# GetDigitize: full content reference This file contains the public marketing content of getdigitize.com in clean markdown for use by language models and AI crawlers. Generated 2026-04-18. Source site: https://getdigitize.com/ · Index: https://getdigitize.com/llms.txt --- ## Page: Home URL: https://getdigitize.com/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** GetDigitize: PR and Media for Founders and Local Operators A US PR and media firm. Founded 2022. # You sent the press release. _Six newsrooms ghosted._ GetDigitize lands coverage for founders and local operators in real outlets, then turns that coverage into Google and ChatGPT visibility that compounds. No retainers, no theatre. Book a 30-minute intro See recent work Selected placements TechCrunch Inman Houzz Apartment Therapy Forbes Council The Drum Coverage placed for clients in 2024. Named on request. Brands our team has built campaigns for Coca-Cola Nutella Starbucks Apex HVAC BrightSmile Dental Northbeam AI Mix of present and prior agency engagements. Full case studies → The reality ## Most PR firms sell motion, not coverage. If you have ever paid an agency 8,000 dollars a month to get a "share of voice" deck and one trade-pub mention, you already know. The product is press hits, social proof, and being the answer when buyers ask AI tools who to call. Everything else is paperwork. - You sent a thoughtful pitch. Six reporters opened it. None replied. - Your agency's monthly report shows "media impressions" but no story you would link your mom to. - You ranked page two for "[your category] in [your city]" while a competitor ranks one and three. - A buyer asked ChatGPT for the best firm in your category. ChatGPT named someone else. - Your team spent the quarter producing 11 LinkedIn posts that averaged 22 likes. How we operate ## Three commitments. Per engagement. In writing. 01 / Real coverage ### Press in outlets that matter to your buyers. Named beat reporters at named publications: TechCrunch, Inman, Houzz, Allure, Apartment Therapy, regional Business Journals, vertical trades. Pitches are built from your data, not a template. See media relations → 02 / AI-era search ### Be the brand AI tools recommend. When a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, or Claude for the best in your category, your name shows up. We do GEO work most PR firms have not started. See digital, GEO, and SEO → 03 / Pay for outcomes ### Per-campaign or monthly. No 12-month lock-in. Project work starts at 4,500 dollars. Monthly engagements start at 3,500 dollars. Every proposal lists the press targets, the briefs, and the search wins we are committing to. See pricing → _72_ Press placements in 2024 _11_ Tier-one outlet hits _34%_ Avg. lift in branded LLM citations _5_ People on the team Services ## Five disciplines. One team that talks to each other. We run the whole stack from press pitch to AI-Overview citation. You get one strategist, one writer, one outreach lead, and a senior reviewer. No subcontractor maze. 01 ### Media relations Pitches, press releases, embargo strategy, exclusive negotiation. We send what reporters open. View service 02 ### Influencer and celebrity management Tier-2 creators that move units, plus celebrity briefings for product launches. Vetted lists, real contracts. View service 03 ### Brand PR and thought leadership Founder bylines, contributed columns, podcast booking, and a credible LinkedIn voice. Ghostwritten, never filler. View service 04 ### Social media management Strategy, monthly calendars, original creative, paid amplification. We do not buy bots and we do not post 14 graphics a week. View service 05 ### Digital marketing, GEO, and SEO Local SEO, schema, llms.txt, AI Overview targeting, and content built to be cited. Press is the input. Visibility is the output. View service 06 ### All services and packages Bundled engagements for launches, funding announcements, and multi-location operators. View overview A switcher's note "We had a 14,000 dollar a month retainer at a name-brand firm. After ten months we had four trade mentions. GetDigitize landed three TechCrunch hits in our first quarter for less than half the spend." CMO, Series B SaaS company. Name on request. We do not believe PR is broken. We believe the price tag and the slide decks are. The work is the same craft it has always been: know the reporter, bring the angle, send the email at the right hour. We have rebuilt a small firm around doing exactly that. See the work Fit check ## Who we work with. And who we do not. ### This is for you if - You are a US founder (Seed to Series B) and your board just asked when you will be in TechCrunch. - You run a multi-location HVAC, dental, salon, medical, or retail operation and Yelp ads stopped working. - You operate a D2C brand doing $500K to $10M ARR and Meta CAC has tripled. - You want to be the answer when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews who to call. - You hate retainers and prefer paying for named outcomes. Book a fit call ### This is not for you if - You are a public company needing crisis comms or IR. Call Edelman. - You want guaranteed placement in pay-to-play "publications." We do not buy coverage. - You are pre-revenue and have not picked a category yet. Do that first; then call us. - You want a partner who will not push back on a weak angle. We will, every time. - You need a 200-person agency with a cybersecurity practice and a Brussels office. If you are not sure, the intro call is free. We will tell you straight. By role ## Pick the version of this site built for you. 01 ### For founders You closed Seed to Series B and need press, GEO, and a credible founder voice. Without burning the calendar. For founders → 02 ### For local operators HVAC, dental, salons, medical, retail with 3 to 15 locations. Earn coverage, beat the local map pack, win the AI Overview. For local operators → 03 ### For D2C brands Editorial press in Allure, Apartment Therapy, The Strategist, plus Tier-2 creators that actually move units. For D2C brands → Recent work ## Coverage we placed. Outcomes we counted. All case studies LOCAL OPERATOR ### Apex HVAC Houston: from page two to AI Overview How a 7-location Houston HVAC operator went from page two of Google to the cited source in ChatGPT and AI Overviews for "AC repair near me." Read case study → DENTAL CHAIN ### BrightSmile Dental: 41 percent more new-patient bookings A 12-clinic dental group ran a regional press push, a TikTok creator wave, and a GEO refit. New-patient bookings jumped 41 percent in 90 days. Read case study → SERIES A SAAS ### Northbeam AI: a Series A launch with three TechCrunch beats A 22-person AI infrastructure startup briefed three TechCrunch beat reporters before announce day. Result: a feature, two follow-ups, and an Inman cite. Read case study → How it runs ## A four-week start. Then we are running. Nothing fancy. No 60-page strategy doc. We do the listening, write the angles, build the lists, and start sending. You see everything in a shared Notion the entire time. Start week one - ### Week one. Listen and angle. We interview the founder or owner, read every previous mention, and pull what is and is not working. Output: three angle hypotheses we will pitch first. - ### Week two. Lists and assets. We build the reporter list (named, ranked, with last-three-pieces context) and write the press release, the pitch templates, and the LinkedIn assets. - ### Week three. Pitch and brief. Outreach goes out. Embargoes are negotiated where useful. Influencer briefs ship. We adjust based on which angles get heat. - ### Week four. Coverage and cite. Coverage lands. We push the GEO follow-through: schema updates, llms.txt, content that earns the citation. You leave week four with placements and a compounding asset. Free reading ## Two playbooks we wrote because we got tired of explaining. All resources White paper ### The Founder PR Launch Playbook A 12-step checklist for a Series A or product launch press push, including a sample pitch, a reporter-list scoring sheet, and a Notion template. Read free → Field guide ### Local-Business AEO and GEO Checklist What to fix on a local-business website so ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews recommend you. 24 checks. Free, no email required. Read free → Common questions ## Answers we send before the intro call. **Q: How is GetDigitize different from a traditional PR agency?** Traditional firms work on annual retainers starting around 10,000 dollars per month with no committed deliverables. GetDigitize works per campaign or smaller monthly engagements with named press targets, named influencer briefs, and named search and AI visibility outcomes. You see what is happening in a Notion board, not a quarterly slide deck. **Q: Do you actually get press, or is this digital marketing with a press tab?** Every engagement commits to specific publication targets and reporter names before we start. Our placements include TechCrunch, Inman, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, regional Business Journals, and dozens of local dailies. We share past placements in writing during the intro call. **Q: What is GEO and why is it on a PR firm's site?** GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It is the work of getting your brand cited when buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, or Claude for recommendations. GEO runs downstream of press coverage because LLMs cite published sources. Most PR firms have not built this muscle yet. **Q: What does pricing look like?** Project engagements start at 4,500 dollars for a single campaign such as a launch or a funding announcement. Monthly retainers start at 3,500 dollars per month for ongoing media relations and content. Local business multi-location packages run from 2,500 to 6,000 dollars per month depending on the number of locations. **Q: How do I know if you are a good fit before paying?** Free 30-minute call. We say no about a third of the time during these calls. It is better for both of us than three months of half-fit work. If we are not the right firm, we point you to one that is. **Q: Do you work with companies outside the United States?** Our media relationships are concentrated in US tier-one and regional press, plus US-focused vertical trades. We take international clients only when the goal is US market entry. For domestic press in other countries, we refer to partner firms. The next quarter ## Six weeks from now, you have your first placement. Or your money back. Book a 30-minute call. We will tell you in 15 if there is a fit, what the first campaign would look like, and what it would cost. No deck. No follow-up sequence. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: About URL: https://getdigitize.com/about/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** About GetDigitize: A Five-Person US PR and Media Firm - - About GetDigitize # A five-person firm. _Built for the era when buyers ask AI who to call._ We started in 2022 because the cost of "good" PR had floated free of the work. Sunny Goyal had spent six years inside two name-brand firms watching teams of 14 send 800 emails to land four trade-pub mentions. He thought a smaller team, doing the actual reporter work, could place better coverage at a quarter of the price. So far that has held. By the numbers - Founded March 2022 in California - Five full-time team members - 72 placements in 2024 across 41 outlets - Zero outside capital raised The origin story ## Why this firm exists. In Q4 2021, Sunny was running a Series B SaaS account at a 200-person firm in New York. The client paid 14,500 dollars a month. Over a year, they got nine placements. Two of them were trade publications no buyer reads. The strategy doc was 47 slides. The actual pitching was done by a junior with two years of experience and a list bought from a database vendor. The client did not renew. Sunny sat with that for a quarter, then quit and started GetDigitize with one client and a co-working desk. The pitch was simple: same craft, smaller team, named outcomes, no retainer lock-in. The first client landed a TechCrunch piece in week six. Three years later we are five people working with founders and operators across the US. We are not trying to be a 200-person agency. We are trying to be the firm that places the coverage you actually wanted, on the timeline you actually had. "I do not think PR is broken. The price tag is. The slide decks are. The work itself is the same craft it has always been: know the reporter, bring the angle, send the email at the right hour." **Sunny Goyal**Founder, GetDigitize Operating principles ## How we run. Principle 01 ### Coverage is the product. Not impressions. Not media equivalent value. Not "share of voice." A placement is a real story by a real reporter at a publication your buyer reads. Anything else is theatre. Principle 02 ### The angle is the work. Reporters do not need another release. They need a story their editor will buy. Half our hours go to finding the angle. The pitch is the easy part once the angle is right. Principle 03 ### Press is the input. Visibility is the output. A coverage hit that does not also lift Google rankings, citations in AI Overviews, and direct inbound is a coverage hit that ended at the publication's domain. We measure the downstream. Principle 04 ### Say no when the fit is wrong. About a third of intro calls end with us recommending another firm. We would rather refer than burn three months on a client who needs something we do not do well. Principle 05 ### Show your work. Every client gets a Notion board with the pitch list, send dates, replies, and outcomes. No quarterly review theatre. If you want to see what we did on Tuesday, log in. Principle 06 ### Pay for outcomes, not hours. Project pricing whenever it fits. Monthly engagements only with named deliverables. We do not bill hours and we do not have a "monthly minimum." The team ## Five people. No subcontractors. When you sign with GetDigitize, the same five people work on your account. The strategist who pitched on Monday is the writer who drafts on Tuesday and the lead who sends on Wednesday. We do not pass to juniors. We do not pass to overseas teams. We do not pass. Sunny Goyal Founder, lead strategist Six years inside Edelman and a 200-person trade-PR firm before founding GetDigitize. Bylines placed in TechCrunch, Inman, Forbes Council, Inc., and a dozen vertical trades. Maya Patel Senior media strategist Eight years on the consumer beat. Owns relationships with editors at Apartment Therapy, Allure, The Strategist, Refinery29, House Beautiful. Daniel Reyes Senior media strategist Local-business specialist. Led PR for two regional dental groups and a 22-location HVAC operator before joining. Knows every Business Journal market in the US top 50. Priya Mehta Creative director Writes the angles. Storyboards the creator briefs. Twelve years at boutique creative shops in LA before joining. Two ADC awards, one Cannes shortlist. Marcus Chen GEO and SEO lead Built local SEO programs for two D2C brands now over $40M ARR. Tracks AI Overview citations and Perplexity recommendations as core KPIs. We are hiring. Senior media strategist (B2B SaaS beat) and a part-time podcast booker. Pitch us. What we think the next five years look like ## A short bet on where attention is going. ### Press will matter more, not less. As paid social CACs rise and AI-generated content floods every feed, an editorial citation from a real publication becomes scarce again. The byline at TechCrunch is rarer in 2026 than it was in 2018. That makes it more valuable. ### AI is the new Google for buyer questions. When a buyer asks Perplexity or ChatGPT for the best HVAC company in Houston, an answer comes back. If your name is not in it, you are not in the consideration set. We treat AI Overview citation as the new "page one of Google." ### Founder voice beats brand voice. A short post by a real human founder out-performs a polished agency campaign in 2026. We ghostwrite where useful but the goal is the founder sounding like the founder, not like the agency. ### Local will be re-discovered. Eight years of "scale" rhetoric pushed every operator to act like a national brand. We think the next decade rewards operators who go deep in a region: own one Business Journal, one Reddit thread, one mayor's office. About the firm ## Common questions. **Q: Where is GetDigitize based?** We are headquartered in California with team members across the United States. All client work is done remotely with quarterly in-person sessions for retainer clients. **Q: How big is the team?** Five people. Founder Sunny Goyal, two senior media strategists, one creative director, and one GEO and SEO lead. We do not subcontract. **Q: Who owns the company?** GetDigitize is a privately held US company founded and majority-owned by Sunny Goyal. We have not raised outside capital and do not plan to. **Q: Do you have a journalist or operator on the team?** Daniel was a regional Business Journal reporter for three years before moving to PR. Maya wrote for Apartment Therapy as a contributor for two years. Sunny ran in-house comms for an HVAC operator before going agency-side. The team has lived on both sides. **Q: How do I see your past work?** Visit the case studies page or ask for a press-clip portfolio in the intro call. Some clients prefer not to be named publicly; we honor that. Want to talk? ## Book a 30-minute intro. No deck. No follow-up sequence. We will tell you in 15 minutes whether we are the right firm and what the first campaign would look like. Book the call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Pricing URL: https://getdigitize.com/pricing/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** GetDigitize Pricing: Project, Monthly, and Local Plans - - Pricing # Real numbers. _Posted publicly._ No "contact for pricing." No quote-by-quote dance. The four ways to engage are below, with what is included and what it costs. The intro call is for fit, not pricing. See the plans Book a call Average client spend (2024) $_5,400_/mo Across 38 active accounts. Median client size: 24 employees, $4M ARR. Discounts available for: pre-seed startups (-20%), nonprofits (-30%), and annual prepay (-10%). The four ways to engage ## Project, monthly, local-multi, or six-month build. PROJECT ### Launch Campaign $4,500 / project A single moment: launch, funding round, milestone, exec hire. - Angle workshop and three pitch hypotheses - Press release plus three pitch templates - Curated reporter list (40 to 60 named contacts) - Six weeks of outreach - One ghostwritten founder LinkedIn post and one byline pitch - Post-campaign report: placements, replies, lessons Start a project MONTHLY · MOST POPULAR ### Monthly Retainer $3,500 / mo Ongoing PR and GEO. 30-day notice, no annual lock-in. - Three to five named press targets each month - Two ghostwritten founder pieces (LinkedIn or byline) - Weekly outreach with reply tracking - Monthly GEO audit and content priority list - Shared Notion board, always visible - Monthly 45-minute strategy call Start a retainer MULTI-LOCATION ### Local Operator Package $2,500 / mo HVAC, dental, salon, medical, retail. 3 to 15 locations. Up to $6,000 for larger fleets. - Per-location Google Business Profile and AI Overview audit - Regional press push: Business Journal and trade beat - One per-quarter creator partnership in market - Schema, llms.txt, and citation cleanup - Monthly local-rank and AI-citation report - Direct line to a senior strategist Talk locations SIX MONTHS ### Brand Build $12,000 total Six-month foundation: positioning, press, and a defensible GEO base. - Brand positioning workshop and messaging stack - Two launch campaigns inside the six months - One pillar guide and three glossary entries (GEO assets) - Founder thought-leadership cadence (LinkedIn plus two bylines) - Full GEO foundation: schema, llms.txt, content briefs, AI Overview targeting - Six biweekly working sessions Build a brand Need something custom? Multi-location operators above 15 sites, agencies wanting white-label, or in-house teams needing supplemental hands. Tell us what you need. What is included ## Side by side, in plain text. GetDigitize plan comparison IncludedLaunchMonthlyLocalBrand Build Press targets per month40 to 60 (over 6 weeks)3 to 5 named2 named regionalVariable, two campaigns Founder ghostwriting1 LinkedIn + 1 byline2 per monthOptional add-onCadenced over 6 months GEO and schema workAudit onlyMonthly auditFull per-locationFull foundation Reporter listBuilt onceRefreshed monthlyRegional listBuilt and maintained Strategy call cadenceWeekly during sprintMonthly 45-minBi-weekly 30-minBi-weekly 60-min Notion workspaceYesYesYesYes ReportingEnd-of-project reportMonthly placements + GEOMonthly local-rankEnd-of-quarter review TermSingle project30-day notice30-day notice6 months Starts at$4,500$3,500/mo$2,500/mo$12,000 total Honesty section ## Things other firms charge for. We do not. A few common line items the industry tries to bill for that we believe are part of the work. - "Strategy" deck production. The strategy is the work, not a slide deck. - Onboarding fees. We are happy to spend a week getting to know your business at no charge. - Quarterly business reviews. We talk monthly. The Notion board is the review. - Press release distribution fees. We do not use wire services. We send to named reporters. - Tool subscriptions. Cision, Muck Rack, and similar are on us, baked into the rate. Pricing FAQ ## Money questions, answered. **Q: Why is pricing so much lower than traditional PR firms?** Traditional firms run 30-to-50 person teams with dedicated juniors, account managers, and overhead. We are five senior people doing the actual reporter work. Less overhead, more time on the angle. We are not cheaper because we cut corners. We are cheaper because there are fewer mouths to feed between you and the journalist. **Q: What is included in a monthly retainer?** Three to five named press targets per month, two ghostwritten founder pieces, weekly outreach with reply tracking, monthly GEO audit, and a shared Notion board with everything visible. The monthly 45-minute strategy call is included. Influencer briefs, podcast booking, and additional bylines are add-ons priced per project. **Q: Are there any contracts or minimums?** Project work is single payment, no contract beyond the scope. Monthly engagements run on a 30-day notice. Brand Build is a six-month commitment because the GEO compounding only shows up after that. We do not require 6 or 12-month commitments outside Brand Build. **Q: Do you offer performance pricing?** Yes, on launch projects. We add a placement bonus tied to a specific outlet (for example, a TechCrunch hit). Bonus is agreed in writing before kickoff. We do not offer "100 percent on performance" because the angles we propose are based on judgment we will not bend just to hit a metric. **Q: What does NOT count as a placement?** Press releases on wire services, paid syndication, low-DA content farms, and pay-to-play directory listings. We do not count anything we paid to publish. A placement to us is a real story by a real reporter at a publication your buyer reads. **Q: Do you offer discounts for nonprofits or seed-stage startups?** Yes. 20 percent off the Launch project for pre-seed and seed-stage startups under $2M raised. 30 percent off for 501(c)(3) nonprofits. 10 percent off any plan if you prepay annually. Ask in the intro call and we will apply it. **Q: How does payment work?** Project: 50 percent at kickoff, 50 percent at delivery. Monthly: invoiced on the first business day of the month, due net-15. Wire, ACH, or credit card (with a 2.9 percent surcharge to cover fees). We use Stripe and Mercury for payments. **Q: Can I pause a monthly engagement?** Yes. We allow up to two months of pause per year for retainer clients with no fee. Useful for budget cycles, exec transitions, or quiet quarters. Tell us with two weeks notice and we will hold your slot. Ready ## Pick the plan, then book the call. Or book the call first, and we will help you pick. Either works. The first email back from us will have a real proposal in it, not a follow-up sequence. Book the call --- ## Page: Services hub URL: https://getdigitize.com/services/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** PR and Media Services for Founders and Operators | GetDigitize - - Services # Five disciplines. _One team that talks to each other._ We run the full stack from press pitch to AI Overview citation. One senior strategist, one writer, one outreach lead, one reviewer, one GEO hand. No subcontractor maze, no junior account shuffle. You pay for the work that lands, not the slide deck that explains it. Book a 30-minute intro See pricing The five - Media relations and press outreach - Influencer and celebrity management - Brand PR and thought leadership - Social media management - Digital, GEO, and SEO Any one alone. Any combination together. No discipline sold as an "upsell" after kickoff. Why five services and not one ## A press hit with no GEO follow-through ends at the reporter's byline. The old model: hire a PR firm, a social agency, an SEO shop, and a creator agency. Four inboxes. Four strategies. Four invoices. None of them know what the others are doing. The TechCrunch piece runs on Tuesday, the social team posts a graphic on Friday, the SEO agency finds out in the quarterly review. We decided that was stupid and built one team instead. - Your PR firm landed Inc. Your SEO agency did not update the schema. The piece ranks page four. - Your creator agency briefed 12 TikTokers. None of them linked back. The coverage never compounded. - Your social team posted 14 graphics a week. Your press firm had no idea your founder was "thought-leading" on LinkedIn. - Your GEO consultant told you to write pillar pages. Your PR firm never knew, and the content got zero earned citations. - Four monthly retainers. Four logins. Four reports. One vague sense that nothing is moving. The services ## Each one stands alone. Together they compound. 01 ### Media relations Angle development, reporter lists, pitch writing, embargo strategy, exclusive negotiation, follow-up cadence. Placements in TechCrunch, Forbes Council, Inman, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, and regional Business Journals. Best for: founders, local operators, D2C brands with a moment. See media relations 02 ### Influencer and celebrity Creator vetting, brief writing, FTC-clean contracts, seeding programs, paid amplification of organic mentions, celebrity outreach run through the PR cycle. Tier-2 creators (10K to 500K) are the sweet spot that actually moves units. Best for: D2C brands, consumer launches, category-defining products. See influencer and celebrity 03 ### Brand PR and thought leadership Founder voice development, ghostwritten bylines and LinkedIn, podcast booking, contributed columns at Fast Company, Inc., HBR, and awards submissions. Ghostwritten, never filler. Best for: Seed to Series B founders building a credible voice. See brand PR 04 ### Social media management Platform-specific strategy (LinkedIn B2B, Instagram D2C, TikTok local), monthly content calendar, original creative production, low-spend paid amplification, community management. We do not post 14 graphics a week. Best for: D2C brands, founders who want a real voice on LinkedIn, multi-location local teams. See social media 05 ### Digital, GEO, and SEO GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), schema markup, llms.txt setup, AI Overview targeting, local SEO (Google Business Profile, citations), technical SEO audits, content built to be cited by Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Claude. Best for: anyone who wants to be the brand AI tools recommend. See digital, GEO, SEO 06 ### Packaged together Four bundles built from these five disciplines: Launch, Monthly Retainer, Local Operator, and Brand Build. Posted pricing, no "contact sales" dance. Best for: anyone who wants the bundle instead of picking one at a time. See packaged pricing _72_ Press placements in 2024 _41_ Outlets placed across _34%_ Avg. lift in branded LLM citations _5_ Senior people on the team How we package these together ## Four bundles. Built from the five disciplines. Same five services, packaged for the moment you are in. Single project. Ongoing monthly. Multi-location local. Six-month brand build. Pick one, or talk to us about a custom mix. PROJECT ### Launch Campaign $4,500 / project Mostly media relations, with GEO follow-through. - Angle workshop and three pitch hypotheses - 40 to 60 named reporters over six weeks - One ghostwritten LinkedIn plus byline pitch - Post-campaign schema and llms.txt update Plan details MONTHLY · POPULAR ### Monthly Retainer $3,500 / mo Media relations + brand PR + monthly GEO. - Three to five named press targets monthly - Two ghostwritten founder pieces - Monthly GEO audit and content priority list - Shared Notion board, always visible Plan details MULTI-LOCATION ### Local Operator $2,500 / mo Local SEO + regional press + creator per quarter. - Per-location GBP and AI Overview audit - Regional Business Journal and trade press - One in-market creator per quarter - Monthly local-rank and citation report Plan details SIX MONTHS ### Brand Build $12,000 total All five disciplines on a positioning foundation. - Positioning workshop and messaging stack - Two launch campaigns over six months - Pillar guide plus three glossary entries - Full GEO foundation and AI targeting Plan details How they compound ## One service feeds the next. - ### Media relations creates the citation. A real reporter at TechCrunch, Inman, or Houzz publishes a piece. That piece is the signal every downstream system (Google, Perplexity, ChatGPT) trusts more than anything your agency writes. - ### Brand PR makes the founder quotable. Ghostwritten bylines and LinkedIn build a body of signed work that reporters find when they search for sources. After six months, reporters email us first instead of the other way around. - ### Influencer work extends into the consumer layer. A Tier-2 creator who saw the press piece mentions your brand to 80,000 followers. Their post links back. You get a seed of organic backlinks the press hit could not buy. - ### Social media keeps the story alive daily. The coverage, the byline, the creator mention: all get repurposed into 4 to 6 posts a week. Not 14 graphics. Real excerpts, real voice, real reasons to click. - ### GEO turns the whole thing into compounding search. Schema markup, llms.txt, pillar content, and citation cleanup ensure the coverage gets picked up by AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT. The press hit stops being a one-day spike and becomes a permanent asset. A client's note "We were running four different agencies. GetDigitize rolled it into one team and our cost dropped by half. The coverage got better in the first quarter." COO, 12-clinic dental group. Name on request. You can hire four agencies and pay four retainers. You can also hire one team that runs all five disciplines, reads the same Slack, and actually knows what your founder said on LinkedIn yesterday. We suggest the second option. See case studies Who this works for ## Best for. And not best for. ### Best for - Seed to Series B founders who want press plus a credible voice without four agencies. - Multi-location operators (HVAC, dental, salons, medical, retail) running 3 to 15 sites. - D2C brands between $500K and $10M ARR with a category worth covering. - In-house teams that need supplemental hands for a launch or a funding moment. - Anyone who hates retainers and wants to pay for named outcomes. Book a fit call ### Not best for - Public companies that need crisis comms or investor relations. - Brands that want guaranteed placement in pay-to-play "publications." - Pre-revenue companies that have not picked a category yet. - Teams that want 200-person-agency scale and a Brussels office. - Clients who will not show us data, analytics, or customer calls. Not sure which bucket you are in? The intro call is free. We will say so. Recent work ## Coverage placed. Outcomes counted. All case studies SERIES A SAAS · LAUNCH PROJECT ### Northbeam AI: three TechCrunch beats in one quarter A 22-person AI infrastructure startup briefed three TechCrunch reporters before announce day. Result: one feature, two follow-ups, and a downstream Inman cite that drove demo requests for six weeks. Read case study LOCAL OPERATOR · MONTHLY ### Apex HVAC Houston: from page two to the AI Overview A 7-location Houston HVAC operator went from page two of Google to the cited source in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for "AC repair near me." Regional press plus GEO, no ad spend increase. Read case study Common questions ## Answered before the intro call. **Q: Can I hire you for just one service?** Yes. Most engagements start with one discipline and add others when the founder wants more. The launch project is usually media relations only. Monthly retainers often bundle media plus brand PR plus GEO because the three feed each other, but you can run any one alone. **Q: Which service do most clients start with?** For founders it is media relations tied to a funding or launch moment. For local operators it is the GEO and local SEO service. For D2C brands it is influencer and celebrity management paired with a press push. **Q: How do the services fit together?** Media relations creates the coverage. Brand PR turns the founder into a citable voice. Influencer work extends the story into consumer channels. Social media keeps the story alive daily. GEO captures the downstream search and AI visibility so the coverage compounds. One team runs all five so they actually talk to each other. **Q: Do you subcontract any of this?** No. The same five senior people at GetDigitize do the strategy, the writing, the outreach, the creator briefs, and the GEO work. We do not outsource to overseas teams or junior staff. If you see a name in a proposal, that person will be on your account. **Q: What happens on the intro call?** A 30-minute fit call. We ask about the business, the goals, and the last 12 months of marketing. In 15 minutes we tell you which service (if any) is the right starting point and what it would cost. No deck, no follow-up sequence, no "let us reconnect next quarter" email. **Q: Which services include GEO work?** The digital, GEO, and SEO service is dedicated to it. But every other service pulls GEO in at the handoff: schema on a press hit, llms.txt updates on a thought-leadership piece, citation cleanup after a creator mention. GEO is treated as infrastructure, not a side bet. Pick a service ## Or book the call and we will pick the right one. Thirty minutes. Real proposal in the first email back. No deck, no "strategy session" bill, no quarterly business review theatre. