I used to just pitch the site I wanted to be featured on. Then I realized something. It's not the news-outlets that write about you, it's individual writers that do. Sounds stupid and obvious right? Yet, it changed my approach completely. So, in order for your startup to get covered, you need to know those writers and you need to know LOTS of them. The first thing I did is follow them all on Twitter and subscribe to their Facebook updates. Now that you follow them and are subscribed, become interested in what they do. I don't mean to make this a big task, do it very casually and make it a habit. Browse your Twitter and Facebook stream and you will come across them.

The best part? Those writers are all great people. It's a lot of fun to read their stories and hang out on Twitter and Facebook with them.

Answer some questions if they ask, reply to Tweets and Facebook posts, retweet their stuff, comment on what they write about. Do it, because you are interested and they write about your industry. One more time:

Become genuinely interested and understand what they like.