If you don't have an established brand or a high profile investor as you've mentioned, it can be hard to get PR. Start with smaller local publications and work your way up. Once one place has published your story, you generally can get a nice flow-on effect from there.

I agree with checking out sites like HARO or also SourceBottle - let the journos come to you and get your brand/company out there as much as possible.

Check out sites like:

www.startupnews.com.au

www.startupsmart.com.au

www.startupdaily.net

www.startupaus.org

For a start this depends on your start-up's strategy and product area. I find source bottle a really good vehicle for responding to information requests that are specific to your company. I guess it all depends on your business. Have you written a marketing plan? Do you know your target audience.

There's no doubt that PR should come before marketing, but I find that unless you have a very targeted message to a targeted blogger or journalist and you have some news of interest to them, getting coverage is not easy.

I'd do some research yourself on which bloggers and journalists are writing regularly in your space, or who are specifically reaching your target audience and then survey them on what they are interested in, before then creating a series of articles, blogs or releases on the specific areas of interest. hope this helps hunter

Please consider looking at these:

• Mashable -http://mashable.com/
• Venture Beat - http://venturebeat.com/
• The Next Web -http://thenextweb.com/
• Beta List (for beta testers) -https://betalist.com/
• Reddit (appropriate subreddit) -https://www.reddit.com/
• Product Hunt - https://www.producthunt.com/
• Help A Reporter Out (HARO) - https://www.helpareporter.com/