One challenge with this business that you didn't mention is the difficulty getting to critical mass. Reporters, broadly, write such varied articles that if you

One challenge with this business that you didn't mention is the difficulty getting to critical mass. Reporters, broadly, write such varied articles that if you have a handful of reporters and a handful of businesses on the platform, the chance that any of them actually match for a given article is miniscule. To solve that, I would consider starting in a very small vertical. You could pick one small town and their local businesses (geographical vertical), or pick one industry and go deep into that industry. If you start in a small vertical, the marketing becomes easier because you have a very targeted pitch that doesn't feel spammy. About your original question on marketing, though, there is no alternative to talking to users. Before you start pitching people, though, you could go talk to journalists and ask them for feedback on the idea. You can ask them if they would value this service, and what else they wish someone would build. Rather than just selling them, you should try to build a relationship so you can get feedback from them over time.