dread, and an answer to each that does not commit you to a figure you regret.
Outreach and one follow-up
Approaches to the reporters who cover your category by name, chased once, instead of a mass mail to a bought address list.
Coverage record
Each piece logged with its date, its cost, whether it was paid and the visits it sent, so next quarter is planned on evidence.
How the result is measured
- Pieces published, each marked paid or earned
- What a search for the company and the founder's name returns
- Referral visits from each piece
- Candidates and investors who mention the coverage
- Cost per published piece, with paid placements counted separately
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, then reported every month against it.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Founders with something dated to announce, such as a round closed, a plant commissioned or a first enterprise customer
- Companies whose name returns one directory listing and a dormant profile when an investor searches it
- Technical founders holding an argument worth reading and no evening free to write it
- A startup hiring its first twenty people, where candidates look the company up before they answer the call
- D2C brands whose buyers want to read about the product from somebody other than the brand
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Founders who need enquiries this quarter, since press will not produce them and advertising might
- A company whose product does not exist yet, where a release about a plan reads as a plan
- Anyone wanting a named publication on a named date without paying for the slot, which nobody honest sells
How it works
From your first message to the first monthly report.
No open-ended retainer. Each step has a point in time and something you receive.
01 · Day 1
Free audit call
45 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
02 · Within a few working days
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope and fee come with it, in writing.
03 · Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later month has an honest comparison.
04 · Month 1
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
05 · Every month
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words.
06 · Month 3 to 6
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. No twelve-month lock.
How the startup PR work runs
- 1
Find the news
We work through what has happened and what is coming, and separate what an editor would print from what only the team finds interesting.
- 2
Agree the boundaries
Numbers, customer names and anything covered by an investor agreement are settled before a founder sits in front of a reporter.
- 3
Write it before anyone is approached
Story, quotes and images are approved inside the company first, so an interested editor is never kept waiting.
- 4
Split the list, then approach
Paid slots are priced and shown to you. Editors are pitched by name, and a refusal comes back to you as a refusal.
- 5
Prepare the founder
A run through the likely questions, including what to say when asked for a revenue figure you would rather keep private.
- 6
Record and report
Coverage, referral visits and the candidates or investors who mention it go into the monthly report.
Proof
What happened when owners fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
Hotel Felicity Inn
- Situation
- A traveller compares three hotels on a phone and books one. The website was not built for that.
- What we did
- The site rebuilt around booking
- Photography and one look
- Search work for destination searches
- Content a traveller reads
- Result
- Online bookings increased 35%
- Organic traffic increased 50% within six months
- Positive reviews on Google and TripAdvisor increased 30%
SB Engineering
- Situation
- Buyers searching for laser cutting and sheet metal work in Bengaluru were finding other suppliers first, because the company did not rank for the terms its own customers type.
- What we did
- The site redesigned for mobile
- Search work on the buyer's terms
- Content that shows the work
- Social channels managed
- Result
- Website traffic rose 60% within six months, against a target of 50%.
- High-quality leads rose 45%, with a rise in conversion rates alongside them.
- Fifteen target keywords moved up the rankings, five of them into the top three positions.
Chord Road Hospital
- Situation
- Patients who knew the hospital trusted it. Patients who searched for a department or a treatment in the area did not find it.
- What we did
- Website rebuilt around patient needs
- Search visibility
- Social media on a schedule
- Review management
- Result
- Organic traffic increased 60% within six months
- Online appointment bookings increased 40%
- Social following grew 45%, and engagement on it rose 70%
Also worked with
Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every monthly report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No lock-in, no guarantees we cannot keep
Three to six months at a time. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with the free audit.
Option 1
The audit on its own
A 45-minute call and a written, scored report. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix the audit ranks first, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
A three-to-six-month programme
We run the work month by month, report against the baseline every month, and you renew on the numbers. No twelve-month lock.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 45-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak, within a few working days
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will press coverage bring us customers?
We have not raised anything. Is there still news?
Is a paid feature worth buying?
Can you guarantee we appear in a particular publication?
How is this priced?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Startup PR, written for your industry.
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