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Media relations URL: https://getdigitize.com/services/media-relations/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Media Relations and Press Outreach Services | GetDigitize - - - Service 01 / Media relations # Press outreach that lands _in real outlets._ Named beat reporters. Pitches built from your data, not a template. Coverage in TechCrunch, Forbes Council, Inman, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, and regional Business Journals. Built for founders, local operators, and D2C brands who want the byline, not the impression count. Book a 30-minute intro See placements What is included - Angle workshop: 3 pitch hypotheses - Reporter list: 40 to 60 named contacts - Press release and 3 pitch templates - Six weeks of outreach with reply tracking - Embargo and exclusive negotiation - Post-campaign report: placements, lessons, next moves Launch project from $4,500. Monthly retainer from $3,500/mo. _72_ Placements in 2024 _41_ Outlets placed _21_ Avg. days to first hit _11_ Tier-one outlet hits Why this service exists ## You sent a good pitch. Nine reporters opened it. Zero replied. Most pitches die at the subject line. The reporter is on deadline for three other stories, the angle is too broad, the data is too thin, the send hit at 7am on a Friday before a long weekend. This is a craft problem. It needs a person who has pitched those exact reporters, read their last ten pieces, and knows what their editor will buy on a Tuesday. - Your last agency sent a release to 400 reporters from a bought list. Two trade mentions. - Your founder did a thoughtful essay on LinkedIn. No journalist ever cited it. - Your funding announcement went out on PR Newswire. It showed up in three press-release aggregators that bots scrape. - You pitched a reporter who left that beat nine months ago. The rest of the list had the same problem. - A competitor got the TechCrunch piece. You are 80 percent as interesting, with a better product. The angle was the difference. How we run media relations ## Six steps. Every campaign. In writing. - ### Angle development Half the hours go here. We read every prior mention, interview the founder, pull the proprietary data, and land on three angle hypotheses. Angles are a reporter's shortcut to an editor's "yes." Without an angle, the pitch is press-release noise. - ### Reporter list building Named contacts only. Each reporter on the list has their last three pieces summarized, their beat defined, their preferred pitch format noted. Average list: 40 to 60 reporters for a launch project. We never send to more than 80 from one pitch. - ### Pitch writing Three pitch templates built from the three angles. One-sentence subject lines tested against what that outlet published last week. Custom first lines for each of the top 15 reporters. Everything after that is variation on the core three. - ### Embargo and exclusive strategy When a launch can support it, we offer an exclusive to one reporter at the right outlet in exchange for a committed piece on day one. Where the news is broader, we embargo to 8 to 12 reporters with a shared publish time. Both tools, used where they fit. - ### Follow-up cadence A 10-day follow-up window with two touches. We track every open, every reply, every "maybe next quarter." We do not spam. We do not send six follow-ups. Reporters remember who respected their inbox. - ### Downstream push After the piece publishes: schema update, llms.txt mention, paid amplification of the coverage, founder social repost, backlink audit. A placement that ends at the publication's domain is a placement we half-finished. Deliverables ## What you get, named. This is what shows up in your Notion board at the end of week four on a launch project, and every month on a monthly retainer. - Three written angle hypotheses with editorial rationale - Reporter list: 40 to 60 named contacts, ranked, with last-three-pieces context - Press release (when appropriate) in the outlet's preferred format - Three pitch templates and 15 personalized variants - Published outreach schedule with timezone and hour noted - Embargo or exclusive terms in writing where used - Weekly reply log with ratings and next-move recommendations - Placement tracker: link, date, reporter, outlet, DA, direct-traffic estimate - Post-campaign report with three concrete takeaways for the next push What we do not do ## The shortcuts we skip. ### We will - Name the reporters we are targeting before we start. - Push back when your angle is weak. Often. In writing. - Pitch only outlets a real buyer of yours reads. - Share the full reply log, including the silence. - Count only stories that ran without payment from you to the outlet. ### We will not - Buy a database list of 15,000 contacts and blast. - Count wire-service pickups as placements. - Pay a "contributor" to publish your bylined filler. - Report "media impressions" or "MEV" in place of coverage. - Pitch a reporter who left the beat nine months ago because the database says they are still there. Where we place ## Outlets we know by name. Tier-one tech and business ### For founders. TechCrunch, The Information, Fast Company, Inc., Forbes Council, Business Insider, Axios, Fortune. Funding rounds, product launches, founder profiles, trend pieces. Consumer and lifestyle ### For D2C brands. Apartment Therapy, The Strategist, Allure, Refinery29, House Beautiful, Food52, Glamour, Well+Good. Product reviews, gift guides, trend roundups, founder Q and As. Vertical trades ### For category depth. Inman (real estate), Houzz (home), The Drum (marketing), Modern Healthcare, Retail Dive, TechTarget, AdAge. Where your buyer reads on Monday morning. Regional press ### For local operators. Houston Business Journal, San Francisco Business Times, Crain's Chicago, Dallas Morning News, Boston Business Journal. Every top-50 US market has a beat reporter we know. Podcast and long-form ### For founder voice. Lenny's Podcast, Acquired, How I Built This, Invest Like the Best, 20VC. Tied to our brand PR service when longer narrative fits better than a 600-word news piece. Local daily newspapers ### For multi-location. Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, Austin American-Statesman. Small teams, relationships matter, and a single placement moves the Google Business Profile. Part of the local operator package. A founder's note "Our last firm pitched 200 reporters from a bought list. We got two trade mentions. GetDigitize pitched 48 reporters they knew by name. We got a TechCrunch feature, an Inman piece, and a Forbes Council byline in the first 90 days." Founder, Series A proptech startup. Name on request. We do not have a secret. We have Maya who worked the consumer beat at Apartment Therapy for two years, Daniel who was a Business Journal reporter before moving to PR, and Sunny who has pitched TechCrunch a few hundred times. Relationships come from reps. Reps come from not being a 200-person firm with 40 junior staffers. Meet the team Who this works for ## Best for three kinds of teams. 01 ### Seed to Series B founders You have a funding round, a launch, or a founder narrative worth covering. You want TechCrunch, not wire pickup. For founders 02 ### Multi-location local operators HVAC, dental, salons, medical, retail with 3 to 15 sites. Regional Business Journal plus local daily equals real foot traffic lift. For local operators 03 ### D2C brands between $500K and $10M You want Apartment Therapy, Allure, The Strategist. Product-review beats where a placement drives actual sales. For D2C brands Fit check ## Best for. Not best for. ### Best for - You have a real news moment: funding, launch, milestone, new hire, data report. - You have proprietary data or a contrarian view worth writing about. - Your buyer reads a specific publication and your competitor is in it. - You accept that a great angle gets no replies some weeks. - You want to see the reply log, not a summary slide. ### Not best for - You want guaranteed coverage in a named outlet. No honest firm promises that. - You have no news and no data and no contrarian view. Fix that first. - You refuse to let your founder talk to a reporter for 20 minutes. - You measure PR by "media impressions" and want a monthly impression count. - You need crisis comms for a public-company incident. Call a firm that specializes. Pricing ## Two ways to engage. PROJECT ### Launch Campaign $4,500 / project One campaign: a launch, a funding announcement, a milestone push. Six weeks of work, one post-campaign report. See full plan MONTHLY ### Monthly Retainer $3,500 / mo Ongoing media relations. Three to five named press targets monthly, weekly outreach, 30-day notice. See full plan Recent work ## One placement. One compounding outcome. SERIES A SAAS · LAUNCH CAMPAIGN ### Northbeam AI: three TechCrunch beats in one quarter A 22-person AI infrastructure startup briefed three TechCrunch reporters before announce day using an exclusive plus two follow-up angles. Result: the feature, two follow-up pieces, and a downstream Inman cite. Demo requests ran 4x baseline for six weeks. Read case study DENTAL CHAIN · MONTHLY RETAINER ### BrightSmile Dental: Houston Chronicle plus Business Journal A 12-clinic dental group ran a quarterly press cadence. Four Houston Chronicle features, two Business Journal profiles, and one Apartment Therapy home-office piece for the founder. New-patient bookings jumped 41 percent in 90 days. Read case study Common questions ## Answered before the call. **Q: What counts as a real placement?** A story by a named reporter at a publication your buyer reads, reviewed by an editor, published without payment from you to the outlet. Wire releases, paid syndication, directory listings, and content farms do not count. If we paid to publish it, it is not a placement. **Q: Which outlets do you have relationships with?** US tier-one tech press (TechCrunch, The Information, Fast Company), consumer press (Apartment Therapy, The Strategist, Allure, Refinery29), vertical trades (Inman for real estate, Houzz for home, The Drum for marketing), the 50 largest regional Business Journals, and most local dailies in the top 40 US markets. **Q: How long until the first placement?** Launch projects average 21 days from kickoff to first published piece. Monthly retainers see the first placement in weeks 3 to 6 depending on the beat. Local regional press often lands faster because the pool of relevant reporters is smaller and our relationships are closer. **Q: Do you write the press release?** Yes, but we try not to lead with it. Reporters do not need more releases. They need a story their editor will buy. We usually write a pitch first, a release second, and send the release only when the angle needs the formal format (funding, M and A, exec announcements). **Q: What about embargoes and exclusives?** We negotiate both when they help. An exclusive gets one reporter to commit in exchange for a first-look advantage. An embargo lets multiple reporters prepare a piece for the same day. We use each where it fits the angle, not as a default. **Q: What happens if a pitch gets no replies?** We rebuild the angle. About 1 in 5 launch pitches goes cold on the first pass. We treat that as data: the angle was wrong, the timing was wrong, the beat was wrong. We regroup in 48 hours with two new angles. Campaigns do not stall because of one cold email. **Q: Do you guarantee placements?** We guarantee the work: the angles, the list, the outreach cadence, and the reporting. We do not guarantee a specific outlet because that would require us to promise a third party's judgment. On launch projects we add a performance bonus tied to a named outlet when both sides want skin in the game. Related services ## What pairs with media relations. 02 ### Brand PR and thought leadership Ghostwritten bylines, podcast booking, contributed columns. Turns the founder into a source reporters call. See brand PR 03 ### Digital, GEO, and SEO Turns press hits into AI Overview citations. Schema, llms.txt, content built to be quoted back. See GEO and SEO 04 ### Influencer and celebrity Tier-2 creator work that extends a press hit into the consumer feed. Paid amplification of organic mentions. See influencer Press that lands ## Six weeks. First placement. Or your money back. Book the intro. We will tell you in 15 minutes whether there is a story worth pitching and which reporter would take it. Book the call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Influencer & celebrity URL: https://getdigitize.com/services/influencer-celebrity/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Influencer and Celebrity Management for D2C Brands | GetDigitize - - - Service 02 / Influencer and celebrity # Tier-2 creators that _move units._ Celebrity briefings that land. Built for D2C brands ($500K to $10M ARR) and consumer launches. The sweet spot is 10K to 500K followers: creators whose audiences trust them as a peer, whose CPMs are a fraction of mega-influencers, and whose posts actually convert. Celebrity work runs through the PR cycle, not through a paid-endorsement broker. Book a 30-minute intro See creator work What is included - Creator shortlist: 20 to 40 vetted names - FTC-clean contract and usage-rights template - Brief with hooks, examples, and guardrails - Seeding program (30 to 80 unpaid sends) - Paid amplification of organic mentions - Unique promo codes and UTM tracking Monthly retainer from $3,500/mo. Add-on to launch campaigns. _4.2x_ Avg. CPM lift vs. mega-influencer _22%_ Seeding post-through rate _2.5%_ Engagement floor we will accept _0_ FTC issues since 2022 Why this service exists ## You paid a mega-influencer $40,000. The post got 900,000 views and sold 38 units. Every D2C founder under $10M ARR has heard this pitch: "Get a 2M-follower creator and watch sales explode." The math rarely works. The audience is too broad, the CPM is too high, the trust is too thin. Tier-2 creators (10K to 500K) have smaller reach and far better economics. We build programs around them, plus real celebrity work through editorial channels, not pay-for-post brokers. - You paid $20,000 for a creator with 1.2M followers. Post-purchase survey: 12 people said they came from that post. - Your agency brought a "shortlist" of 40 creators from a database tool. None of them matched your buyer. - Your last campaign had three FTC violations that your agency did not flag. - You sent free product to 200 creators. Nobody posted. Nobody emailed. You do not know why. - You want a celebrity product mention. Every broker quoted $250,000 for a single Instagram post. There is a cheaper way. How we run influencer and celebrity ## Five layers. Built to compound. - ### Creator vetting Engagement rate vs. follower count (2.5 percent minimum), audience geography, sponsored-post history, and a brand-safety scan on six months of captions. We rule out anyone whose feed has red flags a client would not want to be associated with. No database black-box. Human eyes. - ### Brief writing Briefs lead with hooks the creator could actually say, not marketing-speak the brand wishes they would say. Three to five optional angles per brief. Clear guardrails on what not to claim. The brief is short (one page). The call where we walk the creator through it is long (45 minutes). - ### FTC-clean contracting Every contract has: required disclosure language in a spot that will not be cut, usage rights clearly bounded (paid social only, or paid plus whitelisting, or full buyout), a payment clause that kills the fee if disclosure rules are broken, and a kill-fee if the brand cancels. Boring, but zero FTC issues since 2022. - ### Seeding programs Unpaid sends to 30 to 80 creators with a personal note and no post requirement. Post-through rate averages 15 to 25 percent. Those organic posts are evidence, and they become the raw material for paid amplification (whitelisting) later, at a fraction of paid-post cost. - ### Celebrity outreach via PR cycles Instead of paying a broker $250,000 for a celebrity Instagram post, we work the editorial side: product sends to celebrity publicists, placement in Apartment Therapy's celebrity interview column, mentions inside a People profile. A "Zendaya says this is her favorite" inside a magazine often outperforms a paid post, and costs a quarter as much. Deliverables ## What you get, named. Shows up in your Notion board across the 90-day campaign, and monthly on the retainer. - Creator shortlist of 20 to 40 vetted names with rationale - Four-part vetting memo per creator - Three brief templates per campaign - FTC-clean master contract plus per-creator variants - Seeding plan with 30 to 80 recipients and personal notes - Unique promo codes and UTM links per creator - Whitelisting plan for top-performing organic posts - Celebrity publicist outreach log - 30-day post-campaign sell-through report with halo-effect caveat What we do not do ## The shortcuts we skip. ### We will - Show you the vetting memo for every creator we propose. - Write the brief so the creator sounds like themselves, not your brand. - Run seeding programs first, paid second. - Whitelist an organic post before paying for a new one. - Pass creator fees through at cost with invoices visible. ### We will not - Buy follower counts. Not ours, not a creator's. - Run campaigns without #ad disclosure in a clear spot. - Pitch a creator whose audience is not in your market. - Mark up creator fees by 40 percent and call it "talent management." - Promise a celebrity will post for a flat fee. That is not how celebrity actually works. Creator tiers ## Where we lean, and why. Nano · 1K to 10K ### Seeding and community. Great for gifting programs and local operator work. Too small for paid campaigns unless you have 50+ of them at once. Sometimes the best review video comes from a nano you would not have found. Tier-2 · 10K to 500K ### The sweet spot. Highest engagement, best CPM, strongest trust. 80 percent of our paid work runs here. A creator with 85K engaged followers regularly outperforms one with 1.2M passive followers on conversion. Macro · 500K to 2M ### Reach plays. Useful for top-of-funnel brand awareness when a D2C brand is scaling past $10M ARR. Usually one macro per quarter layered on a tier-2 bench. Not where we start. Mega · 2M+ ### Rarely worth it. For under-$10M ARR brands, mega-influencer CPMs almost never pencil. We will say no and recommend a tier-2 cohort with the same budget. Mega works for CPG brands and major retail launches; we do not chase that tier. Celebrity · editorial ### Through PR, not paid. Product sends to publicists, editorial mentions in People, Vogue, GQ, Apartment Therapy. A celebrity name inside a magazine story carries weight a paid Instagram post cannot buy, at a fraction of the cost. TikTok native · variable ### For local operators. A tier-2 TikTok creator in your city can drive foot traffic to a salon, dental group, or HVAC operator in ways Instagram rarely does. We run a local operator creator program with one partnership per quarter. A D2C founder's note "We spent $60,000 with a mega-influencer agency and moved 180 units. GetDigitize ran a 22-creator tier-2 program for $38,000 and moved 1,400 units in the first 30 days. Same category, same product." Founder, home-goods D2C brand. Name on request. Every D2C founder we talk to has been pitched a mega-influencer deal. Most have run at least one. Most are quietly disappointed with the outcome but cannot articulate why. The why is: the CPM math does not work under $10M ARR, and trust at 2M followers is diluted to a level where a single post does not move a buyer. For D2C brands Best for. Not best for. ## Fit check. ### Best for - D2C brands between $500K and $10M ARR launching into a consumer category. - Beauty, home, food, apparel, wellness, pet, baby, and consumer-tech brands. - Multi-location local operators running a seasonal campaign in-market. - Consumer launches where a press hit needs a creator wave to amplify. - Brands that have tried mega-influencer and want a different economic model. ### Not best for - B2B SaaS with a 6-month sales cycle and a 20-person buying committee. - Brands with no ecommerce or retail channel to measure sell-through. - Categories where creator endorsements are restricted (gambling, some financial products, some regulated health). - Teams that want "viral" and will not accept 22 percent post-through as a success metric. - Brands under $200K ARR where the creator budget cannot buy a meaningful cohort. Pricing ## Retainer or add-on. MONTHLY ### Creator Program Retainer $3,500 / mo + creator pass-through Ongoing creator program: vetting, briefs, contracts, seeding, reporting. Creator fees pass through at cost. See full plan PROJECT ### Launch add-on +$2,500 / campaign Add a 12 to 20 creator wave to a launch campaign. Briefs, seeding, contracts, and sell-through tracking included. See launch plan Recent work ## Creator programs that moved real units. DENTAL CHAIN · LOCAL CREATOR WAVE ### BrightSmile Dental: four Houston TikTok creators, 41% booking lift A 12-clinic dental group ran a regional press push plus four local tier-2 TikTok creators (80K to 320K followers). New-patient bookings jumped 41 percent in 90 days. The creators drove the booking spike, the press drove the trust. Read case study SERIES A SAAS · EXEC CREATOR PROGRAM ### Northbeam AI: 8 B2B LinkedIn creators during launch quarter A 22-person AI infra startup paired the TechCrunch launch with 8 vetted LinkedIn tier-2 creators in the analytics space. Organic amplification generated 240+ inbound demo requests tied to creator posts. Read case study Common questions ## Answered before the call. **Q: Why focus on tier-2 creators instead of mega-influencers?** Creators between 10K and 500K followers post CPMs that are 3 to 8 times better than creators over 1M. Their audiences trust them as a peer, not a celebrity. For D2C brands under $10M ARR, tier-2 is where the actual unit movement happens. We will run celebrity on top of that, not instead of it. **Q: How do you vet creators?** Every creator we propose gets a four-part check: engagement rate vs. follower count (floor 2.5 percent), audience geography (must match your buyer), sponsored-post history (we read six months of their feed), and brand-safety scan (we review captions for anything disqualifying). No black-box tool. Human eyes, notes in the file. **Q: Do you handle FTC compliance?** Yes. Every contract includes FTC endorsement guidelines, required disclosure language (#ad not buried at the end), and a clause that kills the payment if disclosure rules are broken. We have never had an FTC issue on a client campaign, and we would not run one we could not disclose cleanly. **Q: What is a seeding program?** We send product to 30 to 80 creators unpaid, with a personal note and no post requirement. About 15 to 25 percent post organically anyway because they actually like the product. That gives you real endorsements instead of paid posts, and those organic posts become the raw material for paid amplification later. **Q: What about celebrity work?** Celebrity engagements run on a different cycle. We briefly outreach through PR publicists for editorial opportunities (interviews, mentions, product send-ins) rather than paid endorsements. A celebrity citation in an Apartment Therapy piece or a People interview often outperforms a paid celebrity Instagram post. **Q: Can you prove creator ROI?** We set unique promo codes and UTM links for every paid creator and track sell-through for 30 days post. For seeding, we track organic brand mentions and direct traffic. Creator ROI is not always clean (halo effects, delayed buys) but we will never tell you the work "moved the brand" without showing the data. **Q: What do creators typically cost?** Tier-2 creators (10K to 500K) run $300 to $8,000 per post depending on platform, exclusivity, and usage rights. Our fee is the management and strategy on top, not a markup on creator fees. Creator pay passes through at cost with invoices you can see. Related services ## What pairs with creator work. 01 ### Media relations A press hit gives creators something to react to. Creator posts amplify the press hit. The two compound. See media relations 04 ### Social media management Your owned channels need to be on when the creators post. Reposts, replies, community. See social media 03 ### Brand PR Founder thought-leadership pairs with consumer creator work for a full top-to-bottom brand push. See brand PR Creator program ## Build a creator bench that actually moves units. Book the intro. We will tell you in 15 minutes whether a tier-2 program fits your ARR band, what the budget range looks like, and which 5 creators would be on the short list. Book the call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Brand PR URL: https://getdigitize.com/services/brand-pr/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Brand PR and Thought Leadership for Founders | GetDigitize - - - Service 03 / Brand PR and thought leadership # Brand PR and thought leadership. _Ghostwritten. Never filler._ Built for Seed to Series B founders who want a credible voice without spending ten hours a week writing. Ghostwritten bylines at Fast Company, Inc., and HBR. A LinkedIn presence that sounds like the founder on their best day. Podcast bookings. Awards submissions. Exec speaking placements. The byline a reporter finds before they email you. Book a 30-minute intro See founder work What is included - Founder voice workshop and style guide - Two ghostwritten pieces per month - LinkedIn cadence: 2 to 3 posts per week - Contributed column pitching to Tier-1 - Podcast booking (4 to 8 bookings per year) - Two awards submissions per quarter Monthly retainer from $3,500/mo. Frequent add-on to media relations. _38_ Ghostwritten bylines published 2024 _24_ Podcast bookings landed _9_ Awards won by clients _2-3_ LinkedIn posts per week (not 14) Why this service exists ## Your founder is interesting. Your LinkedIn is not. Every founder we meet has a lens on their industry that is sharper than anything their marketing team has written. It lives in their head, in investor calls, in Slack threads with other founders, and in the voice memos they never publish. The job of brand PR is to extract that lens and put it into bylines and LinkedIn posts that sound like them on their best day. - Your LinkedIn has 14 posts this year. All of them are "Proud to announce" or a re-share of a company update. - A reporter searched for expertise on your topic. They found three of your competitors and not you. - You hired a content agency. They send 11 graphics a week. They average 22 likes. Your sales team cringes. - You paid $40,000 for a "thought leadership" program. The output was ghostwritten filler you would not share. - You want to do this yourself. You have time for it twice a quarter, not twice a week. How we run brand PR ## Six work streams. Running in parallel. - ### Founder voice development The first 60 days are listening. We record interviews, read Slack threads the founder sends us, transcribe podcast appearances, pull the sentences that sound like them. Output: a style guide with the founder's three strongest topics, their vocabulary patterns, and their sentence rhythms. Ghostwriting gets dramatically better after this. - ### Ghostwritten bylines Two pieces per month. 60-minute interview for the raw material, two drafts, final sign-off always with the founder. Placement targets include Fast Company, Inc., HBR, Entrepreneur, Forbes Council, First Round Review, and vertical trades. Where placement is uncertain, we publish to the founder's own LinkedIn and Substack first. - ### LinkedIn cadence Two to three posts per week. Not fourteen. Mix of short observation posts, longer thread posts, and occasional video. We write; the founder approves. The goal is signal, not volume. Two posts a week that get real replies out-performs ten filler posts on every metric we track. - ### Podcast booking Proposal list of 10 to 20 relevant podcasts per client. Pitches tuned to what each host actually covers. Typical booking cadence: 4 to 8 podcasts per year for a founder. We prep each appearance with the three talking points, the one honest story, and the call-to-action. - ### Awards submissions Two submissions per quarter: Inc 5000, Fast Company Innovation, Time Best, regional 40 Under 40, industry-specific lists. Awards are a known ROI: each win adds a line to the bio, earns a press mention, and gives reporters an anchor for a profile piece. We draft the application, the founder reviews, we submit. - ### Speaking placements Conference outreach for keynotes, panel seats, and fireside chats. Targets include SaaStr, TED Residency, industry-specific conferences, and boutique founder summits. Speaking is slow (6 to 12 month lead times) but a single keynote often drives more inbound than a year of LinkedIn. Deliverables ## What shows up each month. Everything lives in your shared Notion. Drafts, pitch targets, podcast lists, awards deadlines, LinkedIn queue. You see it Tuesday if we wrote it Monday. - Founder voice style guide (delivered end of month one) - Two ghostwritten pieces per month (byline plus LinkedIn long-form) - Weekly LinkedIn post queue (8 to 12 posts visible at any time) - Quarterly contributed column pitch list with named editors - Monthly podcast target list and booking progress - Quarterly awards calendar with deadlines and submissions - Speaker bio, one-pager, and headshot package - Monthly report: published pieces, podcast bookings, LinkedIn metrics - Monthly 45-minute strategy call with the founder What we do not do ## The shortcuts we skip. ### We will - Write a LinkedIn post you would actually send yourself. - Kill a draft when it reads as filler, even if it is "ready." - Push you to say something specific and defensible. - Pitch contributed columns only when there is a real thesis. - Tell you when the founder should say no to a podcast. ### We will not - Run an AI-generated "thought leadership" mill. - Publish 14 posts a week in the founder's name. - Pay contributor fees for placement at third-tier sites. - Ghostwrite a piece the founder has not read and approved. - Submit your CEO to every award with a "winner's fee." Where we publish ## Bylines land in outlets buyers read. Tier-one business ### Fast Company, Inc., HBR. The flagship placements. Long lead times, strict editor bars, high trust-signal value. Usually 3 to 6 per year for a strong founder. Contributor networks ### Forbes Council, Entrepreneur. Recurring column slots. Lower bar than HBR but real audiences. Useful for cadence, brand-building, and backlinks that feed GEO. Founder-owned ### LinkedIn and Substack. The always-on channel. LinkedIn for the professional audience, Substack for the longer-form thesis that a publication would not take but reporters will find. VC-owned publications ### First Round Review, a16z, Bessemer. Niche but high-signal. A First Round Review essay often travels further than a Fast Company piece inside the founder ecosystem. Vertical trades ### Modern Healthcare, Inman, Retail Dive. Where your actual buyer reads Monday morning. Often a faster "yes" than tier-one business press because the beat is narrower. Podcast ecosystem ### Lenny's, Acquired, How I Built This, 20VC. One 45-minute conversation produces a half-hour of evergreen content, a month of LinkedIn clips, and an SEO asset that ranks for years. A founder's note "I did not want to be a LinkedIn poster. I wanted to be taken seriously as a founder with a real thesis. GetDigitize wrote in my voice so well that reporters started emailing me after the Fast Company piece. I have not hired a recruiter in 18 months. It is all inbound." Founder and CEO, Series B climate SaaS. Name on request. Ghostwriting is a craft. Done badly it sounds like a consultant wrote your LinkedIn for you. Done well it sounds like you on your best day, with a writer's discipline underneath. We spend 60 days in listening mode because that is how long it takes to write in your voice, not at it. For founders Best for. Not best for. ## Fit check. ### Best for - Seed to Series B founders building a personal brand alongside the company. - Executives with a sharp view they have not written down yet. - Founders whose buyers read Fast Company, HBR, or a specific trade outlet. - Teams that want inbound from reporters, investors, and recruits. - Founders who will commit to two 60-minute interviews per month. ### Not best for - Founders who cannot give us 90 minutes per month for interviews. - Companies where the founder does not want to be the public face. - Teams that want us to auto-generate LinkedIn content with AI. - Very early-stage founders without a category or thesis yet. - Leaders who will not let us kill drafts that read as filler. Pricing ## Monthly retainer or brand build. MONTHLY ### Monthly Retainer $3,500 / mo Brand PR often bundles with media relations: the founder voice becomes the source reporters email. See full plan SIX MONTHS ### Brand Build $12,000 total Six-month foundation for a new founder: voice, bylines, podcast bench, awards, and GEO base. See brand build Recent work ## Founders with a public voice we helped build. SERIES A SAAS · BRAND BUILD ### Northbeam AI: 18-month founder voice build Started with the founder doing no LinkedIn posting. 18 months later: 42,000 LinkedIn followers, a Fast Company byline, an Inc. contributor column, a Lenny's Podcast appearance, two Inc 5000 applications submitted, one regional 40 Under 40 win. Inbound recruiting demand doubled. Read case study LOCAL OPERATOR · OWNER VOICE ### Apex HVAC: owner as local business voice Owner had zero public presence. One year later: quarterly Houston Chronicle business column, two podcast appearances in HVAC trade, a Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40, and an AI Overview citation for "HVAC business advice Houston" that still drives inbound leads. Read case study Common questions ## Answered before the call. **Q: What is the difference between brand PR and media relations?** Media relations sells a news moment (launch, funding, milestone) to reporters. Brand PR builds the founder into a credible voice that reporters already know by the time the news moment arrives. One is episodic. The other is cumulative. They compound when run together. **Q: How does ghostwriting actually work?** A 60-minute interview per piece. We record, transcribe, pull the sentences that sound like the founder, and draft. Two rounds of revision. Final sign-off always with the founder. The goal is the founder sounding like the founder, on their best day, with a writer's editing discipline underneath. **Q: Do bylines in Inc or Fast Company actually matter?** They matter for two things: buyer trust (a prospect Googling the founder finds a Fast Company byline and relaxes) and reporter trust (journalists searching for sources on a topic find the founder's published work and email them). They do not directly drive signups. They make everything else easier. **Q: How many posts per week on LinkedIn?** Two to three. Not fourteen. The goal is signal, not volume. Two thoughtful posts a week out-performs ten filler posts on every metric we track: profile views, inbound, replies from reporters, and buyer-side credibility. **Q: Can you get me on a specific podcast?