What public relations really is
Public relations covers all actions taken to gain media visibility without purchasing advertising space. An article in Les Echos Entrepreneurs, a mention in Maddyness, an interview on BFM Business Tech: these are examples of press coverage secured through PR.
The fundamental difference from advertising: you do not pay to appear. You convince a journalist that your news is worth covering. It is harder to achieve, but infinitely more credible in the eyes of your audience.
For a tech startup, PR is not limited to a few press releases. It includes proactive pitching (proposing topics to journalists), managing inbound requests (responding to journalists looking for sources), positioning as an expert (making your founder a cited authority in their sector), and tracking coverage.
To learn more: Public relations: complete definition and The benefits of public relations for a startup.
PR and advertising: two opposing approaches
Advertising is paid media. You buy space, you have 100% control over the message, and your audience knows it's an ad. Public relations is earned media: you don't control what the journalist writes, but what they write carries their editorial credibility.
The result: a press mention generates on average 3 to 5 times more trust than an equivalent advertising message. For a startup in the launch or fundraising phase, this credibility is a strategic asset that cannot be replaced by an ad budget.
The impact of PR on visibility in LLMs (GEO)
In 2026, public relations has an effect that few startups yet anticipate: it fuels your visibility in generative AI. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews rely on authoritative editorial sources to construct their answers.
A startup mentioned in Les Echos, TechCrunch France, or L'Usine Digitale is statistically more likely to appear in LLM responses regarding its sector than a startup that is absent from the media. PR is thus becoming a lever for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
To understand this issue in detail: PR and GEO for SaaS scale-ups.
What we see with our clients
B2B tech startups starting out in PR often think the goal is to get as much coverage as possible. In reality, what changes the business impact is the consistency and the industry relevance of the coverage.
A founder mentioned three times in six months in specialized tech media like Maddyness, L'Usine Digitale, and BFM Business Tech builds lasting credibility. A single mention in a major general-interest outlet, without follow-up, quickly fades from the memory of potential leads.
Effective PR is not a one-off stunt. It is a presence built over time: continuous presence or one-off campaigns: which should you choose?
