r/NewsletterBusiness

When I was building my first company, I was posting continuously on social media - it was draining and time -consuming, but it did help visibility.

But one of the biggest growth levers was getting featured in the press.

A single article in the right publication can do a lot:

• Send highly targeted traffic
• Earn powerful backlinks
• Build credibility
• Increase conversions
• Help your brand show up in AI search tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini

The challenge is that most founders assume PR is expensive.

I remember speaking to agencies that wanted £1,000+ per month, with no guarantee of coverage.

As a solo founder, that felt like a huge gamble.

What worked far better for me was responding directly to journalists who were actively looking for expert quotes and startup stories.

These requests come from:

• Journalists writing articles
• Bloggers
• Podcast hosts looking for guests
• Newsletter writers

If your story fits what they’re working on, you can often land coverage without paying a PR agency.

That’s exactly why I built ContactJournalists.com.

It brings together:

📰 Live press requests from journalists
🎙️ Podcasts looking for guests
🔎 A searchable journalist database
✍️ An AI pitch helper
🔗 Opportunities to earn backlinks and media coverage

We offer a free 7-day trial, so if you’re trying to grow your startup, it’s a simple way to see what journalists are asking for right now.

Even if you don’t use my platform, my advice is this:

Don’t wait until you can afford a PR agency.

Start responding to relevant media opportunities yourself.

One good press mention can be worth far more than months of posting on social media.

Happy to answer any questions about PR, backlinks, or how I’ve used press coverage to grow my own businesses.

I realized I wasn’t opening social media because I enjoyed it.

I was opening it because I wanted to feel caught up.

News, ideas, random interesting stuff, whatever. But somehow I’d always end up 40 minutes deep in comments, annoyed at people I don’t know, and no more informed than when I started.

So I tried swapping the scroll for newsletters.

I’ve been using Scout: Your Daily Brief, and honestly the biggest difference is that it feels quieter. I still get interesting things to read, but without the rage bait, trending drama, or endless feed trying to keep me there.

It’s not some dramatic “I deleted every app and changed my life” thing.

I still waste time online.

But now when I want to read something, I don’t automatically throw myself into the loudest part of the internet.

That alone has made my phone feel less exhausting.

Has anyone else replaced social media with newsletters/RSS/blogs? Did it actually stick?