** We have relationships with most top-50 business podcasts (Lenny's, Acquired, How I Built This, Invest Like the Best, 20VC, Modern Wisdom) but cannot guarantee a specific booking. We propose a list of 10 to 20 podcasts per client, book 4 to 8 per year, and optimize the pitches against what each host typically covers. **Q: What about awards submissions?** We handle Inc 5000, Fast Company Innovation, Time Best, Fortune 40 Under 40, regional 40 Under 40 lists, and industry-specific awards. Awards are a known ROI: 1 to 2 award wins per year gives the founder a line on the bio, a press hit when announced, and something reporters can anchor a profile around. **Q: What if the founder is not a good writer or speaker yet?** Most are not. That is the point of the service. We do voice development in the first 60 days: reading transcripts, pulling patterns, finding the founder's three strongest topics, and drafting early pieces in a voice that sounds like them on their best day. By month three, the founder is editing us, not the other way around. Related services ## What pairs with brand PR. 01 ### Media relations The news moments. Bylines and LinkedIn make the founder a source reporters trust when the news breaks. See media relations 04 ### Social media management Brand PR is the founder. Social media is the company. Different voices, same team. See social media 05 ### Digital, GEO, and SEO Bylines become citations in AI Overviews. We build the founder into a source Perplexity recommends. See GEO and SEO Founder voice ## A byline a reporter finds before they email you. Book the intro. We will tell you in 15 minutes whether your founder has the raw material for a voice and what the first 90 days would produce. Book the call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Social media URL: https://getdigitize.com/services/social-media/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Social Media Management for B2B and D2C | GetDigitize - - - Service 04 / Social media management # Social media management. _Strategy, calendar, original creative._ Platform-specific strategy (LinkedIn for B2B, Instagram for D2C, TikTok for local). Monthly content calendar built around real hooks. Original creative production, not stock-photo recycling. Low-spend paid amplification of what already works organically. We do not post 14 graphics a week. Book a 30-minute intro See social work What is included - Platform strategy and voice guide - Monthly calendar: 4 to 6 posts per week - Original creative per post (no stock) - Community management in US business hours - Paid amplification of 2 to 4 top posts per month - Monthly report with reply log and next moves Monthly retainer from $3,500/mo. Often bundled with brand PR. _4-6_ Posts per week (not 14) _3.1%_ Avg. engagement on client accounts _4.8%_ Avg. follower growth per month _8-12x_ Paid efficiency vs. cold creative Why this service exists ## Your last social agency posted 11 graphics a week. Every post averaged 22 likes. Most social agencies sell volume because volume is easy to measure, easy to schedule, and easy to bill for. Volume is not the product. A post that 40 real buyers engage with matters more than 14 posts that nobody reads. We would rather post four times a week with a strong hook than fourteen times a week with quote graphics. - Your account posts 14 graphics a week. Your engagement rate is 0.6 percent. Your followers unfollowed in Q3. - Your "community manager" replies 11 hours after a DM comes in. The prospect already went to a competitor. - Your paid social spend is $18,000 a month on cold creative. CAC has doubled year over year. - Your LinkedIn company page has the soul of a compliance memo. The founder's personal account out-performs it 40 to 1. - You cannot tell me which post drove the most pipeline last quarter. Neither can your agency. How we run social media ## Five work streams. Platform-specific. - ### Platform-specific strategy Not every brand belongs on every platform. We audit what works and kill what does not in week one. A B2B SaaS goes deep on LinkedIn and lightly on X. A D2C home brand goes heavy on Instagram and TikTok. A local operator goes TikTok and Google Business Profile Reels. We will recommend killing a platform if the audience is not there. - ### Monthly content calendar Four to six posts per week per platform. Each post has a written hook, a visual concept, and a reason to exist. Calendar drafted two weeks out, approved one week out, published on schedule. We leave room for reactive posts (news moments, meme moments, reply-with-receipts moments) that do not fit a calendar. - ### Original creative production Priya (our creative director) and a rotating creator bench produce the work. In-house: LinkedIn text posts, founder-face video, brand graphics. Outsourced: Reels and TikToks that need talent faces, product photography. No stock photos. No AI-generated brand assets unless the brand is about AI. - ### Community management DMs, comments, and @mentions monitored during US business hours. Reply within two hours for high-priority (buyer questions, press mentions, partnership outreach) and within eight hours for everything else. Reply playbook documented so anyone on the team can cover. No auto-responders that sound like a chatbot. - ### Paid amplification We do not run cold paid creative. We watch organic for posts that clear a 3 percent engagement rate, then whitelist and layer $500 to $3,000 of paid spend. That is 8 to 12 times more efficient than cold creative because the post has already proven it works. Most clients run $3,000 to $8,000 in paid amplification per month. Deliverables ## What shows up each month. Monthly calendar lives in your Notion. You can see Friday's post on Tuesday, suggest an edit, and see it go live. - Platform strategy document and brand voice guide - Monthly calendar: 16 to 24 posts drafted two weeks out - Original creative for every post (design, video, or copy) - Weekly reply log for DMs, comments, and mentions - Paid amplification plan: 2 to 4 boosted posts per month - Monthly performance report with engagement, follower growth, and pipeline replies - Reactive post slots reserved for news and meme moments - Content repurposing: press hits, bylines, podcasts turned into social - Monthly 30-minute review call What we do not do ## Our anti-patterns. ### We will - Kill platforms where your audience does not live. - Post fewer times for stronger engagement. - Amplify the organic winner before writing new paid creative. - Reply to DMs like a person, not a chatbot. - Show you the reply log, including the ones that went nowhere. ### We will not - Post 14 quote graphics a week. Ever. - Buy followers or engagement. Ever. - Run cold paid creative that has not been tested organically. - Use stock photos as brand content. - Report "impressions" as the headline metric. Platforms we work on ## Where we recommend going deep. For B2B SaaS founders ### LinkedIn, primarily. Two to three founder posts per week, one company-page post per week, occasional long-form essay. We do not overspend effort on X unless the developer audience is core. We ignore Threads and BlueSky for B2B. For D2C consumer brands ### Instagram and TikTok. 4 to 6 posts per week per platform. Heavy video-first. UGC repost + original creative mix. TikTok drives the top-of-funnel, Instagram drives the conversion. For local operators ### TikTok and Google Business Profile. Local TikTok is under-indexed and drives foot traffic. GBP posts and photos improve local SEO. Instagram is secondary. Facebook only for audiences over 55. For founder voice (personal) ### LinkedIn plus one secondary. LinkedIn for most founders. X for developer-tool founders. Overlaps with our brand PR service for ghostwriting. For consumer launches ### TikTok and Instagram Reels. Paired with our creator work. Brand account becomes the command center. Creator posts become the amplification. Paid runs on top of the organic winner. For YouTube and podcasting ### Repurposing, not primary. We do not run primary YouTube strategy. We do repurpose a founder's podcast appearance into 8 to 12 short clips per episode, which drives real LinkedIn and TikTok engagement. A D2C operator's note "Our last agency posted 18 graphics a week on Instagram. We averaged 14 likes. GetDigitize cut us to 5 posts per week with real creative. Engagement went from 0.4 percent to 3.2 percent in two months. Paid CAC dropped 38 percent because the amplification had something worth amplifying." Head of growth, home-goods D2C brand. Name on request. The thing nobody will tell you about social: the algorithm rewards engagement. Graphic-mill agencies train your audience to scroll past. Every post that gets scrolled past teaches the algorithm your account is boring. We are trying to untrain your audience from ignoring you, one good post at a time. For D2C brands Best for. Not best for. ## Fit check. ### Best for - D2C brands $500K to $10M ARR running Instagram and TikTok. - Seed to Series B founders wanting a credible LinkedIn presence. - Multi-location local operators using TikTok to drive foot traffic. - Brands that already have a press and brand PR motion and need social to connect. - Teams willing to cut platforms where their audience does not live. ### Not best for - Brands that want a 14-post-a-week content mill. - Teams that measure success by follower count alone. - Companies that need 24/7 multilingual community management. - Brands where "social" is really paid media buying. Hire a paid specialist. - Founders who will not let us post anything that might be controversial. Pricing ## Monthly retainer. MONTHLY ### Monthly Retainer $3,500 / mo One platform core plus one secondary. Often bundled with brand PR or creator work. See full plan MULTI-PLATFORM ### Social + creator bundle $6,500 / mo Two platforms plus ongoing creator program. Best for D2C brands running paid amplification. Talk bundle Paid amplification spend passes through at cost; typical range is $3,000 to $8,000/mo. Recent work ## Social that earned engagement. DENTAL CHAIN · TIKTOK + GBP ### BrightSmile Dental: 12-clinic TikTok and GBP program A 12-clinic dental group posted 4 TikToks per week per clinic (originals plus staff feature videos). GBP photos and posts refreshed weekly. Result: 41 percent lift in new-patient bookings, 1.2M TikTok views in 90 days, and top AI Overview placement for "dentist Houston" in 2 of 5 zip codes. Read case study SERIES A SAAS · LINKEDIN ### Northbeam AI: founder LinkedIn to 42K followers Founder started with 2,100 LinkedIn followers. 18 months later: 42,000 followers, average post engagement of 4.1 percent, 240+ inbound demo requests tied to specific posts, and a Lenny's Podcast booking that came from a reply on a post. Read case study Common questions ## Answered before the call. **Q: Why do you post less than other social agencies?** Because volume is not the product. Most agencies default to 14 graphics a week because it looks busy and justifies the invoice. We post 4 to 6 times a week with stronger hooks, real creative, and better replies. Every post we publish could be a post we defend on a call. Filler posts erode brand trust faster than silence. **Q: Which platforms do you work on?** LinkedIn for B2B SaaS and founders. Instagram for D2C and consumer brands. TikTok for local operators and consumer launches. X (Twitter) for developer-tooling founders where the audience still exists. We explicitly do not recommend Threads, BlueSky, or Facebook for most clients because the audience-to-effort ratio is poor in 2026. **Q: Who creates the creative?** Our creative director (Priya) and a rotating creator network. In-house for LinkedIn text posts, founder short-form video, and brand graphics. Creator network for Instagram Reels, TikTok content, and anything that needs a talent face. We do not buy stock photos and call them brand assets. **Q: Do you run paid social ads?** Yes, but only as amplification of proven organic content. We do not run cold creative. When an organic post earns a 3 percent+ engagement rate, we whitelist it, layer a small paid spend ($500 to $3,000 per post), and let the algorithm do the rest. That is 8 to 12 times more efficient than cold paid creative. **Q: How do you measure success?** Follower growth at least 4 percent per month in the first 90 days. Engagement rate above 2.5 percent on average. At least 5 qualified inbound replies per month tied to social. Monthly reply log reviewed with the client. No vanity "impressions" reporting. **Q: Can you handle community management?** Yes, within defined hours. We monitor and reply to DMs, comments, and @mentions during US business hours. For sensitive categories or high-volume brands, we set up a reply playbook and escalate to the client for anything off-script. 24/7 community coverage is an add-on. **Q: Do you manage founder accounts or only brand accounts?** Both. Founder accounts overlap with our brand PR service. Brand accounts live inside social media management. Most clients do both because the founder voice and the brand voice need to play off each other, not contradict each other. Related services ## What pairs with social media. 03 ### Brand PR and thought leadership Founder voice. The LinkedIn strategy often runs under brand PR, not social media, because the voice is different. See brand PR 02 ### Influencer and celebrity Creator posts become the raw material for paid amplification on brand social channels. See influencer 01 ### Media relations Every press hit becomes 5 to 8 social posts: the excerpt, the quote card, the reply-to-reporter moment. See media relations Social that earns ## Fewer posts. More engagement. Actual pipeline. Book the intro. We will tell you in 15 minutes which platform to double down on, which to kill, and what the first 90 days would look like. Book the call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Digital, GEO, SEO URL: https://getdigitize.com/services/digital-geo-seo/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Digital Marketing, GEO, and SEO for AI-Era Search | GetDigitize - - - Service 05 / Digital, GEO, SEO # Be the brand _AI tools recommend._ When a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, or Claude for the best in your category, your name shows up. We do the schema, the llms.txt, the answer-shaped content, and the local-SEO grind that makes it happen. Most PR firms have not started. Get a GEO audit Read the field guide What is included - Quarterly AI Overview audit and tracking - Schema markup across every page type - llms.txt and llms-full.txt setup - Local SEO for multi-location operators - Content cluster strategy built to be cited The shift ## Buyer queries moved. Most brands have not. In 2024 ChatGPT crossed 800 million weekly users. Perplexity passed 22 million monthly active. Google AI Overviews now appear on 47 percent of US informational queries. When buyers ask "best HVAC in Houston" or "what is the alternative to Salesforce," they get a synthesized answer with cited sources. If your brand is not in the citation set, you are not in the consideration set. SEO still matters. But the playbook for being cited by an AI engine is different. It rewards structured data over keyword density, definition-shaped paragraphs over fluff, and credibility signals (real authors, real schema, real outbound links) over backlink farms. - You rank page two for your category and a smaller competitor with worse content ranks page one. - You searched ChatGPT for the best in your category. You were not named. - Your Google Business Profile shows up in the Map Pack only when buyers search your exact brand name. - Your "schema strategy" is the WordPress Yoast plugin's defaults from 2018. - Your competitor just published a "what is [category]" guide and is suddenly cited everywhere. What we do ## Six pieces of work. In this order. - ### Audit. Where do you stand in AI answers today? We build a 50-query test set for your ICP, run it through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini, and capture who gets cited and why. Output: a baseline score and a target list of queries you should own in 90 days. - ### Schema. The structured data layer. Organization, WebSite, Service, Product, Offer, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList, Article, DefinedTerm, HowTo, LocalBusiness per location. Real schema, validated, matched to visible content. Most sites have either none or invented ratings (which gets penalized). We fix both. - ### llms.txt and llms-full.txt. The LLM-friendly site index. A clean markdown index at the root of your domain that tells AI crawlers where your most important pages live. Cheap to set up. Compounds quickly because adoption is rising. - ### Answer-shaped content. The format AI engines lift. Definition blocks, FAQ patterns, comparison tables, numbered how-to steps. Every important page rewritten to include at least one quotable, standalone, citeable sentence with a specific number. - ### Local SEO. For operators with locations. Per-location Google Business Profile overhaul, citation cleanup across 30 directories, review velocity programs, local AI Overview tracking, schema for LocalBusiness and Service per location, near-me query targeting. - ### Press as the input. GEO as the multiplier. Press coverage in real outlets is what AI engines cite. We close the loop: every placement we land becomes a content opportunity, a schema add, a llms-full.txt update. Output amplifies input. By the numbers ## What clients see in 90 days. _34%_Avg. lift in branded AI citations _4 of 7_Tracked queries cited (Apex HVAC) _9 of 12_Markets won (BrightSmile Dental) _14k_GitHub stars in 30 days (Northbeam AI) Numbers from real client engagements in 2024. See full case studies for context. Best for ## Where this service compounds fastest. ### Strong fit - Local operators with 3 to 15 locations who want to win the Map Pack and AI Overview together. - B2B SaaS founders launching a product where buyers research via ChatGPT and Perplexity. - D2C brands fighting rising paid CACs who need an organic flywheel. - Any brand that already gets press but is not capitalizing on the citations. ### Weak fit - Brands that need leads tomorrow. Organic and AI compounding starts at 60 days. - Pre-product startups with no positioning yet. Pick the category first. - Heavy paid-search dependent businesses unwilling to build organic muscle. - Anyone wanting to manipulate AI engines via spam tactics. We do not do that. Pricing ## Bundled or standalone. GEO and SEO are included in the Monthly Retainer ($3,500/mo) and the Local Operator Package ($2,500 to $6,000/mo). Standalone GEO audit available as a one-time engagement. Full pricing detail and what is included on the pricing page. $3,500 ### Monthly Retainer Includes monthly GEO audit and content priority list. $2,500 ### Local Operator Per-location GEO and AI Overview citation tracking. Custom ### Standalone GEO audit One-time deep audit. From $3,500. Two-week turnaround. Proof ## Read how this looked in practice. All case studies LOCAL OPERATOR ### Apex HVAC Houston: from page two to AI Overview How a 7-location HVAC operator became the cited source in ChatGPT and AI Overviews for "AC repair near me." DENTAL CHAIN ### BrightSmile Dental: 41 percent more new-patient bookings A 12-clinic group won the AI Overview citation for "best family dentist [city]" in 9 of 12 markets. SERIES A SAAS ### Northbeam AI: a Series A launch with three TechCrunch beats The press hit fed the GEO flywheel: GitHub stars 800 to 14,000 in 30 days. Common questions ## GEO and SEO questions, answered. **Q: What is GEO and how is it different from SEO?** GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It is the work of getting your brand cited when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, or Claude for recommendations. SEO targets the blue-link results page. GEO targets the synthesized answer above it. The work overlaps but the formats are different. AI engines reward clean structured data, definition-shaped paragraphs, FAQ blocks, and citations from real publications. **Q: How do you measure GEO results?** We track three things monthly. First, brand citation rate in AI Overviews and Perplexity for a tracked query set (we build the query set with you in week one). Second, organic AI-referrer traffic visible in analytics. Third, share of voice in answers compared to a named competitor set. We share the dashboard. No black box. **Q: Do I still need traditional SEO?** Yes. Most queries still produce blue-link results, especially commercial ones. We do both. The bonus is that the work overlaps significantly. Schema, llms.txt, and answer-shaped content lift you in both AI Overviews and traditional SERPs at the same time. **Q: What is llms.txt and do I really need it?** llms.txt is an emerging convention proposed by Jeremy Howard in September 2024. It is a markdown file at the root of your domain that tells language models where your most important pages live. Adoption is rising. It costs nothing to add, and it can meaningfully improve how LLMs summarize your site. We set it up in week one for every client. **Q: Do you handle local SEO for multi-location operators?** Yes. Per-location Google Business Profile audit and overhaul, citation cleanup across the top 30 directories, schema markup including LocalBusiness and Service per location, review velocity programs, and local AI Overview tracking. This is bundled into the Local Operator Package. **Q: How long until we see results?** Schema and llms.txt show effects within two to three weeks (LLM citations move faster than Google rankings). Local Map Pack lift typically shows in 6 to 10 weeks. Organic SEO compound usually starts at 90 days and meaningfully shows at 6 months. We commit to a written milestone plan in the first proposal. **Q: Do you do paid search (Google Ads)?** Light touch only, and only as a complement to organic. We do not run pure paid-search retainers. If your goal is straight Google Ads management we will refer you to a specialist. Our value is in the earned and organic flywheel. Start with the audit ## In two weeks, you will know exactly where you stand in AI answers. Standalone GEO audit: 50-query baseline, schema diagnosis, llms.txt setup, 90-day plan. From $3,500. Or roll it into a monthly retainer. Book the audit call Related Service ### Media relations The press coverage that AI engines cite. Service ### Brand PR and thought leadership Founder voice and bylines that build authority. Glossary ### What is GEO? The full definition. With examples. --- ## Page: For founders URL: https://getdigitize.com/for-founders/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** PR for Founders: Seed to Series B Press + GEO Flywheel - - For founders. Seed to Series B. # Your board asked when you will be in TechCrunch. _You have no idea who to call._ GetDigitize runs press and GEO for venture-backed founders, Seed through Series B. Two to three named press hits in 90 days. A founder thought-leadership flywheel that does not eat your calendar. Per-campaign or monthly, no annual lock-in. Book a 30-minute intro See the $4,500 Launch plan Founder placements, 2024 TechCrunch Forbes Inc. The Information Axios Fortune Named on request during the intro call. No wire-service padding. The pattern ## Why generic PR fails founders. Most firms were built to service a 2015 enterprise client with a 200K quarterly budget and a 60-day approval cycle. You are not that. Your round closes next month and the announce window is eight days long. - You sent a cold pitch to six reporters. Four opened it. Zero replied. The list was bought from a database. - Your LinkedIn post about the round got 14 likes. Your co-founder's mom was one of them. - A name-brand agency wants $14,000 per month on a 12-month retainer and a Q1 strategy doc before anyone picks up a phone. - You spent seven hours last week on content that lives inside your CMS and nowhere else. - Your VC's comms partner is running six other companies this quarter. Your announce is a line item on a shared calendar. Criteria ## What a founder actually needs from a PR firm. Need 01 ### Named targets, not "media impressions." A reporter list with names, beats, and last-three-pieces context. A specific goal for the cycle: TechCrunch, Forbes, Inc., Axios Pro, or a vertical trade that your buyer actually reads. Need 02 ### Speed that matches the round. Announce windows are eight days, not eight weeks. A firm that can start pitching in week two and negotiate embargo by week three. Need 03 ### A voice that sounds like the founder. Ghostwritten LinkedIn posts and bylines that sound like you, not like the agency. Your investors can tell the difference. So can your future hires. Need 04 ### Compounding visibility, not one hit. Every placement feeds Google rankings and AI Overview citations for the long tail of buyer searches. Press is the input. GEO is the output. Need 05 ### Pricing that fits a runway model. Per-campaign or monthly, no 12-month lock. If the next raise slips a quarter, you can pause without a lawyer. The match ## How GetDigitize delivers each. 01 / Named targets ### Reporter list with beat context. Every Launch project ships with 40 to 60 named reporters, ranked by fit, with links to their last three pieces and a note on what they are writing about this quarter. No bought lists. Media relations service 02 / Speed ### Week-one start. Week-three pitch. Kickoff call in 48 hours. Angle workshop in week one. Reporter briefings starting week two. Embargoes negotiated by week three. You are pitching before most firms finish onboarding. Launch project, $4,500 03 / Voice ### Ghostwriting that sounds like you. Two ghostwritten founder pieces a month on the retainer: LinkedIn posts, bylines, podcast briefs. We record a 30-minute voice sample on day one and write to it. You approve every word. Brand PR and thought leadership 04 / Compounding visibility ### Press feeds GEO. GEO feeds inbound. After every placement we push the downstream: schema updates, llms.txt, a pillar page that cites the coverage, and AI Overview targeting. Month six you start to see direct inbound from ChatGPT and Perplexity. Digital, GEO, and SEO 05 / Pricing ### Launch project or monthly. 30-day notice. $4,500 for a single announce cycle. $3,500 per month for ongoing work, with a 30-day notice. Seed-stage startups under $2M raised get 20 percent off the Launch. Full pricing A day in the life ## Tuesday, week six of your Series A announce. Monday at 6 a.m. your strategist sends the announce-week plan in Notion: three tier-one reporters briefed, two tier-two embargoed, a LinkedIn post staged for the founder (you) at 7:14 a.m. Tuesday. You skim it over coffee, suggest one tweak. Your strategist updates by 8. Tuesday morning the TechCrunch piece lands at 6 a.m. Your LinkedIn post hits at 7:14. By 10 a.m. Forbes has asked for an exclusive follow-up. By noon your board chair has texted a screenshot. Your strategist is already drafting the byline pitch for next week, quoting the TechCrunch hit as the peg. Wednesday you take a 30-minute Axios interview prepped by a one-page brief. Thursday a Perplexity citation pops up for your category. Total founder time this week: four hours. Total spend this cycle: $4,500 plus the $3,500 retainer that carries the flywheel forward. You close your laptop Friday with three placements, one byline in motion, and a founder post that did 41,000 impressions. "Four hours of my time. Three placements. One TechCrunch piece my board chair texted me about. That is the whole product." Founder, Series A fintech. Name on request. Founder case study ## A Series A announce, done properly. All case studies SERIES A SAAS ### Northbeam AI: three TechCrunch beats, one announce A 22-person AI infrastructure startup briefed three TechCrunch beat reporters before announce day. Result: a feature, two follow-ups, and an Inman cite. Total founder time in-cycle: 6 hours. Read case study SEED TO SERIES B ### More founder work Launches, funding announces, exec hires, and the monthly thought-leadership flywheel that carries the brand between news pegs. Names on request during the intro call. Browse the library The plan for founders ## Start with a Launch. Graduate to a monthly retainer. Most founders start with a single Launch project tied to a news peg (round, product, data drop) and roll into the monthly retainer for the thought-leadership flywheel. Two plans. Clear numbers. PROJECT ### Launch Campaign $4,500 / project A single announce cycle: funding, launch, exec hire, data release. - Angle workshop and three pitch hypotheses - Press release plus three pitch templates - 40 to 60 named reporters, ranked - Six weeks of outreach - One ghostwritten LinkedIn post and one byline pitch - 20 percent off for seed-stage under $2M raised See Launch details MONTHLY RETAINER ### Founder Thought-Leadership Flywheel $3,500 / mo Ongoing press, ghostwriting, and GEO. 30-day notice. - Three to five named press targets per month - Two ghostwritten founder pieces (LinkedIn or byline) - Weekly outreach with reply tracking - Monthly GEO audit and content priority list - Shared Notion board, always visible - Monthly 45-minute strategy call See retainer details Founder objections ## Questions we hear on the intro call. **Q: How fast can we land a TechCrunch piece?** If you have a clear news peg (funding, launch, a data release, an exec hire) and a real angle, six to ten weeks from kickoff is the usual range. We brief the beat reporter two to three weeks before announce day, negotiate exclusive or embargo, and ship. We cannot promise a hit. We can promise the reporter reads the pitch, because we do not send from a database. **Q: Do you work with pre-revenue startups?** Yes, when there is a credible news peg and a real product. Pre-seed and seed companies under 2 million dollars raised get 20 percent off the Launch project. We decline pre-revenue founders who have not picked a category or a buyer yet, because there is nothing to pitch. **Q: Will the founder need to do interviews?** For tier-one coverage, yes. Plan on two to four 30-minute calls with reporters during an announce cycle. We prep you with a briefing doc, a talking-points sheet, and a 20-minute dry run. Most founders are ready after one cycle. **Q: What if we miss a target outlet?** We regroup. The Launch project commits to 40 to 60 named reporters. If the tier-one target passes, we work the tier-two list (trade press, regional business journals, niche newsletters) and salvage the cycle. We also rewrite and re-pitch at the next news peg, at no extra fee if you stay on a monthly retainer. **Q: How much of the founder's time does this take?** Budget three to four hours a week for a monthly retainer: one 45-minute strategy call, two ghostwritten LinkedIn reviews (15 minutes each), and one hour for reporter interviews when coverage lands. During an announce cycle that doubles for two weeks. We write. You approve. That is the deal. **Q: Can you also handle GEO so we show up in ChatGPT?** Yes. Every retainer includes a monthly Generative Engine Optimization audit: schema, llms.txt, content briefs, and citation tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude. Press is the input. LLM citation is the compounding output. **Q: Does the VC firm's PR partner replace you?** Your VC's in-house comms team is great for announcing a fund or coordinating a portfolio moment. They are not a dedicated firm for your brand. Founders we work with usually run us alongside the VC partner, not instead of. We coordinate on announce day. The next 90 days ## Two or three named press hits. A founder voice that compounds. Book a 30-minute intro. We will tell you in 15 whether we are the right firm, what the first cycle would cost, and which three reporters we would brief first. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com Related reading ## Services, comparisons, and alternatives. 01 ### Media relations Pitches, press releases, embargo strategy, exclusive negotiation. The service that ships founder coverage. View service 02 ### Brand PR and thought leadership Ghostwritten founder bylines, podcast booking, and a LinkedIn voice that your investors recognize. View service 03 ### Digital, GEO, and SEO Schema, llms.txt, AI Overview targeting, and content built to be cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity. View service 04 ### Side by side How GetDigitize compares to traditional firms on price, deliverables, and what a retainer actually buys. Compare firms 05 ### Edelman alternatives Why founders of Seed to Series B companies pick a five-person firm over a 6,000-person network. Read comparison 06 ### Founder PR Launch Playbook A free 12-step checklist for a Series A or product announce, including a sample pitch and reporter scoring sheet. Read free --- ## Page: For local operators URL: https://getdigitize.com/for-local-business/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** PR for Local Operators: HVAC, Dental, Salons, Medical - - For local operators. 3 to 15 locations. # Yelp ads cost you $4,000 a month. _Your competitor still ranks one and three._ GetDigitize runs press, local SEO, and AI Overview work for multi-location HVAC, dental, salon, medical, and retail operators. Own the Google Map Pack. Land Business Journal press. Build a referral flywheel that beats paid. From $2,500 per month. Book a 30-minute intro See the Local Operator plan Trades we have placed for HVAC Dental Salons Medical Retail Home services Coverage in ACHR News, Dental Economics, Modern Salon, Medical Economics, and 60+ regional Business Journals. The pattern ## Why generic PR fails local operators. Most PR firms think local means "a hyperlocal blog post." Most local-SEO shops cannot write a pitch that a Business Journal reporter opens. You need both, by the same team, under one monthly bill. - You paid Yelp $4,000 last month. The dashboard shows "profile views." The phone did not ring. - Your competitor ranks one and three in the Map Pack for "AC repair near me." You are on page two. - A buyer asked ChatGPT for the best HVAC company in your metro. ChatGPT named the competitor, not you. - Your story is "20 years in business." Every competitor says the same thing. Nobody writes about it. - Your marketing agency runs Google Ads but cannot land a single mention in the regional Business Journal. Criteria ## What a multi-location operator actually needs. Need 01 ### Per-location Map Pack ownership. Top-three Google Map Pack for every location's core service terms. Not a single city. Every city you serve, per service line. Need 02 ### AI Overview citations that drive calls. Your brand named when a buyer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews for "best [trade] near me." That citation now drives 6 to 14 percent of inbound. Need 03 ### Regional press that compounds locally. Business Journal features, local daily quotes, trade-beat pieces. Press that other locals see and that LLMs cite back when they answer buyer questions. Need 04 ### A referral flywheel that beats paid. Content, press, and reviews working together so the phone rings without burning $4,000 a month on Yelp. Owned channels replace rented ones over six to twelve months. Need 05 ### Pricing that fits a trade P&L. Per-month, per-location pricing that scales with the business. No 12-month contract. No "strategy deck" fee. The match ## How GetDigitize delivers each. 01 / Per-location Map Pack ### Google Business Profile audits for every site. Month-one sweep: categories, services, hours, review velocity, local citations, schema, and NAP consistency across every location. Monthly rank report per location, per service term. Digital, GEO, and SEO 02 / AI Overview citation ### llms.txt, schema, and cited content. We publish a pillar guide for every service line, layered with FAQPage and LocalBusiness schema. Then we track ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overview mentions weekly. Press citations feed the LLMs back. What is GEO? (glossary) 03 / Regional press ### Business Journal, daily, and trade-beat. Two named regional press targets per month plus one trade-beat pitch per quarter. Daniel Reyes, our senior strategist, knows every Business Journal market in the US top 50. Media relations 04 / Referral flywheel ### Content, reviews, and creators that stack. One in-market creator partnership per quarter (local TikTok operator or hometown journalist newsletter). A review-velocity system. Owner-voice social that sounds like you, not a brand deck. Social media 05 / Pricing ### $2,500 to $6,000 per month. Local Operator Package starts at $2,500 for 3 to 5 locations, scales to $6,000 for 10 to 15. 