For all you entrepreneurs out there whose noses were to the grindstone yesterday afternoon, you missed a great workshop on how to get press for whatever project you were working on so tirelessly. The Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner started his “Getting Coverage” talk at the Harvard Innovation Lab by telling us that he didn’t fancy himself much of a presenter, and so was nervous to see that Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann had just taken a seat in the front row. He could have fooled me.

Kirsner’s engaging workshop was geared towards entrepreneurs who are looking to get press coverage of their projects, and was filled with frank, useful advice. I’ve compiled some of his best advice here for any entrepreneurs who are looking to cultivate better (or any) media coverage.

1. Know Your Audience: He started by emphasizing the importance of knowing your target market and what they read; if your project aims to provide a helpful service to foodies, for example, you’d probably do better to seek coverage on Epicurious than on TechCrunch.
2. A Rifle is Better than a Shotgun: Kirsner also stressed how much he values the “rifle approach” over the “shotgun approach” when he hears pitches from entrepreneurs. Taking the time to do some research on the journalists whose coverage you seek and targeting maybe four or five whose interests align with some component of your project with a brief, personal e-mail (the “rifle approach”), Kirsner explained, is smarter and more appealing than sending an impersonal, twelve-paragraph blast to every major business writer or hiring a PR person to do the same (the “shotgun approach”).
3. Context is Key: Knowing how to contextualize your story was another focal point of Kirsner’s presentation. He walked the audience through a series of potential takes a writer might consider, from personal interest stories about the founders to David vs. Goliath stories about tiny startups taking on well-established players in a given field. The key, he explained, is making the journalists to whom you’re reaching out feel like they have a unique story on their hands.
4. Don’t be Selfish: “Life is a game of favors,” Kirsner reminded the audience as he talked about how to go beyond reaching out to strangers for press coverage and, instead, build productive relationship with a handful of writers. How? Giving feedback after a particularly interesting article you read, for example. Or sharing tips or stories to which you aren’t directly related but feel the writer might find interesting. Then, when you reach out to share the cool project you’ve been building, you have a track record of altruistic contact backing you up in his or her mind.
5. Perfect Your Pitch: The talk ended with about fifteen minutes of entrepreneurs standing up, delivering a one-minute “elevator pitch,” and getting feedback from Kirsner. The strongest were dead-on, focused and clear. The weakest rambled a bit before getting to a really interesting point. Either way, each person who shared got some customized advice from a journalist whose dedication to helping entrepreneurs get attention is very clear, and very inspiring.

Probably the most eye-opening (not to mention overwhelming) part of Kirsner’s presentation was when he logged into his Gmail account to give us a firsthand look at what life is like for a sought-after journalist. The unread count? Over 62,000. Some e-mails featured subject lines that began with “PITCH:” (the “shotgun”), while others were frank and up-front, ending with “…and we’ve never met” (the “rifle”). Almost all, though, were trying desperately to get Kirsner’s coverage, and would have done well to attend his workshop.