What getting local press taught me about telling a founder story

Our local news outlet (Bristol24/7) just ran a piece on what I'm building — Nyata AI, a conversational app that helps people find local support like food, clothing, washing facilities and somewhere to stay, plus GPS taxi booking and multilingual support.
The interesting part wasn't the coverage itself, it was what worked to get it. A few things I'd do again:
The story sells, not the product. I'd been pitching features. What the editor actually responded to was the why — that I worked frontline at a local charity and kept seeing people unable to find basic services. The product was the answer to a problem the reader already cares about.
Local press is reachable. Big outlets ignore early-stage founders, but city/regional outlets are actively looking for local stories and far more likely to reply. If you're pre-traction, that's where to start.
Patience over pushiness. This piece came months after the first contact. I followed up when I had genuinely new things to share rather than nagging, and the timing worked out.
Curious whether others here have used local/regional press as an early channel — did it move any real numbers for you, or is it mostly a credibility signal?
Article if useful for context: https://www.bristol247.com/business/news-business/ai-startup-to-connect-disadvantaged-people-with-vital-services/