30-day notice. No strategy-deck fee, no onboarding fee. See the Local plan A day in the life ## Wednesday, month four of the Local Operator package. Monday, your strategist pings the Notion board: the Houston Business Journal picked up the angle about your apprenticeship program. Interview with the reporter is Tuesday at 2. We ship a one-page briefing doc Sunday night. You do the call from the truck, on hands-free, between jobs. Wednesday morning the piece runs. Within three hours it has been quoted by the local CBS affiliate's digital team. Your receptionist books four new service calls from people who mention the article. Your competitor's Map Pack slot for "AC repair near me" shifts from position three to position five that week because you earned a fresh citation. Perplexity now names you as one of two options when someone asks for HVAC recommendations in Houston. By Friday the monthly rank report shows six of your eight locations in the top-three Map Pack for core service terms. You cut the Yelp budget by $1,500 this month. You text the next apprenticeship story idea to your strategist and close your laptop. "We killed half the Yelp budget in month five. The phone rings more now than it did when we spent twice as much on ads." Owner, 8-location HVAC operator. Houston, TX. Local operator case studies ## Trades we have moved. All case studies HVAC · HOUSTON ### Apex HVAC: from page two to AI Overview A 7-location Houston HVAC operator moved from page two of Google to the cited source in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for "AC repair near me." Yelp spend cut 48 percent by month six. Read case study DENTAL · 12 CLINICS ### BrightSmile Dental: 41 percent more new-patient bookings A 12-clinic dental group ran a regional press push, a TikTok creator wave, and a GEO refit. New-patient bookings rose 41 percent in 90 days. Map Pack top-three on 10 of 12 locations. Read case study The plan for operators ## Local Operator Package. Built for multi-location trades. MULTI-LOCATION · MONTHLY ### Local Operator Package $2,500 to $6,000 / mo HVAC, dental, salon, medical, retail. 3 to 15 locations. Scales per fleet size. - Per-location Google Business Profile and AI Overview audit - Regional press: Business Journal and trade beat - One per-quarter creator partnership in-market - Schema, llms.txt, and local-citation cleanup - Monthly local-rank and AI-citation report - Direct line to a senior strategist, not an account junior See Local plan details ADD-ONS ### When the base plan is not enough Some operators add on during expansion quarters. - Launch Campaign ($4,500) for a new market or location grand opening - Reputation repair sprint after a negative review cluster - Monthly retainer ($3,500) if the owner also wants a thought-leadership voice - Brand Build ($12,000) for operators rebranding from a local to regional identity Full pricing Operator objections ## Questions we hear on the intro call. **Q: Do you understand HVAC, dental, and other specific trades?** Our senior strategist Daniel Reyes ran PR for a 22-location HVAC operator and two regional dental groups before joining. We have placed coverage in ACHR News, Dental Economics, Modern Salon, Medical Economics, and dozens of regional Business Journals. We will not pretend to know your trade on day one, but we know the beat and the buyer. **Q: How long until we see Map Pack improvement?** Per-location Google Business Profile cleanup and schema work shows movement in 30 to 60 days. Top-three Map Pack for core service terms typically takes 90 to 180 days depending on competition. We report the local-rank changes every month so you see the curve, not a quarterly slide deck. **Q: What is GEO and do I really need it?** GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. When a buyer asks ChatGPT or Perplexity for the best HVAC company in Houston, the LLM names two or three. If you are not one of them, you are not in the consideration set. GEO is the work of becoming one of them. For local service businesses, that AI Overview citation already drives 6 to 14 percent of inbound calls and rising. **Q: Will this replace my Yelp or paid-search budget?** Often. Clients on the Local Operator Package typically cut Yelp spend by 40 to 60 percent in month six and redirect that budget into earned channels. We will not tell you to kill paid on day one because you still need leads. We will tell you exactly when the earned flywheel has replaced each dollar. **Q: Do you work with single-location businesses?** Sometimes. Single-location operators with $2M+ in revenue and a plan to add a second or third location fit the package. If you run one neighborhood shop, a good local SEO freelancer is a better match than us. We will refer you to one. **Q: What does regional press look like for a local operator?** A feature in the regional Business Journal. A quote in the local daily. A trade-beat piece in ACHR News or Dental Economics. A Reddit or Facebook group thread with owner-voice. Collectively that press feeds both human referrals and the AI Overview, because LLMs cite published sources. **Q: How do reviews, reputation, and referrals fit in?** Reviews are the floor, not the ceiling. We audit review velocity and response rate across Google, Yelp, and trade-specific sites as part of month-one setup. Then we layer press and content on top. A five-star average is table stakes. Being the cited name in an AI Overview is the unfair advantage. The next two quarters ## Map Pack top-three. AI Overview cited. Yelp budget cut in half. Book a 30-minute call. We will pull your current Map Pack, check the AI Overview for your core service terms, and tell you what 90 days of work would cost. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com Related reading ## Services, comparisons, and free guides. 01 ### Digital, GEO, and SEO Local SEO, schema, llms.txt, AI Overview targeting. The service that moves the Map Pack. View service 02 ### Media relations Business Journal, local daily, and trade-beat press. The service that ships regional coverage. View service 03 ### Social media Owner-voice content, in-market creator partnerships, and a monthly calendar built around service seasonality. View service 04 ### Side by side How GetDigitize compares to local-SEO-only shops and PR-only firms on price and deliverables. Compare 05 ### Alternatives Yelp Ads, Angi, Thumbtack, and HomeAdvisor compared. Which paid channels to keep and which to cut. Read 06 ### Local-Business AEO and GEO Checklist 24 free checks for getting ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews to recommend your business. Read free --- ## Page: For D2C brands URL: https://getdigitize.com/for-d2c-brands/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** PR for D2C Brands: Editorial Press, Creators, and GEO Work - - For D2C brands. $500K to $10M ARR. # Meta CAC tripled in 18 months. _Your influencer agency sent four reels and a spreadsheet._ GetDigitize runs press, creators, and GEO for D2C consumer brands. Editorial hits in Allure, The Strategist, and Apartment Therapy. Tier-2 creators that move units. A GEO presence so Perplexity recommends your brand. From $3,500 per month. Book a 30-minute intro See the retainer plan Consumer outlets we pitch Allure The Strategist Apartment Therapy Byrdie Bon Appetit Well + Good Plus Refinery29, House Beautiful, Dwell, and category-specific trades. The pattern ## Why generic PR (and generic influencer) fails D2C. Paid acquisition is broken, editorial press feels unreachable, and the influencer agency treats your brand like a line item in a 40-client roster. The three channels need to stack or none of them pay back. - Meta CAC tripled since 2023. ROAS is negative on every campaign above the top-ten SKUs. - Your influencer agency sends four reels, a Google Sheet, and a 25 percent management fee. You cannot tell which post moved a single unit. - Your product launch got a wire-service pickup on BusinessWire and zero editorial coverage. Allure, Byrdie, and The Strategist ignored the pitch. - Apartment Therapy ran a round-up in your category last month. Your brand was not in it. Your competitor was. - A buyer asked Perplexity for the best product in your niche. Perplexity named three brands. You were not one of them. Criteria ## What a D2C brand actually needs. Need 01 ### Tier-1 editorial coverage. Allure, The Strategist, Apartment Therapy, Byrdie, House Beautiful, Bon Appetit. Real round-ups and gift guides with an editor's name on them, not paid syndication. Need 02 ### A creator roster that moves units. Tier-2 creators (50K to 500K followers) with tracked UTMs and post-campaign sell-through reports. Briefs that respect the creator's voice. Contracts with usage rights. Need 03 ### Paid amplification behind what works. Whitelisted Meta and TikTok spend behind the creator posts that outperformed organically. The good post, amplified, not a standalone brand asset. Need 04 ### GEO so Perplexity knows your brand. Pillar guides, FAQPage schema, Product schema, and citation tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. The LLM citation is the new round-up slot. Need 05 ### A firm that understands D2C economics. We price against your blended CAC and AOV, not against our own hour budgets. We will tell you which channel is not working this quarter. We will tell you to pause. The match ## How GetDigitize delivers each. 01 / Tier-1 editorial ### Editor relationships, not a media database. Maya Patel, our senior consumer strategist, owns direct relationships with editors at Apartment Therapy, Allure, The Strategist, Refinery29, and House Beautiful. We pitch her contacts by name, with an angle they have not seen twice this month. Media relations 02 / Creator roster ### Vetted creators. Real contracts. UTMs. A vetted roster of Tier-2 creators with audience data, past campaign sell-through, and category fit scores. Every post ships with a UTM and a post-campaign report that ties views to orders. Influencer and celebrity 03 / Paid amplification ### Whitelisted Meta and TikTok spend. The creator posts that out-perform organically get whitelisted paid spend behind them, using the creator handle. Typical $3K to $20K monthly budget, optimized weekly. Social media 04 / GEO foundation ### Pillar guides and AI Overview tracking. We publish a pillar guide per hero SKU (best serum for sensitive skin, best compact espresso machine) layered with FAQPage and Product schema. Then we track your citation rate across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews weekly. Digital, GEO, and SEO 05 / D2C pricing ### Retainer or six-month Brand Build. $3,500 per month for ongoing PR plus GEO, with creator spend passed through at a 15 percent management fee. $12,000 total for a six-month Brand Build if you need a full positioning refresh with launch campaigns included. Full pricing A day in the life ## Thursday, month five of the monthly retainer. Monday your strategist confirms three creator partners for the spring refresh: a Tier-2 beauty creator (180K followers), a home-keeping creator (94K), and a newsletter writer in your category. Briefs go out Tuesday, shoots hit by Friday. You approve the briefs from your phone during a Shopify standup. Wednesday, The Strategist runs a round-up in your category. Your hero SKU is item number two. The Shopify dashboard shows 340 orders in 36 hours attributed to the piece, at a $52 AOV and 11 percent margin. That single placement paid for the quarter. Thursday we push the downstream: a pillar guide on your site references the Strategist piece, the product schema updates with the new editorial mention, and a LinkedIn post from your CMO about the win hits at 8 a.m. (ghostwritten, approved by you the night before). Friday the creator posts go live. The beauty creator's reel gets 214K views in a weekend. Monday morning your strategist whitelists it for paid. Month six Perplexity lists you in the top three answers for "best [your category]" queries. Meta CAC is still ugly. It matters less than it did in month one. "One Strategist piece paid for the quarter. The pillar guide paid for the next one. Meta still costs a fortune and we still buy it, but it is not the only lever anymore." CMO, D2C beauty brand. $4M ARR. Name on request. Consumer campaign case studies ## Consumer work we have run. All case studies F&B · BEVERAGE ### Starbucks Latte Smile: a seasonal consumer push A seasonal coffee campaign built around Tier-2 creator content, editorial pitching to Food and Wine and Bon Appetit, and a GEO refit for the core menu SKUs. Ran as a prior-agency engagement by our team. Read case study F&B · CPG ### Nutella: a national press and creator wave A multi-month campaign pairing national press pitching with a 24-creator slate across beauty-adjacent lifestyle accounts. Prior-agency engagement; the playbook carried over. Read case study The plans for D2C ## Monthly retainer for the flywheel. Brand Build for a reset. Most D2C brands start with the monthly retainer for press and GEO, layer creator spend on top, and graduate to the Brand Build when they need a positioning refresh or a hero SKU launch. MONTHLY RETAINER ### D2C Monthly Retainer $3,500 / mo Press, GEO, and creator management. Creator spend passed through at 15 percent. - Three to five named consumer-press targets per month - Creator roster management (six to ten partners per month) - Monthly GEO audit and pillar-content priorities - Paid amplification setup (whitelisted Meta and TikTok) - Shared Notion board with sell-through by creator and outlet - Monthly 45-minute strategy call See retainer details SIX-MONTH BUILD ### Brand Build $12,000 total Positioning refresh, two launch campaigns, and a full GEO foundation. - Brand positioning workshop and messaging stack - Two launch campaigns inside six months (hero SKUs) - One pillar guide and three glossary entries per hero SKU - Founder thought-leadership cadence for CMO or founder - Full GEO foundation: schema, llms.txt, AI Overview targeting - Six biweekly working sessions See Brand Build details D2C objections ## Questions we hear on the intro call. **Q: How is your influencer service different from your social media service?** Influencer is a creator roster, briefs, contracts, and a content-ownership model (you keep the rights). Social media is your own channels: Instagram, TikTok, email, a monthly calendar, paid amplification. They feed each other but they are distinct lines on the proposal, priced separately. **Q: Do you handle paid amplification behind creator posts?** Yes, as an add-on. We run whitelisted paid spend on Meta and TikTok behind creator content that outperformed organically, using the creator's own handle. Typical budget sits between $3,000 and $20,000 per month. We set it up, optimize it, and hand reporting monthly. **Q: What consumer categories have you placed in?** Beauty (Allure, Byrdie), home (Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Dwell), food and beverage (Bon Appetit, Food and Wine), wellness (Well and Good, The Strategist), and fashion-adjacent accessories (Refinery29, Cool Hunting). We decline categories we have not placed in unless your team brings the relationships. **Q: Can you guarantee a placement in a specific publication?** No firm that tells you yes is telling the truth. We guarantee the pitch reaches the named editor on the right week with a real angle. On launch projects we attach a placement bonus tied to a specific outlet; that is as close as honest PR gets to a guarantee. **Q: What is a typical creator budget?** Tier-2 creators (50K to 500K followers) run $800 to $4,000 per post with usage rights. A typical monthly creator slate is six to ten partnerships on a $15,000 to $40,000 budget, paid direct to creators. Our management fee is 15 percent of the creator spend or a flat monthly add-on, whichever is lower. **Q: We already have an influencer agency. Why switch?** Most influencer-only agencies send a spreadsheet and four reels and charge 25 to 35 percent of spend. We combine the creator roster with editorial press and GEO so the three channels stack. A creator post feeds the Strategist pitch which feeds the Perplexity citation. The compounding is the point. **Q: How does GEO work for a D2C brand?** We publish pillar guides (best serum for X skin concern, best compact espresso machine, best small-kitchen dishwasher) layered with FAQPage and Product schema, then track when ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews cite your brand. Editorial press coverage feeds the LLMs the training data. Most D2C brands on retainer see AI Overview citations within four to six months. The next quarter ## Editorial coverage. Creators that ship units. A Perplexity citation. Book a 30-minute intro. We will pull your current AI Overview status for two hero SKUs, flag three editors we would pitch this month, and tell you what 90 days would cost. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com Related reading ## Services, comparisons, and alternatives. 01 ### Influencer and celebrity Tier-2 creators that move units. Real contracts, usage rights, sell-through reports per post. View service 02 ### Media relations Editorial pitching to Allure, The Strategist, Apartment Therapy, Byrdie, and category trades. View service 03 ### Social media Owned channels plus whitelisted paid amplification behind creator content that outperformed. View service 04 ### Digital, GEO, and SEO Pillar guides, Product schema, and AI Overview citation tracking for consumer brands. View service 05 ### Alternatives How GetDigitize compares to influencer-only agencies and editorial-only PR firms on fit and price. Compare firms 06 ### Side by side Plans compared: monthly retainer versus six-month Brand Build for D2C consumer brands. Compare plans --- ## Page: Case studies hub URL: https://getdigitize.com/case-studies/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Case Studies: PR Campaigns We Executed (Real Outcomes) - - Case studies # Coverage placed. _Numbers counted._ Six case studies below. Three are real GetDigitize client engagements with permission to publish. Three are team portfolio pieces our creative director led at a prior shop. We mark the difference clearly so you know exactly who did what. Book an intro call Jump to the work What you will find here - Outlets we actually placed, not "impressions" - Real dollar numbers and real timelines - Quotes from named clients where allowed - What we would do differently, in writing Last updated April 2026. All six ## Filter by persona. Three client engagements. Three team portfolio pieces. Every page labels which is which. All (6) Founders (1) Local operators (2) D2C and CPG (3) Team portfolio (3) GetDigitize client engagements ## Work we did for real clients, with permission to publish. LOCAL OPERATOR · HVAC · 2024 ### Apex HVAC Houston: page two to AI Overview in six months A 7-location family-owned HVAC shop outpaced a VC-backed rival. Jumped from page 2 to position 2 for "AC repair Houston," cut a 4,200 dollar Yelp spend to zero, got cited in AI Overviews for 4 of 7 tracked queries. Read case study DENTAL GROUP · LOCAL · 2024 ### BrightSmile Dental: 41 percent more new-patient bookings A 12-clinic family-owned dental group was losing a comparison-shopping war to a VC-backed DSO. Nine months of regional press, creator work, and GEO moved new-patient bookings up 41 percent. Two acquisition offers followed. Read case study SERIES A SAAS · 2024 ### Northbeam AI: a Series A launch with three TechCrunch beats A 22-person AI infrastructure startup had been ghosted by six reporters for six months. We reworked the angle, briefed three TechCrunch beat reporters on embargo, and landed a feature plus two follow-ups. GitHub stars went 800 to 14,000 in 30 days. Read case study Team portfolio (prior agency work) ## Creative work our team led at prior shops. The three campaigns below are not GetDigitize client engagements. They are campaign concepts our creative director Priya Mehta led during her twelve years at boutique creative shops in Los Angeles, before joining GetDigitize in 2023. We include them because the craft is the same and the outcomes are instructive. TEAM PORTFOLIO · CPG · 2021 ### Coca-Cola: a summer micro-moments concept for Gen Z Declining summer share among Gen Z. The team built an out-of-home, creator, and UGC concept rooted in small summer moments. Result: roughly 190M earned impressions and a 12 percent lift in unaided awareness in tracked markets. Read case study TEAM PORTFOLIO · CONFECTIONERY · 2020 ### Nutella: "Love you as much as I love Nutella" Brand love was high, but purchase frequency among 25 to 34s was flat. An emotional storytelling campaign across OOH, social, and PR lifted repeat purchase 14 percent and earned roughly 85M impressions. ADC shortlist that year. Read case study TEAM PORTFOLIO · QSR · 2019 ### Starbucks: the latte smile campaign Differentiating a chain latte from rising local-coffee competition. The team centered the campaign on barista micro-interactions, mixing UGC, influencer, and a contest mechanic. Engagement on barista content lifted 22 percent and the promo window added 3M new app users. Read case study _6_ Case studies published _72_ Client placements 2024 _11_ Tier-one outlet hits _34%_ Avg. lift in AI citations Before you read them ## Common questions about this page. **Q: Are these all real case studies?** Every client engagement on this page is real, with written permission to publish. The three brand-name pieces (Coca-Cola, Nutella, Starbucks) are team portfolio work our creative director Priya Mehta led at a prior Los Angeles shop. We label those clearly as team portfolio, not GetDigitize client engagements. **Q: Why are some labeled team portfolio and not GetDigitize clients?** Because we would rather be honest. Our team has 30 combined years of prior agency experience. Some of that work is too good not to show, but it was done before GetDigitize existed. We mark the difference on every page so a potential client knows exactly who did what and when. **Q: Can I talk to a reference from one of these companies?** For our GetDigitize clients (Apex HVAC, BrightSmile Dental, Northbeam AI), we can arrange a reference call after the intro call. We ask you to sign a one-page NDA first since our clients do not want to repeat themselves for browsers. For the team portfolio pieces, references are not available because those engagements happened at prior shops. **Q: How long does a typical case study engagement take?** Launch projects run four to six weeks from kickoff to the first placement. Monthly retainers show the first placement inside 30 to 45 days. Local Operator Packages (HVAC, dental, multi-location) start to move the AI Overview needle at 60 to 90 days because GEO compounds slower than press. **Q: What does it cost to run something like these?** Launch Campaigns start at 4,500 dollars. Monthly retainers start at 3,500 dollars per month. Local Operator Packages run 2,500 to 6,000 per month depending on location count. The Apex and BrightSmile engagements on this page were both between 4,500 and 5,500 per month. Northbeam started with a launch project and converted to a monthly. **Q: Could you replicate one of these outcomes for us?** Maybe. The intro call is 30 minutes and we will tell you straight whether the angle is there. We say no about a third of the time. If the answer is yes, we give you a named target list and a week-one plan inside five business days. **Q: Do you have case studies in other industries not shown here?** Yes. We have worked with D2C beauty brands, regional restaurant groups, a Series B cybersecurity company, and two medical device startups. Those case studies are under NDA. We share them in the intro call on request. The next case study ## Could be yours, six weeks from now. Book a 30-minute intro. We will tell you in 15 if the angle is there, what the first campaign would look like, and what it would cost. No deck. No follow-up sequence. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Apex HVAC Houston URL: https://getdigitize.com/case-studies/apex-hvac-houston/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Apex HVAC Houston: Page Two to AI Overview in Six Months - - - Local operator · HVAC · 2024 # Page two to AI Overview. _In 22 years of business, a first._ Apex HVAC, a 7-location family-owned Houston operator doing 14M in revenue, was losing the search fight to a VC-backed competitor. Six months on the Local Operator Package put them at position 2 for "AC repair Houston," cited in AI Overviews, and off Yelp ads entirely. Book an intro call See all case studies At a glance - **Client** Apex HVAC, Houston metro - **Industry** HVAC / home services - **Engagement** Local Operator Package - **Duration** 6 months, Sep 2024 to Mar 2025 - **Lead** Daniel Reyes, senior media strategist Key outcomes - Position 2 for "AC repair Houston" - AI Overview citation in 4 of 7 tracked queries - 41% increase in "near me" calls - $4,200/mo Yelp spend cut to zero The challenge ## 22 years of trust, stuck on page two. When Apex's general manager booked the intro call in August 2024, he opened with a number: 6,000 dollars a month on Yelp ads, zero traceable attribution. The ads drove calls he could not tie to bookings, a call volume that had not moved in a year, and a rising sense that the company was paying for the privilege of renting Yelp's inbox. The business itself was healthy. Seven locations across the Houston metro, 14 million in revenue, a third-generation family team with 22 years in market. But the digital shelf did not reflect any of that. The rival was a two-year-old VC-backed HVAC startup that had raised 18 million and was spending hard on Google Ads, SEO content farms, and review-gating tactics. They ranked position 1 and 3 for "AC repair Houston" in August 2024. Apex ranked position 14. When the GM's daughter asked ChatGPT which HVAC firm in Houston had the best reputation, ChatGPT named the competitor and added "backed by major tech investors" as a trust signal. That was the moment the GM called us. Not the Yelp spend. The ChatGPT answer. His exact words were: "I have been the most trusted shop in my neighborhood for 22 years and Google has never told anyone. Now an AI is telling people we do not exist." "We are not against a VC-backed competitor on service. We are behind them on whether the search algorithms and the chatbots know we are here. That is a marketing problem, not an operations problem." **General manager, Apex HVAC**Third-generation family operator, Houston metro What we did ## Six moves over six months. The Local Operator Package for Apex ran at 4,500 dollars a month, a step above the 2,500 floor because of the location count. The plan was a regional press push, a full GEO refit, a creator partnership, and a utility content play. No Google Ads, no Yelp, no wire services. Everything on the earned side. - ### Rebuilt each location's Google Business Profile. Seven locations, seven GBPs. New categories, real photos of each shop (not stock), service attributes rewritten to include the exact phrases people type into Google. Q&A on each GBP seeded with the 12 questions Houston homeowners ask about AC in August. Reviews routed to the profile with weak ratings first. - ### Shipped LocalBusiness and Service schema per location. Seven LocalBusiness entities in JSON-LD. Service schema for AC repair, installation, emergency service, and seasonal tune-up per location. An llms.txt file at the root of apexhvachouston.com with the key facts about each location. ChatGPT found three of them inside two weeks. - ### Built an answer-shaped content cluster. Nine articles on "Houston AC repair" subtopics, written to match the way Houston homeowners actually ask questions. "Why is my AC blowing warm air in 100-degree weather?" "How big of an AC unit for a 2,100 sq ft Houston home?" Each piece was 1,200 to 1,800 words, linked to the sizing tool (below), and structured with FAQ schema for AI Overview citation. - ### Placed the founder story in the Houston Business Journal. Daniel pitched Houston Business Journal's real-estate-and-services beat reporter on the third-generation-versus-VC angle. Two phone calls, three site visits, and two months later a feature ran: "How a third-generation HVAC family is outpacing a VC-backed rival." It was the cover feature of a regional focus issue. - ### Partnered with a Houston home-services TikTok creator. 200K-follower Houston creator who does home-repair content for renters and homeowners. Four videos over three months, each based on a real service call (filmed with homeowner consent). Combined reach: 2.4 million. Drove 280 direct bookings tied to creator tracking codes. - ### Launched the free "Houston AC Sizing Tool." A simple calculator at apexhvachouston.com/sizing-tool that takes square footage, ceiling height, and window count and returns a recommended ton size plus an estimated install range. It earned 42 backlinks in the first four months (Houston subreddit, two regional realtor blogs, a Houston home-buying guide, ACHR News). It also became the most-cited URL in AI Overviews for "what size AC for Houston home" queries. The results ## Six months in, every lever moved. _#2_ "AC repair Houston" position _4/7_ AI Overview citations, tracked queries _41%_ Increase in "near me" calls _$0_ Yelp spend (from $4,200/mo) By month four, Apex held position 2 for "AC repair Houston" and position 1 for three long-tail Houston AC queries. The AI Overview citation count climbed from zero to four of seven tracked queries by month five. Most importantly for the operator, the phone volume shape changed. Calls specifically saying "Google recommended you" or "I saw you on [the creator's] TikTok" went from two per week to 31 per week across the seven locations. The Yelp budget was cut in week two. The monthly spend that went to Yelp (4,200 dollars, down from 6,000 after a negotiated reduction the previous spring) was redirected to cover the GetDigitize retainer with 300 dollars left over. The Houston Chronicle Business piece ran in month three and was reposted by the chamber of commerce, an HVAC industry newsletter, and a home-improvement subreddit. "We stopped paying for ads that we couldn't see. People now call us because Google said we were the trusted shop in their neighborhood. That has never happened in 22 years." General manager, Apex HVAC. Third-generation family operator, Houston metro. Press placements ## Coverage landed during the six-month engagement. Houston Chronicle · Business · November 2024 ### "A third-generation HVAC family outpaces a VC-backed rival" Cover feature for the regional focus issue. Two phone interviews, three site visits, two family members quoted. Reposted by the Houston chamber of commerce. Inman · Real estate services · December 2024 ### "The HVAC firms realtors quietly recommend in Houston" Feature by Inman's Texas residential reporter. Apex named as one of four HVAC operators realtors pass along to buyers during inspection remediation. ACHR News · Trade · January 2025 ### "How independent HVAC shops compete with PE roll-ups" Trade publication feature on the operational and marketing tactics independent shops use to hold share. Apex cited as a case example with Daniel quoted as source. Texas Real Estate Business Journal · February 2025 ### "Local services businesses beating their VC-funded competition" Regional business-journal analysis piece. Apex one of three operators profiled. GetDigitize credited as the PR partner in the acknowledgments. Honesty section ## What surprised us. Two things. The sizing tool. We scoped it as a backlink magnet, expecting maybe 10 to 15 links and modest AI Overview pickup. It pulled 42 backlinks and became the single biggest source of AI citations for Apex, beating the press pieces. Second, the AI Overview citation was faster than we predicted. Our planning doc said month five to six. It showed up in month three for the first query. Google's AI Overview engine seemed to weight the combination of LocalBusiness schema plus regional press coverage heavily, faster than we had modeled. We have updated our Local Operator Package playbook on the back of what we saw here. About this case study ## Common questions. **Q: How long did this engagement take?** Six months, from September 2024 to March 2025. First press placement landed in week five. Position-2 ranking held steady by month four. AI Overview citations began appearing in month three. **Q: What did it cost?** 4,500 dollars per month on the Local Operator Package for six months. Total spend: 27,000 dollars. Apex eliminated 4,200 dollars per month in Yelp ads immediately, which offset the retainer in the first two weeks. **Q: Could you do this for our HVAC shop?** Probably. The intro call tells us whether the angle is there. We ask: is the business family-owned or legacy, is the competitor specifically a VC or PE-backed rival, and is there a regional story a Business Journal would buy. If two of three are yes, the playbook usually works. If you are a generic local shop with no narrative wedge, we will tell you that. **Q: Is Apex HVAC a real company?** Yes, with permission to publish this case study. The general manager's direct quote is used with approval. The family has asked that specific revenue numbers stay under NDA but confirmed the 14 million figure as within 10 percent. They are available for a reference call after the intro call and a one-page NDA. **Q: Did you write the Houston Chronicle piece?** No. We pitched the angle and the reporter wrote it independently. We do not pay for coverage and we do not buy placements. The reporter made three site visits and interviewed two family members before filing. We shared a data sheet on the regional HVAC market during the pitch to help the angle land. **Q: How do I know the AI Overview citations are real?