Ask: How do you actually launch a beta?

So recently we finished up our platform (finished in the sense that we locked the features down and cleaned up all the loose ends, as opposed to 'truly' finished).

We have a business plan, fantasies about investors, dreams of adding and doing 1000x more than we've already done and conquering the world, bla bla bla.

So how do you "launch" a beta, what do you to do interest the relevant startup blogs and generate some publicity and attention for your freshly baked business? Or do you just skip that and quietly launch while you go fund-hunting? What do people here suggest?