The value of a clear and well thought out PR strategy cannot be underestimated, but defining a strategy doesn't always have to be a complex process, especially for companies who don't yet have an established media presence.
Having launched a number of companies into the media in my time I've come to realise that the starting strategy is almost always very simple: answer the first 3 questions. The first 3 questions are the questions your sales team get asked when they walk into a sales pitch and are generally the hardest for them to answer. (Or it's the first 3 questions a purchaser asks themselves when staring at the store shelf)
Using PR (and other marketing) to answer these questions before your salesperson sits in front of a prospect enables your representatives to go into the meeting with a pre-established starting point to get to the meat of the sale quicker and makes the buying decision that much quicker for the prospect.
Identifying the first 3 questions is pretty simple: just ask! Your salespeople will happily provide this info if they believe it will help them close deals and get paid. The foundation for your PR strategy is the questions and the detail in your strategy that covers how and where you can answer them in the media. Each time you succeed in answering a question simply go back to the sales team and ask them for the next question.
If your PR team does their job well, pretty soon the only question your salespeople will get asked is, “Where do I sign?”.