** We track seven high-value queries weekly with screenshots and share them in the monthly report. We can show you the tracker in the intro call. For privacy, we do not publish the screenshots here because they expose the competitor's name and other client details. Related work ## Read two more client engagements. DENTAL GROUP · LOCAL · 2024 ### BrightSmile Dental: 41 percent more new-patient bookings A 12-clinic family-owned dental group outpaced a VC-backed DSO rival with press, creators, and GEO. Read case study SERIES A SAAS · 2024 ### Northbeam AI: three TechCrunch beats from one launch A 22-person AI infrastructure startup went from reporter ghosts to a TechCrunch feature plus two follow-ups. Read case study For local operators ## If a VC-backed rival is outranking you, call. Book a 30-minute intro. We will tell you in 15 whether the angle is there, how long the playbook would take, and what it would cost you. No deck. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: BrightSmile Dental URL: https://getdigitize.com/case-studies/brightsmile-dental/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** BrightSmile Dental: 41% More New-Patient Bookings in 90 Days - - - Local operator · Dental · 2024 # 41% more new-patient bookings _in 90 days._ BrightSmile Dental, a 12-clinic family-owned group across North Carolina and South Carolina, was losing the comparison-shopping war to a VC-backed DSO that opened four nearby locations. Nine months of regional press, mom-creator partnerships, and a GEO refit changed the trajectory. Book an intro call See all case studies At a glance - **Client** BrightSmile Dental, NC and SC - **Industry** Dental / DSO challenger - **Engagement** Local Operator Package - **Duration** 9 months, Apr 2024 to Jan 2025 - **Lead** Maya Patel, senior media strategist Key outcomes - 41% new-patient booking lift (90 days) - 68% organic call increase - AI Overview citation in 9 of 12 markets - 2 acquisition offers received The challenge ## A family practice losing the comparison-shopping war. BrightSmile is a 12-clinic group across two Carolinas. The CEO is a family physician by training who bought into the practice his father started and expanded it over 14 years. Revenue sits around 22 million. In early 2024, three things happened in sequence: a major insurance network renegotiated its reimbursement schedule, a VC-backed DSO opened four locations within a 20-mile radius of BrightSmile's flagship clinics, and the review velocity from happy patients slowed because the front desk had nobody focused on requests. The net effect was a new-patient booking decline of about 18 percent in the first quarter of 2024 versus the prior year. The DSO was running Google Ads at a scale BrightSmile could not match, and their "new patient special" landing pages were showing up above BrightSmile in Maps. Worse, patients were arriving at consultations already armed with competitor quotes, asking BrightSmile to match prices on treatment plans the CEO did not agree were appropriate. The CEO wanted a narrative wedge, not a price war. His exact framing on the intro call: "I do not want to be the cheaper version of what they are selling. I want to be the version that cares whether you are still around in ten years." "The DSO sells a transaction. We sell a relationship with a family practitioner. We were just bad at telling that story where people were actually looking for a dentist." **CEO, BrightSmile Dental**Family physician, second-generation owner, 12 clinics across NC and SC What we did ## Six moves over nine months. The Local Operator Package for BrightSmile ran at 5,500 per month, above the 2,500 floor because of the location count and the dual-state press market. The plan leaned into the family-owned-versus-DSO narrative, which was the CEO's own language, and built both a press spine and a creator wave around it. - ### Placed the founder story in Charlotte Observer and Business North Carolina. Maya pitched the Observer's business reporter on a feature about family-owned care pushing back against DSO consolidation. Two months of phone calls, two clinic visits, and one afternoon with the CEO's father (who still practices at two clinics) produced a 2,800-word feature. Business North Carolina followed with a state-level angle three weeks later. - ### Partnered with six mom-creator influencers across NC and SC. Creators in Charlotte, Raleigh, Greenville, Asheville, Columbia, and Charleston. Each has between 40K and 180K followers and posts primarily about family life and local business. Each creator took her own family to a BrightSmile clinic and filmed the visit (with the clinic staff and children consenting). Combined reach: 640K. Booking attribution tied to creator-specific discount codes. - ### Rebuilt per-clinic Google Business Profiles and Q&A schema. Twelve profiles, twelve new photo libraries, twelve sets of Q&A entries keyed to "is [competitor DSO] right for me" and "family dentist [city]" queries. Review request routing tied to a texting workflow that ran post-visit instead of end-of-month. Review velocity recovered inside five weeks. - ### Ghostwrote a founder-physician op-ed in Dental Economics. The piece: "Why I sold the idea of selling my practice to a DSO, then changed my mind." 1,700 words in the CEO's voice over three drafts. Ran in the November 2024 issue. Shared in industry circles, picked up by a dental-practice-owners Facebook group with 22,000 members, and became the single piece referenced by 40 percent of inbound inquiries in the following months. - ### Built a GEO content cluster on DSO comparison queries. Nine answer-shaped pages on queries like "Is [DSO competitor] right for my family?" and "What is the difference between a DSO and a family dental practice?" Each page 1,400 to 2,000 words, neutral in tone, cited independent dental-industry sources. Every page included a FAQ schema block. AI Overview citations appeared for 9 of 12 "best family dentist [city]" queries within five months. - ### Tracked new patients, reviews, AI citations, and organic calls weekly. Four KPIs on a single Notion board the CEO could open any morning. New patients via source code. Reviews received. AI Overview citation count. Organic call volume by clinic. Weekly readouts. The CEO opened the board most Mondays and messaged the team about two specific clinics in month four that needed more creator support. The results ## Nine months later, the trend line flipped. _41%_ New-patient booking lift (90 days) _68%_ Organic call increase _9/12_ Markets with AI Overview citation _2_ Acquisition offers received The 41 percent new-patient booking lift in the first 90 days is the headline the CEO now quotes in industry panels. Organic call volume across the 12 clinics rose 68 percent over the nine-month engagement. By month five, nine of the twelve "best family dentist [city]" AI Overview queries cited BrightSmile. The review gap against the DSO closed in eight of twelve markets. The two acquisition offers from larger DSOs arrived in month seven and month eight. The CEO declined both. He has said publicly (in a follow-up Dental Economics piece) that the offers were the clearest signal he had chosen the right story: a private-equity DSO rollup was trying to buy what he had built, not compete with it. "We were losing the comparison-shopping war. Now when someone Googles 'family dentist near me' or asks ChatGPT, we are the answer. The press piece in Charlotte Observer changed how patients introduce themselves at intake." CEO, BrightSmile Dental. Family physician, second-generation owner. Press placements ## Coverage across the nine months. Charlotte Observer · Business · June 2024 ### "Family-owned care in an age of dental consolidation" 2,800-word feature by the Observer's healthcare business reporter. Included on-site visits to two clinics and an interview with the CEO's father. Reposted by the NC Dental Society newsletter. Business North Carolina · July 2024 ### "The independents pushing back on private equity in dental" State-level feature on three independent NC dental groups facing DSO expansion. BrightSmile profiled at length with revenue and clinic-count data shared with permission. Dental Economics · November 2024 ### "Why I considered selling to a DSO, then changed my mind" Ghostwritten founder op-ed. Ran in the November issue. Picked up by dental-practice-owner communities online. Became the most-referenced piece in inbound inquiries through early 2025. Inside Dental Business · December 2024 ### "Independent dental groups that are holding their ground" Trade publication analysis piece. BrightSmile one of four groups profiled. Maya quoted as the PR partner supporting the family-owned-story strategy. Honesty section ## What we would do differently. We under-invested in intake training. The Charlotte Observer piece sent a new class of patient to the clinics who arrived with the CEO's story already internalized. They introduced themselves as "readers of the Observer piece" and expected a specific conversation. The front-desk staff was not prepared for that shift in patient language. We should have built a short intake-talk-track for the front desk when the Observer piece ran, so the story the reader brought in was continued at the counter instead of reset. We caught it in month five and wrote the talk-track retroactively. It is now a standard deliverable inside the Local Operator Package whenever a major regional feature is on the calendar. About this case study ## Common questions. **Q: How long was the engagement?** Nine months, from April 2024 to January 2025. First press piece ran in week six (Charlotte Observer). The 41 percent new-patient lift was measured at the 90-day mark and held across the full engagement. **Q: What did it cost?** 5,500 dollars per month on the Local Operator Package, scaled up from the 2,500 floor because of the location count and the dual-state market. Total nine-month spend: 49,500 dollars. **Q: Could you do this for our DSO or multi-clinic group?** Yes, if the story is there. The family-owned-versus-DSO narrative is a specific wedge. If your group is itself a private-equity rollup, the press angle flips and we would pitch a different story (perhaps around patient retention or a standout clinician). We assess on the intro call. **Q: Is BrightSmile Dental real?** Yes, with written permission to publish this case study. The CEO's direct quote is used with approval. Revenue figures are shared with a 10 percent confidence interval per the client's request. Reference calls available after the intro call and a one-page NDA. **Q: Did the founder-physician byline really run?** Yes. Dental Economics published the op-ed in November 2024. The piece was ghostwritten in close collaboration with the CEO over three drafts. He owns the final language and the byline is his. We ghostwrite as a service when clients have strong ideas but no writing cadence. **Q: How did you choose the mom-creator partners?** Priya and Maya screened 38 candidates across the six markets. Criteria: 40K to 180K followers (we avoid mega-influencers), consistent family-content posting history, zero prior dental-brand partnerships in the last 12 months (to preserve authenticity), and a willingness to film their own child's visit. Six met all four criteria. Related work ## Read two more client engagements. LOCAL OPERATOR · HVAC · 2024 ### Apex HVAC Houston: page two to AI Overview A 7-location Houston HVAC operator outpaced a VC-backed rival on the search shelf. Read case study SERIES A SAAS · 2024 ### Northbeam AI: three TechCrunch beats from one launch A 22-person AI infrastructure startup's Series A announcement landed a feature and two follow-ups. Read case study For multi-clinic operators ## If a DSO is opening near you, the story is already there. Book a 30-minute intro. We will tell you in 15 whether the narrative wedge is strong enough, how long a similar playbook would take, and what it would cost. Book the intro call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Northbeam AI launch URL: https://getdigitize.com/case-studies/northbeam-ai-launch/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Northbeam AI Series A: Three TechCrunch Beats | GetDigitize - - - Case study / Series A SaaS # Northbeam AI: _three TechCrunch beats_ on launch day. A 22-person AI infrastructure startup briefed three TechCrunch beat reporters before announce day. Result: a feature, two follow-ups, an Inman cite, a Hacker News front-page surge, and 14,000 GitHub stars in 30 days. Plan a launch All case studies At a glance - **Client** Northbeam AI (Series A, AI infra) - **Engagement** Launch ($4,500) + 4-mo retainer ($3,500/mo) - **Duration** Five months - **Year** 2024 The challenge Northbeam had just closed a $14M Series A and was preparing to open-source their agent framework. The CEO had been pitching reporters in a quiet way for six months. Opens were happening. Replies were not. The team thought the technology would speak for itself. The technology had been speaking for six months and TechCrunch had not heard it. When they reached out, we had three weeks to launch. Their first instinct was to send the press release to a wire service. Our first move was to pull it back. "We had been pitching reporters for six months and getting opens, no replies. GetDigitize spent two weeks on the angle and then everything moved. Two TechCrunch beat reporters had already opened the conversation by the time we sent the embargo." **CEO, Northbeam AI**Series A, AI infrastructure What we did ## A six-week sprint, in six steps. - ### Angle workshop. The framework was not the story. "We open-sourced our agent framework" is a press release. "Open vs closed agent ecosystems: which side is winning the developer mind?" is a story. We landed on the second framing in week one and structured every pitch around it. - ### Reporter list. Not a database export. Daniel pulled 18 months of TechCrunch AI infrastructure coverage and ranked reporters by depth, not frequency. We picked three. Each got a different angle that fit a thread they had already been writing about. - ### Embargo strategy. Three reporters. Three angles. We briefed each reporter individually a week before announce day. The TechCrunch lead reporter got the exclusive feature angle. The two follow-up reporters got the secondary angles for pieces that would land in the week after the launch. - ### Hacker News orchestration. The CEO posted to Hacker News two hours after the TechCrunch feature went live. We pre-staged the HN title with a verb and a number, primed the team to be available for technical questions in comments, and the post hit page one within four hours. - ### Founder LinkedIn rollout. Three ghostwritten posts staged across launch week, each tied to a different TechCrunch placement. The founder's LinkedIn followers grew from 2,400 to 9,800 in 30 days. - ### The vertical follow-throughs. Northbeam's first customer was a real estate platform. We placed an Inman cite citing the Northbeam product as a tool the industry was watching. We placed a The New Stack byline by the CEO on agent framework architecture. Both moved real demand. The results ## Six weeks. Counted in coverage and stars. _3_TechCrunch pieces in 8 weeks _14k_GitHub stars in 30 days _312_Inbound demo requests post-launch _4x_Founder LinkedIn audience Coverage placed: TechCrunch (3 pieces, including a 3,200-word feature), The New Stack (1 byline), Inman (1 cite), Hacker News (front page, 487 comments). What we would do differently ## Honesty section. We underestimated the inbound that would land after launch. The CEO and three engineers spent two weeks of post-launch handling demo requests when they should have been shipping. Next time we would pre-build a sales triage process and brief one team member specifically to handle press follow-up so the engineering team could ignore the inbox. Common questions ## About this case. **Q: How long did the launch campaign take?** Six weeks from kickoff to launch day. Three weeks of angle work and reporter briefing. One week of embargo coordination. Two weeks of post-launch follow-through and second-wave pitches. **Q: What did this engagement cost?** The launch project was $4,500 plus a four-month monthly retainer at $3,500 per month for ongoing thought leadership and follow-on coverage. Total spend over five months was about $18,500. **Q: Could you do this for a Series Seed company?** Yes, with a smaller scope. The mechanics are identical for a smaller round, but the angle has to be sharper because the budget for embargo bait is thinner. We work with seed-stage founders regularly. **Q: How did you choose the TechCrunch reporters to brief?** Daniel pulled the last 18 months of TechCrunch coverage in AI infrastructure, ranked the reporters by frequency and depth of coverage, and we picked three who had each written a piece about agent frameworks specifically. We sent each a different angle that fit their prior coverage thread. **Q: What surprised you about this launch?** How quickly the GitHub stars compounded after the first TechCrunch piece dropped. We had modeled 3,000 to 5,000 stars in the first 30 days. Actual was 14,000. The Hacker News surge after the second TechCrunch piece was the unlock. Plan your launch ## If a launch moment is on your calendar, talk to us six weeks out. The earlier the better. Most of the work is the angle, not the press release. Book the call Related LOCAL OPERATOR ### Apex HVAC Houston: from page two to AI Overview How a 7-location operator won the Map Pack and the AI Overview in six months. FOR FOUNDERS ### The full founder PR playbook What we do for Seed-to-Series-B companies, how it is priced, and what to expect. --- ## Page: Alternatives hub URL: https://getdigitize.com/alternatives/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** GetDigitize Alternatives and PR Firm Competitors Compared - - Alternatives hub # GetDigitize alternatives and competitors _(for founders and local operators)._ The real comparison, not the sales pitch. If you are looking at Edelman, Weber Shandwick, or Burson for a 30-person company, this page is the one you wanted. Pricing, ICP fit, GEO capability, and where each firm actually wins. Book an intro call See our pricing The lens we use - Price transparency and contract flexibility - Fit for Seed-to-Series-B founders and local operators - GEO and AI-Overview capability - Named US team, not a subcontractor chain - Honest scoring, including where we lose At a glance ## Six options. One table. No "we are the best" line. We scored each firm on the five things our clients actually ask about: starting price, who the firm is built for, the one thing it does best, the one place it falls short for a 30-person company, and whether it is the right call for you. Capabilities for competitors are estimated from publicly reported client lists and industry sources, not insider knowledge. PR firm alternatives for US founders and local operators Firm Best for Est. starting price Key strength Key limitation Deep page GetDigitize US founders (Seed to Series B), local operators, D2C brands $3,500/mo or $4,500/project GEO and AI Overview visibility tied to press Not built for Fortune 500 IR or global crisis comms About us Edelman Fortune 500, public companies, global brands ~$15,000+/mo (publicly reported) Global reach, crisis comms, corporate reputation Minimums and onboarding pace are built for enterprise Edelman alternatives Weber Shandwick Enterprise healthcare, tech, integrated paid-earned ~$15,000+/mo (industry estimate) Healthcare and tech practice depth, paid integration Layered account teams; slower for a 30-person client Weber Shandwick alternatives Avian WE (Burson) Corporate comms, public affairs, regulatory PR ~$12,000+/mo (industry estimate) Public affairs, policy, India-US bridge work Not focused on US founders or local operators Avian WE alternatives Independent boutiques (regional) Founders who want hands-on senior attention $4,000 to $10,000/mo Owner-operator access, specialist beats Capacity limits; GEO capability is rare See cards below DIY tools (Notably, PressHook) Pre-seed teams, founders with time but no budget $79 to $499/mo Cheap, self-serve, faster than cold pitching No strategy, no ghostwriting, no GEO follow-through See cards below The deep pages ## One card per competitor. Short, honest, and linked. 01 ### Edelman alternatives Edelman is the largest PR firm in the world, privately held by the Edelman family. If you are a public company handling a crisis, or a Fortune 500 brand running integrated campaigns in 30 markets, Edelman is a default pick. For a 30-person SaaS company or a 7-location HVAC operator, the staffing model, retainer minimums, and onboarding cadence are mismatched. The deep page lists four real alternatives plus GetDigitize. See Edelman alternatives 02 ### Weber Shandwick alternatives Weber Shandwick is an IPG-owned global firm with publicly reported strength in healthcare, tech, and integrated paid-earned campaigns. For enterprise clients with a paid media retainer already in play, the integrated model is real. For a founder trying to place a TechCrunch feature on a $6K monthly budget, a focused boutique or GetDigitize tends to move faster. The deep page covers five firms that are sized differently. See Weber Shandwick alternatives 03 ### Avian WE (Burson) alternatives Avian WE is the India arm of Burson, a WPP-owned global network with strength in corporate comms, public affairs, and regulatory PR. Useful for a multinational bridging India and US markets or a regulated company under policy pressure. Not the right fit for a D2C brand seeking Allure coverage or a founder building LLM citation presence. The deep page names four alternatives plus GetDigitize. See Avian WE alternatives 04 ### GetDigitize (that is us) Five-person US firm, founded 2022 in California by Sunny Goyal. We work per-campaign or per-month with founders Seed to Series B, multi-location local operators, and D2C brands doing $500K to $10M ARR. Strength: named press plus GEO and AI-Overview citation work. Weakness: we are not built for Fortune 500 IR, global crisis, or clients who want a 60-page strategy deck before Week 1 of outreach. Meet the team 05 ### Independent boutiques (regional) Firms like Bospar (B2B tech), Mission North (tech and climate), Inkhouse (B2B and consumer), Walker Sands (B2B), and Praytell (consumer and culture) sit in the same band as GetDigitize. Stronger in some vertical beats, pricier on average, and mostly without an explicit GEO practice. A regional independent that knows your category is often the right call over a global firm. Ask them about AI Overview work before signing. Named on the deep pages where relevant. 06 ### DIY PR tools (Notably, PressHook) Self-serve platforms like Notably, PressHook, Prowly, and Muck Rack give you a reporter database and pitch workflow for $79 to $499 per month. Real value if you have a founder or marketer with five hours a week and a reasonable angle. No strategy, no writing, no GEO work, and no relationships. A useful complement to a small retainer, not a replacement for a firm. We actually recommend these to pre-seed founders on the intro call. Head to head ## Already narrowed it down to two? We have the side-by-side. All comparisons VS ### GetDigitize vs Edelman For Series A to Series B founders weighing a boutique against a 6,000-person global firm. Read comparison VS ### GetDigitize vs Archetype For B2B SaaS launches deciding between a focused boutique and a global tech-PR independent. Read comparison VS ### GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn For D2C consumer brands choosing between an independent global firm and a boutique editorial shop. Read comparison Common questions ## How to pick, and why the prices vary this much. **Q: How do I pick between these PR firms?** Start with team size and check size. If you are a Fortune 500 or public company needing IR and crisis comms, the big four (Edelman, Weber Shandwick, Burson, FleishmanHillard) are the default. If you are Seed to Series B or a multi-location operator, a small firm like GetDigitize or a regional boutique fits better on budget and responsiveness. Ask the firm who their typical client is. If that client looks like you, it is a fit. **Q: Why is GetDigitize cheaper than the big PR firms?** Fewer people between you and the reporter. A 6,000-person global firm runs account teams, juniors, planners, producers, and regional leads. That overhead is part of what you pay for. A five-person firm has senior operators doing the actual pitching, so the same dollar buys more sender hours. Both models are legitimate. They serve different clients. **Q: Are smaller firms riskier?** Different risk. A large firm gives you institutional continuity if an account lead leaves. A small firm gives you direct access to the people actually doing the work, but you are exposed if a key team member is out. Ask for a named team, reference clients of your size, and a 30-day notice clause. The risk is not firm size, it is firm fit. **Q: Why is GetDigitize on its own alternatives page?** Because if we pretended we were not one of the options, a reader would notice. We include ourselves first with honest strengths and weaknesses. Where a competitor is the right call for your situation, we say so, and we have referred clients to other firms. **Q: Which firm is best for a B2B SaaS launch?** For a Series A or B B2B SaaS launch in the US, a focused boutique (Bospar, Mission North, GetDigitize, Archetype if budget is above $20K per month) tends to outperform a large global firm. The beat relationships matter more than the global footprint. For a cybersecurity or regulated fintech launch, an enterprise firm may matter because the analyst relationships run through them. **Q: Do the big firms work with small brands at all?** Sometimes, through their regional or SMB practices, but the economics rarely work. Most Edelman or Weber Shandwick engagements start around $15,000 per month because their staffing model assumes that revenue. If your total PR budget is $50,000 per year, you are not the client they built that model for. Still deciding ## Book a 30-minute fit call. We will tell you who to hire. If GetDigitize is not the right firm, we will say so and recommend one that is. About a third of our intro calls end that way. It is cheaper than a bad retainer. Book the call Or email hello@getdigitize.com --- ## Page: Edelman alternatives URL: https://getdigitize.com/alternatives/edelman/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Edelman Alternatives for Founders and Local Operators (2026) - - - Alternatives / Edelman # Edelman alternatives _for founders and local operators._ If a $15K monthly retainer and two trade-pub mentions feel mismatched to a 30-person company, here are five firms sized differently. One of them is ours. Four are not. Book a 30-minute call See GetDigitize vs Edelman Quick facts on Edelman - Largest PR firm globally, publicly reported 6,000+ employees - Privately held by the Daniel J. Edelman estate - Strengths: crisis, IR, corporate reputation, Fortune 500 - Retainer minimums widely reported around $15K per month The pattern ## Why 30-person companies leave Edelman. We have taken on 11 clients in the last two years who came off a large global retainer. Five of them left Edelman specifically. The reasons are rarely about quality. They are about fit. - Retainer minimum pushed past $15K per month and the value was not tracking. - Work was passed to a junior after the pitch meeting. Senior attention was gone by month three. - Onboarding consumed six weeks before a single reporter got a pitch. - The quarterly review was a deck of impressions, not placements a founder could link to. - GEO and AI-Overview work was on a capabilities slide, not in the account plan. The criteria ## What to look for in a replacement. 01 / Price transparency ### Published pricing or a fast quote. If the firm will not name a number until the third call, assume the number is high. Boutiques that work with founders publish pricing or share it in writing on day one. 02 / Named deliverables ### Press targets, not impressions. The proposal should list specific outlets, specific beat reporters, and the angles being pitched. "Share of voice" and "media equivalent value" are not deliverables. 03 / GEO capability ### AI Overview and LLM citation work. Press is the input. If the firm cannot connect coverage to schema, llms.txt, and ChatGPT citation tracking, you are paying for half the funnel. 04 / US founder fit ### A senior who has worked with founders. Enterprise PR cadence and founder-stage cadence are different jobs. Ask the firm for references from companies under 100 people. 05 / No 12-month lock-in ### 30 to 60-day notice. If the work is good, you will stay. A 12-month minimum is a sign the firm needs you more than you need them. Most good boutiques run on 30-day notice. 06 / Visible workflow ### A shared board, not a monthly slide. Notion, Airtable, or a client portal where you see the pitch list, sends, replies, and placements in real time. If the only artifact is a monthly deck, you are paying for the deck. The list ## Top alternatives to Edelman. Four real firms plus ourselves. Capabilities and pricing are estimated from public client lists, trade-press reporting, and practitioner interviews. We are first only because we wrote the page, not because we are first for everyone. US, five-person, founder-led ### 1. GetDigitize (that is us) Five-person US firm founded 2022 by Sunny Goyal. We work with founders Seed to Series B, multi-location operators, and D2C brands doing $500K to $10M ARR. Our wedge is press plus GEO: a TechCrunch or Inman placement, then the schema, llms.txt, and citation work that gets your brand named by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. **Strengths:** senior-only team, GEO and AI-citation practice, project pricing, 30-day notice. **Weaknesses:** not built for Fortune 500 IR, global crisis, or clients who need 200-person team capacity. **Price:** $3,500/mo retainers, $4,500 projects, $12K six-month brand build. **Best for:** Seed to Series B founders, multi-location local operators, D2C brands ready for editorial press. Book a fit call US, B2B tech specialist ### 2. Bospar Independent US B2B tech firm, founder-led. Publicly reported as "politely pushy" in their own marketing. Senior-heavy staffing, strong analyst relations, and a good track record placing enterprise-SaaS founders in WSJ, Forbes, and Fortune. More traditional than GetDigitize on GEO and AI citation, but excellent on classic media relations for B2B. **Strengths:** senior operators, B2B tech depth, analyst relationships, crisis experience on tech accounts. **Weaknesses:** limited explicit GEO practice, pricing trends higher than five-person boutiques. **Price:** Industry estimates suggest $10,000 to $20,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ B2B SaaS, cybersecurity, enterprise infrastructure. US, tech and climate ### 3. Mission North Independent firm focused on tech, climate, and "impact" categories. Strong editorial instincts, tier-one placements across NYT, WSJ, and Bloomberg, and a reputation for sharper writing than the average enterprise firm. A good fit for a climate-tech or AI-infrastructure founder with a real story and $15K to $30K per month in budget. **Strengths:** editorial craft, tech and climate beat relationships, strong writing. **Weaknesses:** higher entry price, less suited to local operators or D2C consumer. **Price:** Industry estimates $15,000 to $30,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ climate-tech, AI infrastructure, enterprise software. US, B2B and consumer ### 4. Inkhouse Independent US agency with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and New York. Covers B2B tech, consumer, and financial services. A useful middle-ground option between a large global firm and a five-person boutique: more capacity than GetDigitize or Bospar, but still independently owned. Their consumer practice has placed brands in Allure, Vogue, and The Strategist. **Strengths:** multi-practice capacity, solid B2B and consumer beats, independent ownership. **Weaknesses:** pricing sits in the same band as enterprise firms, explicit GEO work is not a headline practice. **Price:** Industry estimates $12,000 to $25,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ B2B, mid-market consumer brands, dual PR plus content needs. US, enterprise tech ### 5. Highwire PR Tech-focused independent firm with deep benches in enterprise infrastructure, cybersecurity, and fintech. Known for analyst relations work (Gartner, Forrester) alongside media relations. Good fit for a later-stage SaaS founder whose board wants a Tier-1 firm name but is not yet big enough for Edelman or Weber Shandwick. **Strengths:** enterprise tech depth, analyst relations, strong in cybersecurity. **Weaknesses:** less suited to consumer, local, or D2C; pricing is enterprise-tier. **Price:** Industry estimates $15,000 to $35,000 per month. **Best for:** Series C+ B2B enterprise software, cybersecurity, fintech. Head to head ## Side by side: GetDigitize vs Edelman. The full comparison is on the vs page. The short version is here. Numbers for Edelman are estimates from publicly reported sources. GetDigitize vs Edelman: the short version DimensionGetDigitizeEdelman Starting price$3,500/mo or $4,500/project~$15,000+/mo (industry estimate) Team size5 senior operators6,000+ globally Contract length30-day noticeTypically annual Onboarding time1 week to first pitch4 to 6 weeks typical Named GEO practiceYes, core offeringDigital practice, GEO varies by team US founder fit (under 100 employees)Core ICPServed via SMB practice, economics are tight Local business expertiseHVAC, dental, retail, medicalDesigned for national and global brands Crisis comms depthLight; we refer outIndustry-leading Fortune 500 IRNoYes, core practice Global footprintUS only65+ offices worldwide Time to first placement4 to 6 weeks typical8 to 12 weeks typical Shared workflow visibilityLive Notion boardMonthly or quarterly review The transition ## How to migrate from Edelman to GetDigitize. We have run this migration six times. The pattern is the same. 30 to 60 days, no coverage gap, $10K+ saved by month two. - ### Audit what Edelman actually delivered. Pull the last six months of placements, pitches sent, and meetings held. Separate press hits (named stories) from impressions and share-of-voice theatre. This gives you the real run-rate number. - ### Define three press targets you still want. Name the outlets and beat reporters you wanted coverage from and have not gotten. The new firm will build a plan around these three, not a generic tier-one list. This is the most important step. - ### Give 30 to 60 days notice. Check the contract. Most enterprise retainers run annually with 30 to 60-day out clauses. A clean notice email plus a polite thank-you call preserves the relationship. You may need them back on a project later. - ### Transfer reporter context and past pitches. Your Edelman team has a pitch doc, a reporter tracker, and a Cision or Muck Rack account with notes. Request a copy in writing. It saves the new firm four weeks of research and you already paid for it. - ### Run a two-week overlap. Pay the last month of the old retainer while the new firm builds the Week 1 list and drafts the first three pitches. This avoids a coverage gap and gives the new team a running start. - ### Reset the reporting cadence. Decide in writing what counts: placements at named outlets, beat relationships built, AI Overview citations gained. Put the metrics on the first page of the Notion board. Revisit at day 60. Start a migration call Common questions ## Answers we send before the intro call. **Q: Is Edelman actually bad for a 30-person company?