Most businesses approach press coverage wrong. They write a press release about something with no news value, blast it to journalists they have never spoken to, and wonder why nobody covers them. Getting real press coverage requires understanding what journalists need and making yourself useful to them.
We help clients secure placements in publications from local newspapers to national outlets. Here is what works.
The journalist newsletter strategy
This is the approach we recommend to clients. It consistently produces results. Build an email newsletter list of journalists who cover your industry.
Identify 20 to 50 journalists who regularly write about your industry, your market, or topics related to your business. Read their work. Understand what they cover and what angles interest them. Subscribe to their newsletters. Follow them on social media. Get to know their beat.
Then start a simple email newsletter. Do not make it a company newsletter full of product updates and self-congratulation. Share useful insights about your industry. Include original data, contrarian takes, and expert analysis of trends they are covering. Provide things a journalist would find valuable when researching their next story.
When your business or industry is in the news, drop a note to your journalist list with a quote and a take. Provide value rather than a pitch. Try something like: "I saw the news about [industry development]. Here is our take on what it means for [relevant stakeholders]. If you are interested in more, hit reply." That is it.
Lead with value. The journalists who find your insights useful will start to see you as a source. They will reply. They will ask for quotes on future stories. They will reach out when they are working on something in your space. This builds real media relationships, and real media relationships produce real press coverage.
How this works in practice. A business owner who starts a twice-monthly newsletter with commentary on local development trends might catch the attention of a regional reporter. A single quote on a zoning change can turn into a full profile. That profile can lead to inbound calls from other reporters over the next year. This happens without pitching anyone. When you write useful material, the relationships build themselves.
This strategy turns business owners with zero media presence into go-to sources for reporters in their industry. It takes time, but the coverage it produces is genuine, editorial, and highly valuable.
What actually makes news
Before you pitch anyone, understand what journalists consider newsworthy. A new product launch, company anniversary, or new VP hire rarely makes news on its own.
Relevance to a broader story makes news. If your new product solves a problem currently in the public conversation, you have an angle. If your company data reveals a trend affecting an industry or consumer group, you have a story. If your expertise explains something complicated happening in the news right now, you offer value.
U.S. newsroom employment has fallen significantly over the past two decades. Fewer reporters covering more beats means journalists depend heavily on external sources for expertise and data. This is an opportunity for businesses willing to provide it.
Journalists look for stories their readers care about. Instead of trying to convince them to care about your company, show them how your data or expertise connects to something their readers already care about.
How to pitch effectively
Keep it short. Three to four sentences maximum for the initial email. The subject line should communicate the story angle rather than your company name. The body should explain why this story matters to their audience, what makes it different, and what you can offer them.
Personalize every pitch. Reference something the journalist has recently written. Show that you read their work and that your pitch is relevant to what they cover. A generic pitch sent to 200 journalists usually gets ignored. A personalized pitch sent to 10 journalists who actually cover your space has a much better chance of getting a response.
Time your pitches around news cycles. If something relevant is happening in your industry right now, reach out. Journalists working on a breaking story actively look for sources and angles. If you can be useful to them in that moment, you improve your chances of getting coverage.
Using HARO, Connectively, and response platforms
If you lack relationships with journalists in your space, responsive platforms like Connectively (formerly HARO) and Qwoted offer a way to get quoted. Journalists post queries looking for sources. You respond with a concise, on-topic quote and your credentials. The response rate is low, but the queries are real and the quotes often appear in national outlets.
The discipline: respond only to queries directly relevant to your expertise. Keep responses under 200 words. Lead with the quote itself rather than a company pitch. Include a one-line credential. Include a working cell phone number if the journalist needs to verify on deadline. Most responses get ignored because people pitch their company instead of answering the question the journalist asked.
Why pay-to-play is usually a waste
An entire industry exists around selling press coverage that is actually paid placement. This includes sponsored posts, contributed articles on sites that publish anyone who pays, and press release distribution services that put your announcement on hundreds of websites.
There are situations where a strategically placed contributed article provides value. Understand what you are buying. Paid placements lack the weight of earned media. They do not help with Wikipedia notability because they are not independent sources. They do not build real relationships with journalists. Search engines and AI systems are getting better at distinguishing earned coverage from paid content.
If you spend money on press coverage, spend it on building the relationships and creating the stories that lead to real editorial coverage. This provides lasting value. Real editorial coverage also feeds your AI search visibility and helps you rank in Google.
The long game
Getting meaningful press coverage requires sustained effort that compounds over time. Each piece of genuine coverage makes the next one easier. Journalists who quote you once are more likely to come back. Publications that cover you develop familiarity with your story. The backlog of real coverage you build becomes an asset that supports everything else you do, from SEO to investor relations to Wikipedia page creation.
The compounding effect. A founder who spends six months answering two or three Connectively queries a week with short, useful quotes might see nothing for the first few months. Eventually, those efforts can generate placements in trade publications and business sites. Over time, reporters start reaching out directly. The compounding effect of editorial coverage is real, and it takes time to materialize.
Businesses that start with zero press coverage can eventually get inbound requests from journalists. This happens when they commit to being useful to the media over time and build real relationships with the people who cover their industry.
Getting started
If you are starting from zero, here is what to do this week. Make a list of 20 journalists who cover your industry. Read their last five articles each. Set up a simple spreadsheet with their names, outlets, beats, and contact information. Start thinking about what you know that they would find useful.
If you want professional help building a press coverage strategy, our press placement service covers everything from journalist identification and relationship building to pitch development and ongoing media outreach. You may also find our guides on writing a press release and press release distribution useful as you develop your approach.
Related resources
- How to write a press release. Create press materials journalists will actually read
- Startup PR strategy. A DIY press approach for early-stage companies
- Press release distribution. Get your announcements to the right outlets
- Wikipedia notability. Press coverage builds your credibility foundation