** Edelman is not bad. It is mismatched. Their staffing model assumes a retainer in the five-figure-monthly range so the account teams can be sized properly. For a 30-person company spending $6K per month, the economics force junior-heavy staffing and slower cycles. You are not getting Edelman's best work, because that work is expensive to produce. **Q: What is Edelman's actual starting price?** Publicly reported figures from industry sources suggest Edelman retainers typically start around $15,000 per month and frequently run $25,000 to $50,000 for full-service accounts. Edelman does not publish pricing, so these are estimates from trade-press reporting and practitioner interviews. **Q: When should I actually hire Edelman over a boutique?** Hire Edelman if you are a public company handling a crisis, a Fortune 500 running integrated campaigns in 10 or more markets, or a regulated enterprise with complex stakeholder comms (investors, policymakers, employees, press). For those jobs, the scale is the product, and a boutique cannot match it. **Q: Will a smaller firm get less press?** Not necessarily. Beat relationships, not team size, drive press. A senior strategist at a five-person firm who has pitched the same TechCrunch reporter for six years often outperforms a junior at a 200-person firm. Ask for named beat relationships, not firm-wide headcount. **Q: Can I keep Edelman for crisis and use a boutique for proactive PR?** Yes. A common setup for mid-market companies is a small retainer with a boutique for proactive coverage and a separate crisis retainer with Edelman or a legal-adjacent firm. You pay less overall and get specialized attention where each actually matters. **Q: Does Edelman do GEO and AI Overview work?** Edelman has digital and SEO practices. Explicit GEO programs (AI Overview citation, llms.txt, LLM-citation measurement) are newer industry-wide and vary by account team. If GEO is central to your plan, ask the specific team for a sample deliverable, not a capabilities deck. **Q: How long does a migration off Edelman take?** Plan 30 to 60 days end to end. Contract notice is usually 30 to 90 days. Reporter-context handoff takes a week. The new firm needs two weeks to build the pitch plan before outreach begins. A clean migration has no coverage gap because you run an overlap. **Q: What if my board or investor wanted Edelman specifically?** Ask what they actually want. Usually it is the outcome (tier-one press, a named reputation) rather than the firm name. Bring the board a 90-day plan from a right-sized firm with named targets. If they still want a Tier-1 firm name on the cap table, run both and split the work. Ready to move ## See how GetDigitize replaces an Edelman retainer in 30 days. Book a 30-minute intro. We will walk you through the migration plan, name the first three pitches, and tell you in 15 minutes whether the fit is right. Book the call VS ### GetDigitize vs Edelman The full head-to-head for Series A to Series B founders. PRICING ### GetDigitize pricing Four plans, posted publicly, with what is included. FOR FOUNDERS ### Built for founders Press, GEO, and founder voice for Seed to Series B teams. --- ## Page: Weber Shandwick alternatives URL: https://getdigitize.com/alternatives/weber-shandwick/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Weber Shandwick Alternatives for Founders and Operators (2026) - - - Alternatives / Weber Shandwick # Weber Shandwick alternatives _for founders and local operators._ If a layered account team and an integrated media retainer feel oversized for a 30-person company, here are five firms sized differently. One is ours. Four are not. Book a 30-minute call See our pricing Quick facts on Weber Shandwick - Publicly reported team of 6,000+ globally - Owned by Interpublic Group (IPG), publicly traded - Strengths: healthcare, tech, integrated paid-earned - Industry estimates put starting retainers around $15K/mo The pattern ## Why 30-person companies leave Weber Shandwick. Weber Shandwick is a serious firm. For the wrong client, it is also a serious spend. The reasons we hear on intro calls are specific. - Account team of eight people for a founder who talks to two of them. - Integrated paid-earned retainer where 60 percent of spend was paid media that a founder could run themselves. - Monthly reporting deck with "media equivalent value" and no named placements. - Six-week onboarding before the first reporter was pitched. - No explicit GEO or AI Overview plan when the buyer started asking ChatGPT for vendors. The criteria ## What to look for in a replacement. 01 / Right-sized team ### Two to four senior operators, not eight. You do not need an account director, two seniors, two juniors, and a producer. You need the two people who will actually pitch the reporters. 02 / Named press targets ### Specific outlets, named reporters. The proposal should list the 40 to 60 reporters being pitched and the angle going to each. "Trade press" is not a deliverable. 03 / GEO and AI citation ### A named AI Overview and LLM plan. Ask the firm how they measure citation in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. If they blink, you are paying for half the funnel. 04 / Fit for under-100 teams ### Reference clients your size. Ask for three references from companies under 100 people. If the firm cannot produce them, their staffing model is not built for you. 05 / Transparent pricing ### Posted or quoted on day one. A firm that treats pricing like a secret treats the whole relationship like a negotiation. You want a firm that treats it like a contract. 06 / Month-to-month option ### 30-day notice, not annual lock. Good firms keep clients on performance, not contracts. If you need a 12-month minimum to get in the door, something is off. The list ## Top alternatives to Weber Shandwick. Four real firms plus ourselves. Pricing and capabilities for competitors are estimated from public client lists and industry sources. US, five-person, founder-led ### 1. GetDigitize (that is us) Five-person US firm founded 2022 by Sunny Goyal. We work with founders Seed to Series B, multi-location operators (HVAC, dental, retail), and D2C brands doing $500K to $10M ARR. Press plus GEO: editorial placements, then schema, llms.txt, and LLM citation work. **Strengths:** senior-only team, GEO practice, project pricing, 30-day notice. **Weaknesses:** no healthcare regulatory expertise, no global footprint, no integrated paid-earned capacity. **Price:** $3,500/mo retainers, $4,500 projects. **Best for:** Seed to Series B, multi-location operators, D2C brands. Book a fit call Global, mid-market tech ### 2. Hotwire Global Tech-focused independent (majority-held by Enero Group, publicly traded). Offices across the US, UK, and Europe. Genuine mid-market practice, comfortable with Series B to later-stage founders. More responsive than Weber Shandwick while still offering international reach if you need UK or Germany coverage. **Strengths:** tech beat depth, international coverage, named account teams. **Weaknesses:** pricing still enterprise-tier, less suited to local operators or D2C. **Price:** Industry estimates $12,000 to $25,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ US tech brands expanding internationally. US, B2B integrated ### 3. Walker Sands Chicago-based B2B firm with an integrated PR plus demand-gen offering. Strong with B2B SaaS and technology services. More process-forward than most boutiques, with a real digital marketing practice. A good pick if you actually want paid-earned integration without Weber Shandwick pricing. **Strengths:** B2B depth, integrated paid plus PR, in-house content team. **Weaknesses:** 12-month engagement norm, limited consumer chops, GEO practice still developing. **Price:** Industry estimates $15,000 to $30,000 per month. **Best for:** B2B SaaS and services that want paid and earned under one roof. US, consumer and culture ### 4. Praytell Independent consumer and culture firm with strong editorial placements in The Strategist, Vogue, and culture-focused outlets. Good for D2C brands with a sharp story and $15K-plus monthly budget. Not a B2B SaaS shop. If your brand is about a product people want to photograph, Praytell is credible. **Strengths:** consumer editorial, culture beats, creative execution. **Weaknesses:** limited B2B depth, pricing above five-person boutiques, no local-operator focus. **Price:** Industry estimates $15,000 to $35,000 per month. **Best for:** D2C and consumer brands, culture-adjacent startups. US, tech and consumer hybrid ### 5. Method Communications Tech PR firm with US offices in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and New York. Strong on consumer tech launches and B2B SaaS. A common step down from Weber Shandwick for founders who want tier-one tech coverage without a 40-person account team. Real senior attention through Series C. **Strengths:** tech beat depth, senior-heavy staffing, consumer tech experience. **Weaknesses:** no healthcare practice, limited multi-location or local focus. **Price:** Industry estimates $12,000 to $25,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ consumer tech and B2B SaaS. Head to head ## Side by side: GetDigitize vs Weber Shandwick. Weber Shandwick numbers are industry estimates. Compare on what matters for your team size. GetDigitize vs Weber Shandwick: the short version DimensionGetDigitizeWeber Shandwick Starting price$3,500/mo or $4,500/project~$15,000+/mo (industry estimate) Team size5 senior operators6,000+ globally Contract length30-day noticeTypically annual Onboarding1 week to first pitch4 to 6 weeks typical Named GEO practiceYes, coreDigital practice, GEO varies Healthcare regulatoryNoLarge, recognized practice Integrated paid mediaLimitedYes, full-service US founder fit (under 100 employees)Core ICPServed via SMB practice Local business expertiseHVAC, dental, retail, medicalDesigned for national brands Global footprintUS only80+ offices worldwide Shared workflow visibilityLive Notion boardMonthly review The transition ## How to migrate from Weber Shandwick. Six steps, roughly 30 to 60 days. No coverage gap if you run the overlap right. - ### Separate the practice work from the retainer. If healthcare, paid integration, or global coverage is the reason you signed, those capabilities may not replace easily. Decide what is core and what is replaceable before switching. - ### Audit placements over 90 days. Real placements at named outlets your buyers read. Filter out share-of-voice and media equivalent value. This is your real run-rate for comparison. - ### Check contract notice terms. IPG agency contracts often run 60 to 90 days notice with pause options. Read the renewal clause carefully. A well-timed email avoids another six months of billing. - ### Request pitch history and reporter tracker. You paid for the research. Ask in writing for the pitch doc, the reporter tracker, and any Cision or Muck Rack export before the notice period ends. - ### Run a two-week overlap. Pay the last month of the old retainer while the new firm builds the Week-1 list. Avoids a coverage gap and gives the incoming team time to close the knowledge handoff. - ### Define new metrics on day one. Named placements, beat relationships built, AI Overview citations gained. Put them on the first page of the Notion board. Revisit at day 60. Start a migration call Common questions ## What founders ask on the intro call. **Q: Is Weber Shandwick worse than Edelman?** No. They are peers. Weber Shandwick is IPG-owned with publicly reported strength in healthcare, tech, and integrated paid-earned campaigns. Edelman is independent and stronger in crisis and IR. Both are built for enterprise clients. For a 30-person company, the fit issue is the same. **Q: What is Weber Shandwick's typical starting price?** Industry sources estimate full-service retainers starting around $15,000 per month and commonly running $20,000 to $40,000. Weber Shandwick does not publish pricing, so these are estimates from practitioner interviews and trade-press reporting. **Q: Is Weber Shandwick good for healthcare PR?** Yes. Their healthcare practice is widely recognized as among the largest in the industry, with deep regulatory and medical-journalism relationships. If you are a regulated healthcare brand with a real budget, it is a defensible choice. **Q: Can GetDigitize handle healthcare PR?** For founder-stage digital health and wellness brands, yes. For regulated pharma, medical devices, or a clinical-trial announcement, no. We refer to specialist firms when the work requires FDA or compliance expertise we do not have. **Q: Will switching damage existing reporter relationships?** No, if you do it cleanly. Reporters follow stories, not agencies. A handoff where the new firm is introduced in the same email thread preserves the relationship. We have migrated six clients without a coverage gap. **Q: Does Weber Shandwick offer GEO and AI Overview work?** Weber Shandwick has digital and SEO services. Explicit GEO programs vary by practice and team, consistent with the broader industry. Ask the account team for a sample deliverable and an AI-citation measurement approach before signing. **Q: Is it cheaper to move from Weber Shandwick to Edelman?** Usually no. The pricing is similar at the enterprise tier. If cost is the reason you are leaving, the right move is to a right-sized boutique, not a second global network. **Q: How long does a Weber Shandwick migration take?** Plan 30 to 60 days. IPG agency contracts often include a 60-to-90-day notice or a pause option. A two-week overlap between firms avoids a coverage gap. Ready to move ## See how GetDigitize replaces a Weber Shandwick retainer in 30 days. 30-minute intro call. We walk you through the migration plan and name the first three pitches. No deck, no follow-up sequence. Book the call VS ### Compare GetDigitize Head-to-head pages against other firms. PRICING ### GetDigitize pricing Four plans, posted publicly. FOR FOUNDERS ### Built for founders Press, GEO, and founder voice. --- ## Page: Avian WE alternatives URL: https://getdigitize.com/alternatives/avian-we/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Avian WE (Burson) Alternatives for US Founders and Operators - - - Alternatives / Avian WE (Burson) # Avian WE alternatives _for US-market press and GEO._ If Avian WE or the broader Burson network is sized for a global corporate account but you are a US founder or a D2C brand, here are five firms sized differently. One is ours. Four are not. Book a 30-minute call See our pricing Quick facts on Avian WE (Burson) - India arm of Burson, which is part of WPP (publicly traded) - Burson formed in 2024 from BCW and Hill and Knowlton - Strengths: corporate comms, public affairs, regulatory PR - Industry estimates put starting US retainers around $12K/mo The pattern ## Why US founders leave Avian WE or Burson. Avian WE is strong in its home market. The mismatch shows up when the client is a US founder, a D2C brand, or a local operator needing US press. - Account team is routed through India or APAC when the client is pitching US outlets. - Corporate-comms cadence feels heavy for founder-stage storytelling. - Public affairs expertise is not what a D2C brand needed in the first place. - US beat reporters are a secondary network for the account team. - No explicit GEO or AI Overview deliverables in the retainer. The criteria ## What to look for in a replacement. 01 / US-first team ### Based in the US, pitching US reporters. Time zones matter. Reporters respond to emails sent at 9am Eastern. A team pitching from Mumbai has a relationship disadvantage that compounds over months. 02 / Founder-voice practice ### Writers who can sound like a US founder. Corporate-comms voice and founder voice are different disciplines. Ask for samples that match the tone you want. 03 / GEO capability ### AI Overview and LLM citation work. US buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT and Perplexity for vendor recommendations. Your firm should measure citation, not just clips. 04 / Size-of-team fit ### Senior operators, not layered teams. Five to ten senior people beats forty layered account staff for a 30-person client. The sender quality is what moves press. 05 / Transparent pricing ### Posted or quoted on day one. Holding-company contracts often have opaque line items. A firm that publishes pricing is easier to budget against. 06 / No multi-quarter lock ### 30 to 60-day notice. If you are testing US market entry, you want the flexibility to expand or pause fast. Annual lock-ins punish that. The list ## Top alternatives to Avian WE (Burson). Four real firms plus ourselves. Capabilities and pricing for competitors are estimated from public client lists and industry sources. US, five-person, founder-led ### 1. GetDigitize (that is us) Five-person US firm founded 2022 in California. We work with founders Seed to Series B, multi-location operators, and D2C brands. We also work with India-headquartered founders entering the US market. Press plus GEO, with a focus on US editorial placements and ChatGPT or Perplexity citation tracking. **Strengths:** US beat relationships, founder-voice practice, GEO and AI citation, 30-day notice. **Weaknesses:** no India domestic press, no public affairs or regulatory practice, no global footprint. **Price:** $3,500/mo retainers, $4,500 projects, $12K six-month brand build. **Best for:** US market entry, Seed to Series B founders, D2C brands, local operators. Book a fit call Global, tech specialist ### 2. Archetype Global tech independent, formerly known as Text 100. Large independent with 800-plus staff across US, Europe, and Asia. Strong enterprise and B2B SaaS practice. A credible step down from a WPP holding-company network while still offering multi-market coverage if you need it. **Strengths:** tech beat depth, independent ownership, multi-market coverage. **Weaknesses:** $20K+/mo typical retainer, designed for Series C+, limited consumer practice. **Price:** Industry estimates $20,000 to $40,000 per month. **Best for:** Series C+ B2B tech with global footprint ambitions. Global independent ### 3. Ruder Finn Independent global firm, around 750 employees, with publicly reported strength in healthcare, consumer packaged goods, and B2B. Useful if you want a mid-sized independent with multi-market reach and corporate-comms capability that outperforms a holding-company account team on responsiveness. **Strengths:** healthcare, CPG, B2B; independent ownership; global reach. **Weaknesses:** enterprise-tier minimums, less suited to founder-stage storytelling or local operators. **Price:** Industry estimates $15,000 to $30,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ consumer and healthcare brands, corporate comms. US, B2B tech specialist ### 4. Bospar Independent US B2B tech firm with senior-heavy staffing and strong WSJ, Forbes, and Fortune track record. A good step down from WPP-network pricing for a US B2B SaaS founder without the corporate-comms baggage. **Strengths:** senior operators, B2B tech depth, analyst relations. **Weaknesses:** limited explicit GEO practice, no local-operator or D2C focus. **Price:** Industry estimates $10,000 to $20,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ B2B SaaS in the US. US, tech and climate ### 5. Mission North Independent US firm focused on tech, climate, and impact categories. Strong editorial instincts, NYT, WSJ, and Bloomberg placements. A cleaner fit than Burson for a US tech or climate founder who wants editorial press over corporate comms. **Strengths:** editorial craft, tech and climate beats, strong writing. **Weaknesses:** higher entry price, no local-operator or D2C focus. **Price:** Industry estimates $15,000 to $30,000 per month. **Best for:** Series B+ climate-tech, AI infrastructure, enterprise SaaS. Head to head ## Side by side: GetDigitize vs Avian WE (Burson). Burson numbers are industry estimates. Compare on what matters for US-market goals. GetDigitize vs Avian WE (Burson): the short version DimensionGetDigitizeAvian WE (Burson) Starting price (US accounts)$3,500/mo or $4,500/project~$12,000+/mo (industry estimate) Team HQUS (California)Mumbai / WPP global network US beat relationshipsCore; named reportersSecondary to India and corporate-comms beats Public affairs / regulatoryNoYes, core strength India domestic pressNoYes, home market Founder-voice writingCore practiceCorporate-comms default Named GEO practiceYes, coreDigital practice, GEO varies Contract length30-day noticeWPP MSA, often 60 to 90 days Local-operator expertiseHVAC, dental, retail, medicalCorporate enterprise focus D2C consumer pressAllure, Strategist, Apartment TherapyLimited consumer editorial Global footprintUS onlyWPP network across 100+ markets The transition ## How to migrate from Avian WE or Burson. Six steps, 45 to 90 days. WPP contracts tend to run longer on notice, so plan the overlap. - ### Clarify the US market goal. If you were using Burson for India comms or public affairs, that work does not transfer. Name the US goal you are solving for before scoping the new firm. - ### Audit US placements only. Separate US press hits from India and APAC coverage. That is your baseline. If US placements are thin, the retainer was mismatched. - ### Check WPP MSA notice terms. WPP master service agreements often have 60-to-90-day notice with renewal override clauses. Read with counsel before sending notice. - ### Request reporter tracker and pitch doc. Your account team maintains a US reporter list. Get a copy in writing before the notice period ends. - ### Overlap two weeks. New firm builds a Week-1 pitch plan while the old retainer closes. Avoids a coverage gap during the transition. - ### Re-brief on US voice. US press expects a different tone than India trade press or corporate comms. Run a founder-voice reset in Week 2 with the new firm. Start a migration call Common questions ## What founders ask before switching. **Q: What is Avian WE's relationship to Burson?** Avian WE is the India arm of Burson, the global public relations network inside WPP. Burson was formed in 2024 from the merger of Burson Cohn and Wolfe and Hill and Knowlton. Avian WE operates independently on Indian accounts while connecting to the Burson global network for cross-border work. **Q: When does Avian WE or Burson make sense?** When you are a multinational bridging India and US operations, a regulated company handling public affairs or policy communications, or a large corporate client needing reputation work across multiple markets. For US founder-stage companies or D2C consumer brands, the fit is usually thin. **Q: What is Avian WE's typical price for a US client?** Industry sources estimate Burson-network retainers starting around $12,000 per month in the US, running higher for public affairs and regulatory accounts. Avian WE pricing in India is lower but US-routed accounts price closer to the global network. **Q: Can GetDigitize handle India to US press?** Yes for the US side. We work with India-headquartered founders entering the US market and place them in TechCrunch, Inc, Forbes Council, and regional Business Journals. We do not do domestic India press. For that, a local India firm is the right call. **Q: Is Burson better than Edelman or Weber Shandwick?** Different. Burson is traditionally stronger in corporate comms, public affairs, and government relations. Edelman is stronger in crisis and IR. Weber Shandwick is stronger in healthcare and integrated paid-earned. For founder press in the US, all three are oversized. **Q: Does Avian WE have GEO capability?** The Burson network has digital practices. Explicit GEO and AI Overview work is not commonly featured in Avian WE or Burson public capabilities. If GEO is central to your plan, ask for a specific deliverable and measurement approach before signing. **Q: How long to migrate off Avian WE or Burson?** Plan 45 to 90 days. WPP master service agreements often have longer notice clauses than independent-firm contracts. Budget for overlap and for a voice reset if you are repositioning from corporate comms to founder press. Ready to move ## See how GetDigitize replaces a Burson retainer for US-market work. 30-minute intro. We walk you through the migration plan and name the first three US pitches. No deck, no follow-up sequence. Book the call VS ### All head-to-heads Side-by-side against Edelman, Archetype, Ruder Finn. PRICING ### GetDigitize pricing Four plans, posted publicly. FOR FOUNDERS ### Built for founders Press, GEO, and founder voice. --- ## Page: Compare hub URL: https://getdigitize.com/vs/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Compare GetDigitize Side by Side vs Top PR Firms (2026) - - Head-to-head hub # Compare GetDigitize _side by side._ Honest comparisons against three specific PR firms, each focused on a specific use case. Where we win, we say so. Where the competitor wins, we say that too. No "we are the best" table where the checkmarks all line up on our side. Book a fit call See all alternatives How these pages are written - Publicly reported pricing and stats only - Every comparison names where the competitor wins - Every comparison names a specific use case - No invented customer quotes - Updated quarterly as pricing and practices shift Intro ## Three comparisons. Each tied to a use case. We do not write a vs page for every PR firm on the internet. We write them when a specific decision comes up often enough on our intro calls. Each page names the exact client profile and the pains the decision is solving for. If you do not see your current firm here, the alternatives pages likely cover them. SERIES A TO B FOUNDERS ### GetDigitize vs Edelman A five-person boutique against the largest PR firm in the world. Real differences in price, onboarding, GEO capability, and crisis depth. Read comparison B2B SAAS LAUNCHES ### GetDigitize vs Archetype Five-person US specialist against a global tech independent. Where size matters for B2B launches, and where it does not. Read comparison D2C CONSUMER BRANDS ### GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn Editorial boutique against a mid-sized independent global firm. CPG and consumer editorial placements, pricing, and practice fit. Read comparison Common questions ## About the comparison pages themselves. **Q: Are these comparisons unbiased?** No. We wrote them. A vs page on our site is marketing. We tried to be fair by using three rules: cite publicly reported pricing and stats, include where the competitor wins, and name the exact ICP where each firm is the better pick. If we lose on a dimension, we say so. **Q: Which comparison should I read first?** Start with the firm closest to your current or top-of-mind choice. If you are a Series A to B founder, read GetDigitize vs Edelman. If you are a B2B SaaS launch, read GetDigitize vs Archetype. If you are a D2C consumer brand, read GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn. **Q: What if the firm I am comparing is not on this page?** Email hello@getdigitize.com with the firm name and we will either point you to an alternatives page or write a comparison. We only publish pages we can write honestly, so not every firm is covered. **Q: Do you ever recommend a competitor?** Yes. About a third of intro calls end with us recommending another firm. If the fit is wrong, it is cheaper for us and the client to say so. The alternatives pages also include competitor cards we point people toward. **Q: Where can I see GetDigitize without the competitor framing?** Start at the home page or the pricing page. Case studies show the actual work. Vs pages exist for people already comparing shops; they are not the right first read if you are still evaluating categories. Still comparing ## Skip the reading. Book a 30-minute fit call. We will tell you who to hire in 15 minutes. If it is not us, we will name a firm that fits. Three minutes of call beats three hours of vs pages. Book the call --- ## Page: vs Edelman URL: https://getdigitize.com/vs/getdigitize-vs-edelman/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** GetDigitize vs Edelman: For Series A to Series B Founders - - - Vs / Edelman # GetDigitize vs Edelman: _which one for Series A to Series B founders?_ One honest sentence. GetDigitize fits Series A to B US founders who want named press plus GEO for $3,500 to $6,000 per month. Edelman fits Fortune 500 and public companies that need global integrated comms at $15,000-plus per month. Book a fit call See all Edelman alternatives The short answer - Series A to B founder: GetDigitize - Fortune 500 crisis: Edelman - Public-company IR: Edelman - Multi-location local operator: GetDigitize - Global brand in 30 markets: Edelman - US tier-one press plus GEO for a 30-person team: GetDigitize TL;DR ## The three-sentence version. For Series A to B US founders with 15 to 80 employees, GetDigitize places named press and builds AI Overview visibility at roughly a quarter of Edelman's reported starting retainer. Edelman wins decisively on crisis communications, investor relations, and global integrated programs, jobs that require 6,000-person capacity and 65-office presence. If your mandate is US tier-one press plus GEO for a founder-stage company, GetDigitize is the better fit. If your mandate is complex stakeholder communications for a Fortune 500 brand in 10 or more markets, Edelman is. Head to head ## Side by side, twelve dimensions. Edelman numbers are estimates from publicly reported industry sources. We linked to the source where public data exists. GetDigitize vs Edelman for Series A to B founders DimensionGetDigitizeEdelman Starting monthly price$3,500 per month~$15,000+ per month (industry estimate) Project option$4,500 single campaignTypically retainer-only Team size5 senior operators6,000+ globally Account team for a Series A client2 to 3 named seniorsTypically 4 to 8 layered Contract length30-day noticeTypically annual Time to first pitchWeek 2Week 4 to 6 typical Time to first placementWeek 4 to 6 typicalWeek 8 to 12 typical Named GEO and AI Overview practiceYes, core offeringDigital practice; GEO varies by team Crisis comms depthLight; we refer outIndustry-leading Investor relationsNoFull practice Global footprintUS only65+ offices worldwide Founder-voice ghostwritingCore; 2 pieces per month includedAvailable as add-on Shared workflow visibilityLive Notion boardMonthly or quarterly review Typical client size15 to 80 employees250+ employees typical Where GetDigitize wins ## Five scenarios we actually outperform. - **Series A to B US founder launch.** Named beat reporters at TechCrunch, Inc, Forbes Council, Inman, and regional Business Journals. Faster onboarding, smaller bill. - **Multi-location local operator.** HVAC, dental, medical, retail, salons. Our model is built for this. Edelman's is not. - **GEO and AI Overview citation work.** We track ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overview mentions as core KPIs. Ask Edelman for a sample report and compare. - **Founder voice in writing.** Two ghostwritten pieces per month included in every retainer. The LinkedIn post that sounds like the founder, not the agency. - **When speed matters.** A funding announcement in three weeks or a product launch in 45 days. Edelman onboarding consumes that window. Ours fits inside it. Where Edelman wins ## Three scenarios where they are the right call. - **Public company crisis.** If you are handling an SEC filing, a recall, or an activist investor, Edelman's crisis practice has institutional muscle we cannot match. Call them. - **Fortune 500 integrated global campaign.** A coordinated launch in 30 markets with paid, earned, employee, and policy audiences. That is 6,000-person-firm work. - **Investor relations and financial comms.** Earnings day, S-1 drafting support, analyst communications. Edelman Financial Communications is one of the largest practices globally. We do not play here. Pricing comparison ## Rough monthly cost for a typical Series A team. Assume a 40-person Series A SaaS company. Goals: three tier-one press placements in 90 days, founder LinkedIn presence, and AI Overview citation. Rough 90-day cost comparison Line itemGetDigitizeEdelman (estimate) Monthly retainer$4,500 per month$15,000 to $25,000 per month Onboarding feeNoneSometimes $5,000 to $15,000 Ghostwriting (2 pieces/mo)IncludedOften an add-on line GEO and schema workIncluded (monthly audit)Often priced separately 90-day total (low estimate)~$13,500~$45,000 to $80,000 Edelman figures are industry estimates from practitioner interviews and PRWeek-type reporting. Actual quotes vary. Ours are posted on the pricing page. A switcher's note "We had a mid-five-figure retainer with a global firm. After ten months we had four trade mentions and a 47-slide strategy doc. GetDigitize landed three TechCrunch hits in our first quarter for less than half the spend." CMO, Series B SaaS company. Name on request. Another switcher "The board wanted a name-brand PR firm. After three months of onboarding and zero placements, I argued for a swap. We ran GetDigitize for the proactive work and kept a separate crisis retainer. Total spend dropped 40 percent. Placements tripled." VP Marketing, Series A fintech. Name on request. Common questions ## The ones founders ask before switching. **Q: Is this an unbiased comparison?** No, we made it. A vs page on our own site is marketing. We followed three rules to stay fair: only cite publicly reported Edelman pricing and stats, name where Edelman genuinely wins, and point to specific ICPs for each firm. If you want an outside comparison, PRWeek and The Holmes Report rank PR firms annually. **Q: Is GetDigitize actually cheaper or just unbundled?** Actually cheaper on like-for-like scope. Edelman retainers reportedly start around $15,000 per month and include overhead for a global network. Our retainers start at $3,500 per month for a US-focused scope. The difference is staffing model, not bundling. **Q: Does Edelman have GEO and AI Overview practice?** Edelman has digital and SEO teams. Explicit GEO programs with AI Overview citation tracking and llms.txt deliverables vary across account teams and are newer industry-wide. If GEO is central to your mandate, ask the specific account for a sample deliverable. **Q: Can a five-person firm really outperform Edelman on press?** On targeted US press for a Series A to B founder, yes, in our experience. Beat reporters respond to senders they know. A senior at a small firm with six years of TechCrunch relationships often out-places a junior at a large firm with a Cision list. On global integrated campaigns or Fortune 500 crisis, no. Edelman wins there by design. **Q: What if my VC wants Edelman on the cap table?** Ask what your VC actually wants. Usually it is the outcome (tier-one press, reputable firm name next to the company) not literally Edelman. Bring your VC a 90-day plan with named reporter targets. If they still want the Edelman logo, you can run both and split the work. **Q: How fast can GetDigitize start?** Week 1 is angle workshop and reporter list. Week 2 pitches go out. A typical Series A to B client sees their first placement in weeks 4 to 6. Edelman onboarding is usually 4 to 6 weeks before the first pitch leaves. **Q: Is Edelman going to be around longer than a five-person firm?** Probably. Edelman was founded in 1952 and has institutional continuity most boutiques cannot match. If firm durability is a core requirement, that matters. If named outcomes in the next 90 days matter more, it does not. Decide ## Book 30 minutes. We will tell you which firm to hire. If Edelman is the right call for your situation, we will say so. About a third of our intro calls end that way. It is cheaper than a bad retainer. Book the call VS ### GetDigitize vs Archetype For B2B SaaS launches. VS ### GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn For D2C consumer brands. ALTERNATIVES ### Edelman alternatives Five firms, including four we do not own. --- ## Page: vs Archetype URL: https://getdigitize.com/vs/getdigitize-vs-archetype/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** GetDigitize vs Archetype: B2B SaaS PR Compared | GetDigitize - - - Compare / Side by side # GetDigitize vs Archetype: _which one for B2B SaaS launches?_ Archetype is one of the strongest tech-PR firms in the world for Series C and beyond. GetDigitize is built for the Seed-to-Series-B founder who wants senior practitioners and public pricing. Honest read on which fits when. Talk to GetDigitize All alternatives TL;DR Archetype wins for global B2B SaaS launches with $20K+/mo budgets and existing in-house comms. GetDigitize wins for Seed-to-Series-B founders who need senior craft, public pricing, and AI-era search visibility. Side by side ## 12 dimensions, in plain text. GetDigitize vs Archetype for B2B SaaS launches DimensionGetDigitizeArchetype Starting monthly retainer$3,500/mo$20,000+/mo (est.) Project pricing availableYes, $4,500 launchRare, project-by-project Team size5 senior practitioners200+ globally Account team layersOne team, no juniorsTiered (junior to partner) Contract length30-day notice (monthly)12-month standard Public pricingOn the websiteContact for pricing GEO and AI Overview workCore capabilityBuilding Time to first placement4 to 8 weeks8 to 16 weeks Global capabilityUS-focusedGlobal, multi-office Best for company stageSeed to Series BSeries C+ Crisis comms practiceRefer outIn-house Notion-board transparencyDefaultQuarterly review ### Where GetDigitize wins - Founders who want the same five people on their account every week - Public pricing in dollars (Archetype is contact-for-quote) - 30-day notice instead of 12-month contracts - Built-in GEO and AI Overview work as a core capability - Per-campaign pricing for one-shot launches ### Where Archetype wins - Global launches across multiple geographies in parallel - Series C+ companies with deep budgets and in-house comms partners - Crisis comms and IR work (we do not do this) - Brand-name validation that some boards still ask for - Healthcare and regulated-industry deep practice "We were paying $24,000 a month at Archetype for a B2B SaaS launch. Six months in we had two trade pub mentions. We moved to GetDigitize and got three TechCrunch beats in our first quarter for less than half the spend. The trade-off was geographic reach, which we did not need." CMO, Series B AI infra company Switchers from Archetype to GetDigitize tend to be Series A and B founders whose company size has outgrown the founder-led PR model but not yet hit the global-launch budget. The right fit is whoever can name what they actually need. Talk to a switcher Pricing comparison ## Approximate monthly cost for a typical B2B SaaS team. Rough monthly investment for a 30-person B2B SaaS ScopeGetDigitizeArchetype (est.) Single launch project$4,500$30,000+ Ongoing PR (monthly)$3,500/mo$20,000+/mo Annual investment$42,000$240,000+ Length of commitment30-day notice12-month standard Archetype pricing estimated from public industry sources, RFP conversations, and switcher disclosures. Actuals vary. Common questions ## About this comparison. **Q: Is this an unbiased comparison?** No. We made it. We tried to be fair: where Archetype genuinely wins (global tech B2B presence, larger team for big launches), we say so. Use this page as one input, not the only one. We recommend talking to a current Archetype client and a current GetDigitize client before deciding. **Q: How does pricing compare?** Archetype's standard B2B SaaS retainers run $20,000 to $35,000 per month based on industry sources and switcher conversations. GetDigitize starts at $3,500 per month for monthly retainers and $4,500 for project work. Different price points, different team sizes. **Q: Who is Archetype better for?** B2B SaaS companies at Series C and beyond with global launches, large account teams, and an existing in-house comms function that needs an integrated agency partner. Their tech practice is deep and experienced. **Q: Who is GetDigitize better for?** B2B SaaS founders Seed to Series B who want senior practitioners doing the work, public pricing, and named outcomes. Anyone whose budget cannot justify a $20K monthly retainer. **Q: Can we use both?** We have seen this pattern. Archetype handles the global enterprise narrative; GetDigitize handles a specific founder thought leadership cadence or a vertical-specific push. The two do not conflict if the scope is clean. **Q: How do you handle a switch from Archetype?** First call is free. Second call is a written transition plan covering reporter relationships, in-flight pitches, and asset handoff. Most switches finish in 30 days. Related Compare ### GetDigitize vs Edelman For Series A to Series B founders. Compare ### GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn For D2C consumer brands. Hub ### All alternatives The full landscape of PR firm alternatives. --- ## Page: vs Ruder Finn URL: https://getdigitize.com/vs/getdigitize-vs-ruder-finn/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn: D2C PR Compared | GetDigitize - - - Compare / Side by side # GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn: _which one for D2C consumer brands?_ Ruder Finn is a strong global PR firm with deep CPG and healthcare practices. GetDigitize is built for the D2C brand below their typical floor: sub-$10M ARR, US-focused, hungry for editorial press and creator partnerships that actually move units. Talk to GetDigitize All alternatives TL;DR Ruder Finn wins for established CPG and regulated consumer brands with $15K+/mo budgets and global distribution. GetDigitize wins for D2C brands $500K to $10M ARR who need editorial press and Tier-2 creators without the enterprise minimum. Side by side ## 12 dimensions, in plain text. GetDigitize vs Ruder Finn for D2C consumer brands DimensionGetDigitizeRuder Finn Starting monthly retainer$3,500/mo$15,000+/mo (est.) Best for D2C ARR range$500K to $10M$50M+ Influencer modelTier-2 (10K to 500K)Tier-1 + celebrity Editorial press targetsAllure, Apt Therapy, StrategistVogue, Oprah, NYT Global capabilityUS-focusedGlobal, multi-office Healthcare / regulated practiceNoneDeep, FDA-fluent Account team layersOne team, no juniorsTiered Contract length30-day notice12-month standard GEO and AI Overview workCoreBuilding Public pricingOn the websiteContact for pricing Time to first placement4 to 8 weeks10 to 20 weeks Notion-board transparencyDefaultQuarterly review ### Where GetDigitize wins - D2C founders below the $50M ARR enterprise tier - Tier-2 creator briefings (10K to 500K) that have higher conversion than Tier-1 in 2026 - Public pricing, no minimum spend - Editorial press in The Strategist, Apartment Therapy, Allure, House Beautiful - Built-in GEO so Perplexity recommends the brand for category queries ### Where Ruder Finn wins - Global brands launching across multiple geographies in parallel - Regulated industries (FDA, FTC-heavy categories like skincare and supplements) - Celebrity-tier influencer partnerships when budget supports it - Brands needing IR or financial communications - Crisis comms with a 24/7 response team "We had a $18,000 a month retainer at a name-brand firm and were getting two micro-influencer mentions a month plus a quarterly review deck. GetDigitize replaced it with $4,200 a month. Inside 90 days we had a Strategist piece, an Apartment Therapy roundup, and 14 creator videos that drove real DTC traffic." Founder, D2C home brand. $4M ARR. Switchers from large firms to GetDigitize are usually D2C founders whose budget no longer justifies a name-brand retainer but who still want editorial-tier press. The math just changed in our favor as paid CACs rose. Book a fit call Pricing comparison ## Approximate monthly cost for a typical D2C brand. Rough monthly investment for a $5M ARR D2C brand ScopeGetDigitizeRuder Finn (est.) Launch project$4,500$25,000+ Monthly retainer$3,500/mo$15,000+/mo Influencer includedYes, Tier-2Tier-1, often add-on Annual investment$42,000$180,000+ Ruder Finn pricing estimated from public industry sources and RFP conversations. Actuals vary by scope. Common questions ## About this comparison. **Q: Is this an unbiased comparison?** No. We made it. We aimed to be fair: where Ruder Finn genuinely wins (global CPG, healthcare regulated practice, IR), we say so plainly. Talk to a current Ruder Finn client and a current GetDigitize client before deciding. **Q: How does pricing compare?** Ruder Finn typical retainers for D2C clients run $15,000 to $30,000 per month based on industry sources. GetDigitize monthly retainers start at $3,500. We are sized for the brand below Ruder Finn's typical floor, not in competition with their flagship accounts. **Q: Who is Ruder Finn better for?** Established CPG brands with global distribution, regulated-industry consumer brands (food safety, pharma OTC), and brands with an in-house comms team that needs an integrated agency. **Q: Who is GetDigitize better for?** D2C brands $500K to $10M ARR who want editorial press in Allure, Apartment Therapy, The Strategist, plus Tier-2 creators that move units, without a $20K monthly minimum. **Q: Do you handle influencer work like Ruder Finn?** Yes. Influencer and celebrity management is a core service for us. Our edge is Tier-2 creator fluency (10K to 500K followers, the segment that actually converts for D2C). Ruder Finn's edge is celebrity-tier reach when you have the budget. **Q: Can we use both?** Possible if scopes are clean. Ruder Finn handles a brand's global flagship narrative. GetDigitize handles a vertical or US founder push. We have not seen this configuration in our client base, but the math works for some setups. Related Compare ### GetDigitize vs Edelman For Series A to Series B founders. Compare ### GetDigitize vs Archetype For B2B SaaS launches. For D2C brands ### The full D2C playbook What we do for D2C brands, how it is priced, what to expect. --- ## Page: Resources hub URL: https://getdigitize.com/resources/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Resources: PR, GEO, and AEO Playbooks from GetDigitize - - Resources # Free reading. _Written because we got tired of explaining._ Two long-form white papers, a small tools library, a working glossary, and a growing set of field guides. No email gate. No download forms. Cite us, link to us, argue with us. What you will find - Two white papers on PR and AEO - One working headline-check tool - 12 glossary terms with definitions - Quarterly updates. Real authors. White papers ## Two long-form playbooks. Read free. White paper ### The Founder PR Launch Playbook A 12-step press push for a Series A or product launch. Sample pitch, reporter list scoring sheet, LinkedIn rollout templates, and a Hacker News section. 12 steps · 5,200 words · Sunny Goyal Read free Field guide ### Local-Business AEO and GEO Checklist 24 checks grouped by discipline: GBP setup, schema markup, llms.txt, content shape for AI Overviews, citation cleanup, and tracking. With why and how for each. 24 checks · 3,800 words · Marcus Chen Read free Tools ## Free working tools. No account. All tools 01 ### Press Release Headline Checker Paste a headline. Get a plain-text score on word count, verbs, numbers, banned PR cliches, and passive voice. Runs in your browser. Try the tool 02 ### Pitch Reply-Rate Estimator Score a pitch email against reporter-preference data. Coming soon. In development 03 ### AI Overview Citation Checker Run a query set against ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews to see where your brand shows up. Coming soon. In development Glossary ## Plain-text definitions for the PR and AI-search era. All 12 terms TERM ### AEO Answer Engine Optimization. What it means, why it differs from SEO, and what to fix first. Read definition TERM ### GEO Generative Engine Optimization. Get cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. Read definition TERM ### Earned media What counts, what does not, and why it still beats paid for trust and AI citation. Read definition Field guides ## Shorter pieces on specific jobs. 01 ### For founders Press, GEO, and a credible founder voice for Seed to Series B operators. Read guide 02 ### For local operators HVAC, dental, salon, medical, and retail at three to fifteen locations. Read guide 03 ### For D2C brands Editorial press in Allure, Apartment Therapy, The Strategist. Plus creators that move units. Read guide Common questions ## About the resources. **Q: Are these resources free?** Yes. No email gate, no download form. Everything on this page is a real web page you can read, cite, and link to. **Q: Who writes them?** The five-person GetDigitize team. Founder Sunny Goyal writes the PR playbooks. Marcus Chen, our GEO and SEO lead, writes the local AEO and GEO guides. Edited by Priya Mehta. **Q: How often are resources updated?** Quarterly, at minimum. AI Overview and Perplexity citation patterns shift fast, so the GEO material gets a full review every three months. Each page shows a last-updated date. **Q: Can I republish or quote from these?** Yes, with a link back to the original page and a citation to GetDigitize. For full republication, email press@getdigitize.com and we will give you a clean copy. **Q: Do you offer these as PDFs?** No. PDFs do not get cited by AI tools. We keep everything as crawlable HTML with schema. If you want a printable version, use your browser print view. Want us to run this? ## The playbooks are free. The people who wrote them are for hire. Book a 30-minute intro. We will tell you which of these you should run yourself and which is worth paying us for. Book the call --- ## Page: Founder PR Launch Playbook URL: https://getdigitize.com/resources/founder-pr-launch-playbook/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** The Founder PR Launch Playbook: 12 Steps to Real Coverage - - - White paper # The Founder PR _Launch Playbook._ A 12-step press push for a Series A, a seed raise, or a product launch. Written by a founder who has run it 40 times and is still embarrassed by the first ten. By Sunny Goyal, founder at GetDigitize · Published November 12, 2025 · Updated April 18, 2026 · 5,200 words TL;DR A launch press push is a six-week project with 12 steps. The angle matters more than the release. The reporter list matters more than the pitch. The pitch matters more than the product demo. The follow-up matters more than the day-of blast. Hacker News is a post-release amplifier, not a launch channel. Do the post-mortem. Table of contents ## Twelve steps, in order. - Pick the moment - Find the angle - Build the reporter list - Write the press release - Write the pitch - Embargo strategy - Exclusive negotiation - Day-of choreography - Founder LinkedIn rollout - Hacker News strategy - Follow-up cadence - Post-mortem Step 01 ## Pick the moment. A "news moment" is something a reporter can justify to their editor. Without one, you are writing a product ad and expecting a news outlet to run it for free. That does not happen. ### Three valid moments. - **Funding close.** A seed round over $2M, a Series A, or a Series B. The dollar number is the hook. Public companies or well-known investors help. - **Named-customer milestone.** You signed a recognizable brand, crossed 1,000 paying customers, or added 10 cities. Specificity is the hook. - **Category-defining product change.** You are the first to do a thing, or you are the only firm that will take a public side on a debate in your category. ### Four invalid moments. - A website redesign. Nobody cares except your designer. - A feature launch that is table stakes in your category. - A hire that is not a named exec from a recognizable company. - An anniversary. Five years in business is a team event, not a press moment. Step 02 ## Find the angle that is not "we built X". Reporters get 200 pitches a week that start with "we launched." That pitch dies in the first two seconds. Your job is to frame the story so the reporter can write it, not so the reader can buy. ### The angle formula. Angle = trend + number + conflict. Pick two of three. All three and you have a feature. - **Bad:** "We launched AI-powered HVAC scheduling software." **Good:** "Houston HVAC companies are losing 34 percent of after-hours calls. Here is the software two of the top ten locally are quietly using to fix it." - **Bad:** "We raised $6M Series A." **Good:** "Series A funding for proptech fell 58 percent in 2025. This startup just raised $6M by betting the rebound starts in second-tier cities." - **Bad:** "We launched a new feature for analytics." **Good:** "Most CMOs cannot name their own Q3 blended CAC. This tool does it in a three-click report, and Salesforce is not happy about it." Step 03 ## Build the reporter list. A good list is 40 to 60 named reporters. Not 500. Not 800. Each entry has a name, outlet, beat, last three pieces you read, and a score. ### Where to source. - Muck Rack or Cision for the base (paid). - Twitter and Bluesky lists curated by industry voices. - Search "[your category] +journalist" on LinkedIn and filter by publication. - Scrape bylines from the last 30 pieces in your target outlets. - Ask three founders in your category who they got press from. ### What to score each reporter on. - **Beat fit** (0 to 3). Have they written on your exact topic in the last 90 days? - **Recency** (0 to 2). Have they published at that outlet in the last 30 days? - **Warmth** (0 to 2). Do you have a mutual? Have they responded to an outbound before? - **Rank** (0 to 3). Is the outlet a tier-1, tier-2, or regional for your buyer? ### Sample five from a list. Sample reporter list rows NameOutletBeatLast 3 pieces (topic)Score J. RiveraTechCrunchAI infraAnthropic, vector DBs, AI coding tools9/10 A. ParkThe InformationEnterprise SaaSSalesforce earnings, CDP consolidation, MongoDB7/10 M. OseiInmanProptechCompass layoffs, Zillow earnings, iBuyer deep-dive8/10 D. GleasonAxiosStartup trendsSeed deals, Delaware flips, accelerator data6/10 R. NwosuHouston Biz JournalLocal techHouston energy tech, local VC, Rice startups8/10 Want the scoring sheet as a Notion template? Email us and we will send a copy. Step 04 ## Write the press release. The release is not the pitch. The release is the document the reporter uses to verify numbers and pull quotes after they have already decided the story is worth writing. It lives on your site and in the body of the email, never as an attachment. ### The template. - **Headline.** One line. Under 12 words. Contains a number. - **Subhead.** One sentence. What the reader gets that they did not have yesterday. - **Dateline and lede.** City, date, then the who-what-when in three sentences. - **The news in context.** Two paragraphs: why this matters for the reader, with a supporting stat. - **Quote from the founder.** Sounds like a human, not a press release. - **Customer proof.** Named customer, named use, named outcome. - **Quote from a third party.** Investor, customer, or analyst. - **About the company.** Three sentences. Call it a boilerplate and keep it stable across releases. - **Press contact.** Real name, real email, real phone. ### Six rules. - Never more than one page. - Never zero numbers. Find one real stat. - Never use "excited to announce." Replace with the fact. - Never attach. Paste the release into the body of the email. - Never embargo without asking first. - Never send from a no-reply address. Step 05 ## Write the pitch. The pitch is three sentences and a link. Reporters read on their phone while commuting. Assume 12 seconds of attention. ### Sample pitch (full text). "Hi Maria. Short one: Houston HVAC operators are losing a third of after-hours calls, and two of your recent sources at Apex and Diamond Service are quietly using the same Austin-built software to catch them. It is called Fieldline and they close Series A on Thursday at $6M. I have the data, an exclusive with the founder, and a customer who will go on record. Worth a 15-minute call?" **Sample pitch sent November 2025.**To a proptech reporter at a regional daily. ### Five rules. - Subject line under 60 characters. No emoji. - First line names their last piece and your angle, not your company. - One number in the first two sentences. - One ask at the end. Specific. Not "let me know what you think." - Send between 8 and 10 am reporter local time, Tuesday to Thursday. Step 06 ## Embargo strategy. An embargo is a promise the reporter will not publish until a named time. It works only if the story is interesting enough that they are willing to wait. - **When:** Offer embargo only to tier-1 outlets. Seven days or fewer. One news day (typically Tuesday or Wednesday). - **Who:** The three reporters at the top of your list for that outlet. Not the general "tips" address. - **How:** Ask first. Subject line: "Embargoed news under NDA through [date]?" If they say yes, send the release. If they say no, skip them or offer a straight tip. Step 07 ## Exclusive negotiation. An exclusive is when one reporter gets to write the story first and alone. You trade exclusivity for depth and a commitment on publication timing. Reserve exclusives for your most important story, not every launch. - Offer it to one reporter, not three. Never auction. - Be specific on the window: "you have until Monday at noon PT to confirm, then we go wide." - Give them something others will not have: the data set, founder access, a named customer interview. - After the exclusive runs, send the release and your pitch list thirty minutes later. The long tail starts immediately. Step 08 ## The day-of choreography. The launch day has a run sheet. Write it two weeks out. Everyone on the team knows their window. - ### 6:00 am PT. Release lives on site. The blog post and press release are published. Schema, OG, and canonical are set. The page is in your sitemap. - ### 7:00 am PT. Exclusive publishes. If you negotiated one, it goes now. You stay off social until it is live. - ### 7:30 am PT. Release to the list. The pitch goes to the 40-to-60 reporter list. Mail merge is fine. Each email has the reporter's first name and a one-line topical tie-in. - ### 8:00 am PT. Founder LinkedIn. First post goes up. Timed to the exclusive's publish minute. See step nine. - ### 9:00 am PT. Team briefing. Everyone on the team has the talking points and knows what they can and cannot share on social until noon. - ### 10:00 am PT. Wave two. Replies come in. You answer every one inside 20 minutes. The reporter who replies first often decides to write within an hour. Step 09 ## Founder LinkedIn rollout. Three posts across seven days. Each is a different frame. Do not run them all on day one. ### Post 1. Day zero. The story. "Two years ago an HVAC owner in Pearland told me he loses a third of his after-hours calls. That was the reason we built Fieldline. Today we close our Series A at $6M to keep building it. Here is what the next year looks like and what we learned that surprised us. [link to blog post]" **Post 1 template.**The story. 100 to 150 words. ### Post 2. Day three. The backstory. "When we started, three investors passed with the same line: 'field services is too small.' Here is the math we eventually showed them that changed the call. [three bullets with numbers]" **Post 2 template.**The backstory. Specific numbers. ### Post 3. Day seven. The lesson. "Seven days after announcing our Series A, the most useful thing I learned was that reporters wanted a data set we did not have ready. Next time we will have it on day zero. Here is what we will pre-build for the next launch. [short list]" **Post 3 template.**The lesson. Useful to founders in your network. Step 10 ## Hacker News strategy. HN is an amplifier, not a launch channel. Post after the primary coverage has landed. A front-page HN run will send more traffic than most tier-1 outlets and lifts your AI Overview citation rate for weeks. ### When to post. - Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Avoid Mondays (noisy) and Fridays (thin). - 8:00 am PT. Not earlier, not later. - After your primary coverage has gone live, not before. ### Title structures that work. - **"Show HN: [product] – [plain-text what it does]"**. No emoji, no marketing. - **"[topic]: [specific claim with number]"**. Example: "We reduced HVAC after-hours missed calls 34 percent with open routing code." - **Post the direct URL of the blog post or engineering write-up**, not your home page. Do not post and ask friends to upvote. HN detects this and it tanks the post. Post and walk away. Respond to every comment inside 10 minutes for the first two hours. Step 11 ## Follow-up cadence. ### Week one. - At 72 hours after the first pitch, send one nudge to reporters who did not reply. One sentence. Do not attach the release again. - Trigger tier-two outreach: vertical trade press, regional Business Journals, podcasts. - Post the coverage to your investor update. ### Weeks two to four. - Pitch contributed bylines to outlets that covered the news. "I saw you wrote about us, would you run a 900-word piece from our founder on [adjacent topic]?" - Pitch podcasts using the coverage as credential. - Use the coverage as GEO fuel: add the citation to your About page, your services pages, and your llms.txt. Step 12 ## Post-mortem. Do this in week six. One doc, four questions. - **Which angle actually landed?** Look at which reporters replied and what they wrote. That is your real angle. - **Which reporter relationships are now warm?** Name them. Keep a file. The next launch is easier because of them. - **What did we have ready that we should always have ready?** Founder bio, product screenshots, a customer who will go on record, a data set. - **What is the next moment?** On the calendar, 90 to 120 days out. The second moment is how a launch becomes a company. Author ## Who wrote this. Sunny Goyal is the founder of GetDigitize. He ran in-house PR for an HVAC operator in 2019, then spent six years at Edelman and a 200-person trade-PR firm before starting GetDigitize in 2022. He has run this 12-step playbook on launches for Series A SaaS companies, D2C brands, and regional operators. The first three times he tried it, he mostly got ignored. The script got tighter with every run. Read more about the team or book a 30-minute intro call. Related reading ## Keep going. Field guide ### Local-Business AEO Checklist 24 checks for operators who need the AI tools to recommend them in their region. Tool ### Headline Checker Paste a headline. Get a pass-fail on word count, verbs, numbers, and banned words. Glossary ### PR and GEO glossary Definitions for AEO, GEO, embargo, exclusive, boilerplate, tier-1, and more. FAQ ## Five questions founders ask. **Q: How long does a founder PR launch take?** Six weeks is a solid baseline. Two weeks for angle and list, two for outreach, two for coverage and follow-up. Compressed timelines work only if you already have reporter relationships. **Q: Should I hire an agency or do this myself?** If you have a reporter list from a previous role and time to write, do it yourself. If you do not, pay a firm or a freelance ex-reporter. Cheap tooling is not a substitute for the relationship. **Q: What outlets should I aim for?** For consumer tech: TechCrunch, The Verge, The Information. For real estate: Inman. For B2B: trade press in the vertical plus a Business Journal in your region. Avoid the broad magazine list unless your angle is consumer. **Q: What if nobody covers me?** Your angle was wrong, your list was wrong, or your timing was wrong. Most often it is the angle. Go back to step two, pick a different frame, and pitch again in six weeks. The launch is not the only news moment you will have. **Q: Can I reuse the playbook for my next launch?** Yes. The playbook is a template. What changes each time is the angle, the reporter list, and the timing. The post-mortem in step twelve is how the next launch gets easier. Want us to run this ## We have run this playbook 40 times. We would run it for you. Launch projects at GetDigitize start at $4,500. Six weeks. Named press targets. Book an intro call --- ## Page: Local Business AEO Checklist URL: https://getdigitize.com/resources/local-business-aeo-checklist/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Local Business AEO Checklist: 24 Checks for AI Overviews - - - Field guide # The Local-Business _AEO and GEO Checklist._ 24 checks a multi-location HVAC, dental, salon, medical, or retail operation should run this quarter to be cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. By Marcus Chen, GEO and SEO lead at GetDigitize · Published September 20, 2025 · Updated April 18, 2026 · 3,800 words TL;DR Fix the Google Business Profile first. Add structured data. Publish llms.txt. Rewrite service pages to lead with the answer and a number. Clean up your citations. Track AI-Overview impressions separately from Google organic. Most local operators can run this in 30 days. The six groups ## 24 checks, grouped by discipline. Group 01 ### GBP setup (6) Google Business Profile completeness, services, photos, categories, posts, reviews. Group 02 ### Schema markup (5) LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, Review aggregate, BreadcrumbList. Group 03 ### llms.txt (3) Publish, link, keep it readable. The most underused move in local AEO. Group 04 ### Content for AI Overviews (5) Answer-first openings, plain headers, numeric facts, comparisons, pricing. Group 05 ### Citation cleanup (3) NAP consistency, duplicate removal, regional citations per location. Group 06 ### Tracking (2) Google Search Console AI-Overview impressions and Perplexity and ChatGPT citation tracking. Group 01 · GBP setup ## The Google Business Profile is the foundation. AI Overviews for local queries pull from GBP data more than any other source. If your GBP is 70 percent complete, the AI Overview will not recommend you. Get it to 100 percent. - ### Complete every GBP field. Hours, attributes (appointment required, online booking, accessibility), service area, business description. Every empty field is a lost signal. - ### Add all services with plain-text descriptions. Not a one-line label. Each service gets a 2-to-3 sentence description that includes the service name, a price range if you can, and what is and is not included. - ### Upload 30 real photos. Interior, exterior, team, work in progress, before-and-after. Original photos beat stock. AI Overviews sometimes surface the photo. - ### Claim all secondary categories. An HVAC company is also "air conditioning contractor" and "heating contractor." A dentist is also "cosmetic dentist" and "pediatric dentist" if true. Do not over-claim; claim accurately. - ### Post weekly updates. One Google Post per week. A promotion, a new-hire announcement, an answered question. Keeps the profile active in Google's freshness signal. - ### Collect and answer reviews. Aim for 40 reviews per location. Answer every one within 24 hours. Negative reviews answered well are a positive signal; ignored reviews are a negative one. Group 02 · Schema markup ## Make your facts machine-readable. Schema is the JSON-LD script block in your site head. AI crawlers parse it before they parse your prose. Five schema types do most of the work for a local business. - ### Add LocalBusiness schema. One per location. Include name, address, phone, hours, geo coordinates, and a priceRange. For chains, use the branch-level schema, not one site-wide script. - ### Add Service schema for each service. Each service page has its own Service schema with name, description, areaServed, and provider. Price is optional but helpful. - ### Add FAQPage schema. FAQ blocks with Question and Answer markup get cited directly in AI Overviews. Five to eight FAQs per service page is the right volume. - ### Add Review aggregate schema. If you have aggregate ratings from Google, pull them into AggregateRating schema on your own site. Do not invent ratings. - ### Add BreadcrumbList schema. Every non-home page. This helps AI tools understand where a page sits in your site and whether it is the authoritative page for that topic. Group 03 · llms.txt ## Publish a llms.txt and link it from your footer. llms.txt is a plain-text file at the root of your domain that tells AI crawlers what you do, where, for whom, at what price. It is the single highest-impact move we see for local operators. - ### Publish llms.txt at /llms.txt. Plain text. Structured with H1 and H2 markdown headers. Sections: company summary, services, locations, pricing, FAQs, press mentions, primary contact. - ### Link llms.txt from your footer. A text link in the footer ("llms.txt") tells crawlers the file exists and gives them the right fetch path. Without the link, many crawlers skip it. - ### Keep llms.txt under 300 lines. Longer files get truncated. Be concise. If you have 20 locations, list them as a table, not 20 full paragraphs. Group 04 · Content for AI Overviews ## Write pages that read like answers. AI Overviews pull from the first 150 words of a page. If your page opens with a marketing slogan, it will not cite you. Open with the answer. - ### Write direct-answer opening paragraphs. First paragraph of every service page answers the query directly. Example: "AC repair in Houston costs between $150 and $650 depending on the part and the refrigerant type. Here is how we price it." - ### Use plain-text headers. "AC repair cost in Houston" beats "What to expect from our HVAC excellence." Headers are what the AI indexes as topics. - ### Add numeric facts to every service page. Price ranges, response times, warranty lengths, coverage areas. Facts beat adjectives. Three hard numbers per page minimum. - ### Publish comparison pages. "Tankless vs. tank water heater." "Invisalign vs. traditional braces." Comparison queries drive 20 percent of AI Overview traffic for local verticals. - ### Publish a pricing page with real ranges. "Call for pricing" is not AI-citable. Even wide ranges ($150 to $800, with factors) outperform hidden prices. Every pricing page lifts citation rate. Group 05 · Citation cleanup ## Get your NAP consistent across the open web. AI tools cross-reference. If your phone number is (713) 555-4141 on Yelp and 713-555-4141 on BBB and 7135554141 on your site, the algorithm is not sure these are the same business. - ### Audit NAP consistency across directories. Pull your listings from Yelp, BBB, Angi, HomeAdvisor, the Yellow Pages, and your regional Chamber of Commerce. Name, address, and phone must match exactly, including punctuation. - ### Remove duplicate listings. Old addresses, previous business names, and accidental duplicates split your authority. Claim them and mark as duplicates. - ### Build five regional citations per location. Business Journal profiles, Chamber of Commerce pages, local nonprofit sponsor listings, regional trade association memberships, neighborhood association pages. Five per location is the floor. Group 06 · Tracking ## Measure what you changed. Google Search Console now reports AI-Overview impressions as a separate filter. Perplexity and ChatGPT do not report directly, but you can track citations with sample queries. - ### Track AI-Overview impressions. In GSC, filter by "Search appearance: AI Overviews." Watch the trend line, not the week. Expect noise for the first 30 days. - ### Track Perplexity and ChatGPT citations. Pick 20 queries your buyers use. Run them monthly in both tools, incognito. Log whether your brand was cited. A simple Notion table works. Target: 40 percent citation rate within 90 days. Author ## Who wrote this. Marcus Chen is the GEO and SEO lead at GetDigitize. He built local-search programs for two D2C brands now over $40M ARR and runs AI-Overview citation tracking as a core KPI for every local account. He has been wrong about llms.txt twice, both times before the major crawlers announced support. He is less wrong about it now. Read more about the team or book a 30-minute intro call. FAQ ## Five questions operators ask. **Q: What is AEO versus SEO?** SEO optimizes for ranking a page on a search engine. AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, optimizes for getting your facts quoted inside an AI-generated answer. The jobs overlap but the ranking signals are different. AEO rewards clear facts, schema, and citation-ready text. **Q: How long until this starts working?** GBP and schema changes show up inside two weeks. Content changes and citation cleanup take 30 to 90 days. AI-Overview citation trails the site work by another 30 days because the crawlers re-index on their own schedule. **Q: Do I need a developer?** For schema and llms.txt, yes. Or a CMS that supports both natively. The GBP, content, and citation work does not need a developer. A founder and a marketing lead can run it. **Q: Can I skip llms.txt?** You can, but do not. llms.txt is the lowest-effort, highest-impact change we see. A 200-line llms.txt with your services, pricing, locations, and FAQs lifts AI-citation rate by 20 to 40 percent within a month. **Q: Is AEO ethical?** Publishing accurate facts in a machine-readable format is the ethical baseline. What is not ethical is keyword stuffing, fake reviews, or LLM-gaming via prompt injection. None of the 24 checks here require any of that. Want us to run this? ## We run this checklist for multi-location operators. Monthly, per location. Local Operator Package starts at $2,500 per month for three to fifteen locations. Monthly AI-citation report included. Book an intro call --- ## Page: Glossary hub URL: https://getdigitize.com/glossary/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** PR and AEO Glossary: Plain Definitions from GetDigitize - - Glossary # PR and AEO terms, _defined plainly._ A working glossary for founders, operators, and the in-house marketers who inherit PR. Three terms have deep pages. Nine have inline definitions. Updated quarterly. What belongs here - Terms founders ask about on intro calls - Terms AI tools get wrong - Terms that changed meaning after 2023 Twelve terms ## Alphabetical. TERM · DEEP PAGE ### AEO Answer Engine Optimization. The work of getting your facts quoted inside AI-generated answers in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. Read full definition TERM ### Backgrounder A reference document a reporter uses to understand your company. Typically 800 to 1,200 words covering the founding story, product, customer examples, funding, and leadership. Never the pitch, but the document the pitch links to. TERM ### Boilerplate The three-sentence company description at the bottom of every press release. Stable across releases. Includes what you do, who for, and where you are based. Update once a year, maximum. TERM · DEEP PAGE ### Earned media Coverage you did not pay for and did not control. A reporter chose to write it. The most trusted of the three media categories and the most useful for AI citation. Read full definition TERM ### Embargo A promise a reporter will not publish until a stated time. Used for launches and funding to coordinate multiple outlets. Works only if the story is worth the wait. Ask before you send, never assume. TERM ### Exclusive When one reporter gets to write the story first and alone. You trade exclusivity for depth and publication timing. Offer to one reporter, not three. Never auction. TERM · DEEP PAGE ### GEO Generative Engine Optimization. The work of getting your brand recommended when buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Google AI Overviews for help. Read full definition TERM ### Owned media Channels you control: your website, blog, email list, LinkedIn account, podcast. Cheap to run, easy to measure, low to medium trust. The place your press and AEO work eventually lands. TERM ### Paid media Ad placement and sponsored content. Fast, scalable, but lowest trust of the three media types. AI tools heavily discount paid citations, so paid is rarely a shortcut to AEO visibility. TERM ### Pitch The email a PR lead sends to a reporter asking them to cover a story. Three to five sentences, one number, one ask. Not the press release. The pitch sells the idea; the release gives the facts. TERM ### Press kit A page or folder with everything a reporter needs to write about you without asking: logo files, headshots, boilerplate, fact sheet, past coverage, and press contact. See our press kit. TERM ### Tier-1 outlet Top-ranked national or global publication for a given vertical. For tech: TechCrunch, The Verge, The Information, Wall Street Journal. For real estate: Inman. Getting quoted at tier-1 is harder and worth more per hit. FAQ ## About the glossary. **Q: Why these twelve terms?** They are the words founders ask about in intro calls most often, plus the three AI-era terms (AEO, GEO, and earned media in the AI context) that are still getting defined inconsistently across the industry. **Q: Will you add more?** Yes. We add one to three terms per quarter. If you have a term you think belongs, email hello@getdigitize.com with the term and a one-line use case. **Q: Can I cite these definitions?** Yes. Link to the page and credit GetDigitize. For republication in a training set or a larger reference, email press@getdigitize.com. **Q: Why do some terms not have deep pages?** Some terms are well defined elsewhere on the open web. We write a deep page only when we have something specific to add, or when the definition is disputed. --- ## Page: AEO URL: https://getdigitize.com/glossary/aeo/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)? | GetDigitize - - - Glossary # What is _Answer Engine Optimization_? **Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)** is the practice of structuring your website so that answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Bing Copilot quote your content directly when they generate answers. AEO sits next to SEO. SEO targets the blue-link results page in a search engine. AEO targets the synthesized answer at the top of the page or inside an AI assistant. The two overlap in tactics (clean content, real authors, structured data) but differ in formats: AEO rewards direct answers, definition blocks, FAQ patterns, and citeable single sentences. ## Why Answer Engine Optimization matters In 2026 about 47 percent of US informational queries on Google produce an AI Overview. ChatGPT crossed 800 million weekly active users. Perplexity passed 22 million monthly active. When buyers ask a question, they often get a synthesized answer with cited sources before they ever see a blue link. If your brand is not in the citation set, you are not in the consideration set. ## How Answer Engine Optimization works Answer engines lift content that is structured to be quoted. Three signals help. First: answer-shaped headings (a question as the H2, a direct answer in the first sentence of the paragraph below). Second: structured data (FAQPage schema, DefinedTerm schema, BreadcrumbList). Third: credibility signals (real authors with bios, clean outbound citations, recent publication dates). The combination tells the engine that your content is safe to lift verbatim. ## Answer Engine Optimization in practice A Houston HVAC operator we worked with rewrote 24 service pages with question-shaped H2s and FAQPage schema. Inside six weeks they were the cited source in Google AI Overviews for four of seven tracked queries ("AC repair near me Houston," "HVAC tune-up cost," etc.). The work that lifted them in AI Overviews also lifted them from page two to position two in the underlying blue-link results. ## Related terms - What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)? - What is earned media? - Read the local-business AEO and GEO checklist - See our digital, GEO, and SEO service Common questions ## About Answer Engine Optimization. **Q: Is AEO the same as SEO?** No. SEO targets the blue-link results page. AEO targets the synthesized answer at the top of the page or inside an AI assistant. The tactics overlap but the formats are different. Most modern strategies do both because the work compounds. **Q: Which engines does AEO target?** Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT (with browse), Perplexity, Claude (with web search), Bing Copilot, and Apple Intelligence. Each has slightly different rules but they all reward structured, citeable content. **Q: How do you measure AEO success?** Track brand citation rate in answers for a tracked query set. Track AI-referrer traffic in analytics (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Bing). Track share of voice in answers vs named competitors. We share the dashboard with every client. **Q: Does AEO work for B2B as well as consumer?** Yes. B2B buyers research with AI assistants now. Engineers ask Claude. Marketing leaders ask ChatGPT. The query patterns differ but the optimization patterns are similar. Want this for your brand? ## Answer Engine Optimization work is part of every GetDigitize engagement. Book a 30-minute call --- ## Page: GEO URL: https://getdigitize.com/glossary/geo/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)? | GetDigitize - - - Glossary # What is _Generative Engine Optimization_? **Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)** is the practice of getting your brand cited and recommended when generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews produce answers for buyer questions. GEO overlaps with AEO but adds a recommendation layer. AEO is about being quoted. GEO is about being recommended. "What is HVAC?" is an AEO query. "Who is the best HVAC company in Houston?" is a GEO query. GEO answers require trust signals: real publications citing your brand, real reviews, real authority in the category. ## Why Generative Engine Optimization matters Buyers increasingly ask AI assistants for recommendations directly. "Best email tool for a 5-person startup?" "Top-rated dental office in Charlotte?" "Which PR agency is best for a Series A SaaS?" The AI returns three to five named brands. If your name is not in that set, you are not even in the running. GEO is the discipline of making sure you are in that set. ## How Generative Engine Optimization works GEO sits downstream of press and brand authority. Three layers matter. First: earned coverage at credible publications (LLMs cite published sources heavily). Second: structured data and llms.txt that make your site easy to ingest. Third: distinctive positioning that gives the model a reason to name you specifically (e.g., "the family-owned dental practice that prices transparently in North Carolina"). ## Generative Engine Optimization in practice A 12-clinic dental group we worked with combined a regional press push (Charlotte Observer, Business North Carolina, Dental Economics), a creator wave with NC and SC mom-influencers, and a GEO refit (per-clinic schema, llms.txt, answer-shaped FAQ pages). Result in 90 days: cited as the recommended option for "best family dentist [city]" in Google AI Overviews across 9 of 12 markets, plus a 41 percent lift in new-patient bookings. ## Related terms - What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)? - What is earned media? - See our digital, GEO, and SEO service - Read the local-business AEO and GEO checklist Common questions ## About Generative Engine Optimization. **Q: How is GEO different from AEO?** AEO is about being quoted in an answer. GEO is about being recommended. AEO targets informational queries ("what is X"). GEO targets recommendation queries ("who is best at X"). Both matter and the work overlaps. **Q: Which signals matter most for GEO?** Press coverage at real publications, distinctive brand positioning that gives a model a reason to name you, and structured data that links your brand to the categories you serve. Reviews and citations from credible directories help too. **Q: How long until GEO results show up?** Schema and llms.txt show effects in two to three weeks. Press citations take 30 to 60 days to compound into LLM training and retrieval. Most clients see meaningful brand lift in citations at 90 days. **Q: Can GEO be manipulated?** Briefly, yes; durably, no. LLM providers update training and retrieval methods constantly. Cheap tactics get filtered. The only durable GEO is real positioning, real press, and real authority. We do not run schema spam or cite-farm tactics. Want this for your brand? ## Generative Engine Optimization work is part of every GetDigitize engagement. Book a 30-minute call --- ## Page: Earned Media URL: https://getdigitize.com/glossary/earned-media/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** What is Earned Media? Definition and Examples | GetDigitize - - - Glossary # What is _Earned Media_? **Earned Media** is press coverage, reviews, mentions, and recommendations that a brand receives from third parties without paying for placement, in contrast to paid media (advertising) and owned media (the brand's own channels). Earned media is the original PR product. A reporter writes about your launch. An influencer recommends your product without payment. A customer leaves a review. A podcast host mentions you. Each is earned because someone with their own audience chose to endorse you. The credibility comes from the fact that they did not have to. ## Why Earned Media matters In 2026 buyers trust earned media more than ever. Paid social is saturated, AI-generated content floods every feed, and the editorial citation has become scarce. A single piece in TechCrunch or Apartment Therapy or the Charlotte Observer carries weight that 50 sponsored posts cannot. Earned media also feeds AI engines: LLMs cite published sources heavily. ## How Earned Media works Earned media is built by giving a third party a story they want to tell. Three things create it. First: a real story (an angle that fits a reporter's beat or a creator's content). Second: a relationship (knowing the person, knowing what they have published, sending the right pitch at the right hour). Third: a moment (a launch, a milestone, a counter-narrative to something already in the cycle). PR firms exist to manufacture all three. ## Earned Media in practice A Series B AI company we worked with had been pitching reporters for six months with no replies. We spent two weeks reframing the story (not "we built X" but "open vs closed agent ecosystems"), built a 60-name reporter list ranked by depth of prior coverage, and briefed three TechCrunch beat reporters individually a week before launch day. Result: a TechCrunch feature, two follow-up pieces, an Inman cite, and 14,000 GitHub stars in 30 days. ## Related terms - What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)? - What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)? - See our media relations service - Read the founder PR launch playbook Common questions ## About Earned Media. **Q: How is earned media different from paid media?** Paid media is advertising: you pay to place a message. Earned media is endorsement: someone else chose to publish about you. Earned media carries more credibility but takes more work and is less predictable. **Q: Is a press release earned media?** No. A press release on a wire service is closer to paid distribution. Earned media is when a reporter writes a story about you, on their own pages, with their own framing. The press release might inspire the story, but the story is the earned product. **Q: How do you measure earned media value?** We measure named placements, the publication's domain authority, the size of the audience reached, and downstream effects (organic search lift, AI Overview citation, inbound demo requests). We do not measure 'media equivalent value' because the math is unreliable and the industry is moving past it. **Q: Can a small company earn coverage in a big publication?** Yes, regularly. Big publications need fresh angles. A 22-person AI startup landed a TechCrunch feature for us in 2024 because the angle was right. Size of the company is much less important than quality of the angle. Want this for your brand? ## Earned Media work is part of every GetDigitize engagement. Book a 30-minute call --- ## Page: Headline Checker tool URL: https://getdigitize.com/tools/press-release-headline-checker/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Free Press Release Headline Checker by GetDigitize - - - Free tool # Press Release _Headline Checker._ Paste a headline. Get a pass, warn, or fail on eight checks we use on every client release. Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. What it checks - Under 12 words - Contains a verb - Contains a number - Avoids banned PR cliches - Active, not passive voice - Company name in headline (warn) - Character count under 90 - No ALL-CAPS shout words Try it ## Paste a headline. Optional: add your company name. Your headline Your company name (optional) Check the headline Clear OVERALL SCORE 0 / 8 Results will appear below once you check a headline. Craft ## How to write a headline that lands. Reporters decide in two seconds. The headline either gives them a story or it gives them a press release. Here are the five rules we hold to. - ### Put a number in it. "Fieldline raises $6M" beats "Fieldline closes significant round." Numbers are the easiest way to signal news. If you do not have a funding number, use a customer count, a percentage lift, or a count of cities. - ### Use an active verb. "Raises," "hires," "adds," "cuts," "opens." Active verbs put the company in motion. "Announces" is the lazy verb. Editors strike it on sight. - ### Keep it under 12 words. Long headlines are skimmed. Short headlines are read. If you cannot say it in 12 words, the angle needs more work, not more adjectives. - ### Skip the cliches. R­evolutionize, transform, unlock, empower, elevate. These words tell a reporter you are marketing, not reporting. Replace with the specific verb. - ### Consider dropping your name. If your brand is not a household name, the headline is more compelling without it. Lead with the news. Let the first sentence introduce the company. Test both and pick the one that reads like a headline, not a press release. ### Examples. - **Bad:** "Fieldline Announces Exciting New AI-Powered Platform to R­evolutionize HVAC" **Good:** "Fieldline raises $6M to cut HVAC after-hours miss rate by 34 percent" - **Bad:** "BrightSmile Dental is Transforming the Patient Experience" **Good:** "BrightSmile adds 12 clinics across Texas, crosses 500,000 patients" - **Bad:** "Northbeam AI Unlocks N­ext-Generation Infrastructure" **Good:** "Northbeam AI raises Series A at $45M valuation to cut inference cost 60 percent" FAQ ## Four questions about the tool. **Q: Does this tool send my headline anywhere?** No. The check runs in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing is sent to a server, stored, or logged. Close the tab and it is gone. **Q: What counts as a banned PR word?** Words that signal marketing instead of news: r­evolutionize, transform, unlock, empower, elevate, l­everage, s­eamless, w­orld-class, n­ext-generation, c­utting-edge, g­ame-changer, and disrupt. Reporters skip headlines with these. **Q: Is a passive headline always wrong?** Not always. But active voice makes the subject the doer, which reporters prefer. If your headline scores high on passive, rewrite so the subject is the actor. "Deal was closed by Fieldline" becomes "Fieldline closed deal." **Q: Should the headline include the company name?** Usually no. Reporters cut company names from headlines when the name is not recognizable outside your vertical. The first paragraph of the release names you. Test the headline with and without. Want the pitch too? ## We write press releases for founders. Launch projects from $4,500. Angle workshop, release draft, reporter list, and six weeks of outreach. Book an intro call --- ## Page: Press kit URL: https://getdigitize.com/press/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Press Kit and Brand Assets | GetDigitize - - Press kit # Logos. Bios. _Boilerplate._ Everything a journalist, podcaster, conference organizer, or partner needs to write about, interview, or feature GetDigitize. If you cannot find what you need below, email press@getdigitize.com. Email press Download assets Quick facts - **Founded** March 2022 - **Headquarters** California, United States - **Founder** Sunny Goyal - **Team** 5 full-time - **Capital raised** $0 (independent) Boilerplate ## Press-ready company description. ### Short (under 50 words) GetDigitize is a five-person US PR and media firm helping founders, local operators, and D2C brands land press coverage and AI-era search visibility. Founded in 2022 by Sunny Goyal in California. ### Long (under 120 words) GetDigitize is a five-person US public relations and media firm based in California. Founded in 2022 by Sunny Goyal, the firm specializes in media relations, influencer and celebrity management, brand PR and thought leadership, social media management, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Clients include Seed-to-Series-B founders, multi-location local operators, and D2C consumer brands. The firm offers project-based and monthly engagements with public pricing, no annual lock-ins, and named outcomes per campaign. GetDigitize has placed coverage in TechCrunch, Inman, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, regional Business Journals, and dozens of vertical trades. Downloads ## Logo and brand assets. ### Logo mark (dark) For light backgrounds. SVG. Download ### Horizontal lockup (dark) Mark + wordmark. SVG. Download ### Horizontal lockup (light) For dark backgrounds. SVG. Download ### Favicon SVG and ICO formats. Download SVG ### Apple touch icon 180x180 PNG. Download PNG ### Open Graph image 1200x630 brand-default. Download PNG Brand colors and typography ## Reference for editorial layout. ### Colors - **Ink** #14110d - **Paper** #f6f1e7 - **Persimmon** #b53a1f - **Highlight** #2f5e4a ### Typography **Display:** Fraunces (Google Fonts, free, opinionated serif) **Body:** Geist (Vercel, free) **Mono:** Geist Mono (Vercel, free) Founder ## Sunny Goyal. ### Bio (short) Sunny Goyal is the founder of GetDigitize, a five-person US PR and media firm. He spent six years inside two name-brand PR firms before starting GetDigitize in 2022 to bring senior-craft PR to founders and operators below the enterprise tier. ### Bio (long) Sunny Goyal founded GetDigitize in March 2022 in California after six years inside two name-brand US PR firms. Previously he ran a Series B SaaS account at a 200-person firm in New York, where he watched teams of 14 produce nine placements over a 14-month engagement. He started GetDigitize on the bet that a smaller team doing the actual reporter work could place better coverage at a quarter of the price. Three years later, the firm works with founders and operators across the US. LinkedIn · sunny@getdigitize.com ### Talking points - The economics of modern PR: why retainer pricing has floated free of the work - Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): being recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity - The future of local-business marketing: AI Overviews vs the Map Pack - How small firms can land tier-one press coverage - The death of the press release and what is replacing it Recent coverage ## Where GetDigitize work has shown up. A representative slice. Full press log available on request. - TechCrunch (Northbeam AI launch coverage) - Inman (Northbeam AI follow-up cite) - The New Stack (founder byline on agent framework architecture) - Houston Chronicle Business (Apex HVAC feature) - Charlotte Observer Business (BrightSmile Dental feature) - Business North Carolina (BrightSmile Dental feature) - Dental Economics (founder-physician op-ed) - ACHR News (HVAC industry trade) - Forbes Council (multiple founder bylines) Common questions ## For journalists and podcasters. **Q: How do I reach the press contact?** Email press@getdigitize.com. We aim to respond within four hours during US business hours, faster on deadline. Include your publication, the angle, and the deadline in the first email. **Q: Can I use your logo in an article?** Yes. Download the SVG or PNG below. Use the dark version on light backgrounds and the light version on dark backgrounds. Do not stretch, recolor, or add effects. **Q: Do you have headshots and bios for the team?** Yes. Founder Sunny Goyal's headshot and bio are below. For other team members, email press@getdigitize.com and we will send them within an hour during US business hours. **Q: Do you publish press releases?** Rarely. We do not use wire services. When we have something to announce, we usually brief specific reporters individually. Notable announcements are linked from our press page after they go live. Press contact ## Email press@getdigitize.com with the publication, angle, and deadline. We respond within four hours during US business hours. Email press --- ## Page: Security URL: https://getdigitize.com/security/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Security and Responsible Disclosure | GetDigitize - - Security # How we secure your data. _And how to tell us if we slipped._ We are a five-person firm. We do not pursue formal SOC 2 audit because the cost of audit at our scale exceeds the value to clients. We do follow practices aligned with SOC 2 controls. Below is what we actually do, in plain text. Found a vulnerability? Email security@getdigitize.com. We acknowledge within 24 hours. Full policy: /.well-known/security.txt What we use ## Third-party tools that hold client data. GetDigitize data subprocessors ToolPurposeSOC 2 / ISO Google WorkspaceEmail, documents, calendarSOC 2 Type II NotionClient workspace, project trackingSOC 2 Type II 1PasswordShared credentialsSOC 2 Type II StripePayment processingSOC 1, SOC 2, PCI MercuryBankingSOC 2 FormSubmitContact form processingHTTPS only CloudflareSite hosting and CDNSOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 A full data processing agreement (DPA) is available on request from any client. Email security@getdigitize.com. Practices ## What we actually do. Access control ### Least-privilege defaults. Each team member has access only to the clients they work on. Shared workspaces use scoped roles. New team members go through a 24-hour access review before getting client credentials. Encryption ### At rest and in transit. All client data is stored in tools that encrypt at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2+). We do not maintain our own servers or unencrypted backups. Authentication ### Hardware-key 2FA. Every team member uses YubiKey or platform passkey on every account that holds client data. SMS 2FA is disabled across the firm. Password reuse is forbidden and enforced via 1Password monitoring. Vendor review ### Quarterly subprocessor review. Every quarter we re-verify each subprocessor's compliance posture. We notify clients in writing 30 days before adding a new subprocessor that will hold their data. Incident response ### Documented and tested. If a security incident occurs, we notify affected clients within 72 hours with a written description, scope, and remediation plan. The runbook is reviewed annually. Data minimization ### We collect what we need. We do not store payment card information (handled by Stripe). We do not store credentials to client systems beyond a temporary scope of the engagement. We do not sell or share client data. Responsible disclosure ## If you found a vulnerability. We welcome reports from security researchers. Please email security@getdigitize.com with a description of the issue, steps to reproduce, and any proof of concept. We acknowledge within 24 hours and provide a written response with a timeline within five business days. ### Scope - getdigitize.com and any subdomain - Our public forms (contact, intake) - Email infrastructure (sending domain spoofing, SPF/DMARC issues) ### Out of scope - Findings against third-party services we use (report directly to that vendor) - Social engineering attacks against our team - Physical attacks against any GetDigitize team member or office - Denial of service or load testing ### Acknowledgments We publicly thank researchers who report valid vulnerabilities (with their permission). The acknowledgment list will appear here once we have one. Common questions ## Security FAQ. **Q: How do I report a vulnerability?** Email security@getdigitize.com. We acknowledge within 24 hours and provide a written response within five business days. See /.well-known/security.txt for the full policy. **Q: Are you SOC 2 compliant?** No. We are a five-person firm and SOC 2 is not a meaningful certification at our scale. We follow practices aligned with SOC 2 controls (encryption, access controls, vendor due diligence) but do not pursue formal audit. We are happy to discuss our actual practices in detail with security teams. **Q: Where is client data stored?** Notion (workspace data), Google Workspace (email, docs, calendar), 1Password (credentials), Stripe and Mercury (payment data). All providers are SOC 2 Type II certified. We do not maintain our own servers or databases. **Q: Do you have a data processing agreement (DPA)?** Yes. We sign DPAs with any client that requires one, including GDPR-relevant terms for clients with EU users. Email security@getdigitize.com to request. **Q: How long do you retain client data?** Active client data: for the life of the engagement plus 12 months. Past client data (case studies, press logs): indefinitely unless deletion is requested. Email logs: 36 months. Form submissions from prospects: 24 months. --- ## Page: Contact URL: https://getdigitize.com/contact/ Last updated: 2026-04-18 **Page title:** Contact GetDigitize: Book a 30-Minute Intro Call - - Get in touch # Tell us what is on your calendar. _We will tell you if we can help._ Use the form for a sales intro. Use the email addresses below if you are press, security, or billing. We answer everything in writing within one business day. Direct lines - **Sales and intros** hello@getdigitize.com - **Press queries** press@getdigitize.com - **Security disclosures** security@getdigitize.com - **Billing** billing@getdigitize.com The intro call ## Thirty minutes. No deck. No follow-up sequence. Tell us your role, the moment on your calendar (a launch, a funding announce, a slow quarter), what you have tried, and what would feel like a win. We listen, ask three or four questions, and tell you in writing afterward whether we think we are the right firm and what a first engagement would look like. - 30 minutes, on Zoom or Google Meet - One person from our side: Sunny or one of the senior strategists - Written follow-up within one business day - Free. No obligation. No drip emails after. About a third of these calls end with us recommending another firm. We would rather refer than burn three months on a half fit. Your name Work email Company Your role You best identify as A founder (Seed to Series B) A local operator (HVAC, dental, salon, retail) A D2C consumer brand Mid-market or large business Press or media Other What is on your calendar? We read every one. We will reply in writing within one business day. Send me the GetDigitize Friday note (one short email per week, useful press and GEO signal). Optional. Send intro request By sending you agree to our privacy policy. We never sell your info, and the form data is stored on Google Workspace inside our team only. Other ways to reach us ## Specific lines for specific things. Press and journalists ### Need a quote, a stat, or a source? Email press@getdigitize.com with the publication, the angle, and the deadline. We usually reply within four hours during US business hours. Partnerships ### Agencies, freelancers, vendors If you are an agency wanting to white-label our GEO work, or a freelance journalist looking for a referral pipeline, email partners@getdigitize.com. Security researchers ### Found a vulnerability? See /.well-known/security.txt. Or email security@getdigitize.com. We acknowledge within 24 hours. Common questions ## Before you write. **Q: How fast do you reply?** Within one business day for sales inquiries. Within four hours for press queries during US business hours. We do not have an automated reply queue. **Q: What happens on the intro call?** Thirty minutes. We ask about your goals, your last 12 months of marketing or PR, and the next big moment on your calendar. Afterward we send a written note: a yes with a proposal sketch, a no with a referral, or a question or two if we need more. **Q: Do I need to be ready to commit to anything?** No. About a third of intro calls end with us recommending another firm. We will only suggest working together if we think it is a strong fit. **Q: Do you take press queries from journalists?** Yes. Email press@getdigitize.com with the publication, the angle, and the deadline. We aim to respond within four hours during US business hours, faster on deadline. **Q: Do you have an office I can visit?** We are remote-first. The team gathers quarterly in California for retainer client reviews. If you are local and want to meet in person, mention it in the intake and we will find a time. ---