Service / Press placements
Be the name the story quotes.
Search engines rank third-party articles, and AI assistants cite them. We place real articles in real publications, and you know the outlet, the price, and the timeline before you commit.
Your own website can only say so much
When someone searches your name, your website is one result. Everything else on the page was written by somebody else, and that is what people trust, because you would say nice things about yourself. Search engines work the same way, and so do AI assistants. If no credible third party has ever written about you, search has little to rank and AI has almost nothing to cite.
The traditional answer was a PR agency: a monthly retainer, a long contract, and the hope that a journalist returns a call. Most small businesses and individuals never saw a single published article come out of it. We do it differently, and there is no secret to how. We place specific articles in specific publications, you approve everything before it runs, and you pay per placement. Here is the whole process, start to finish.
What a placement costs, before you ask
We communicate openly about everything we handle: what it costs, how long it takes, who it fits, and what we will not promise. Read it before you send us a name.
Priced per placement, quoted with named publications before you commit. Regional and industry outlets sit at the lower end; national publications cost more. If we cannot place the article, you do not pay. No retainers, no monthly PR fees.
Editorial placements typically run 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff to publication. Bylined contributor pieces can move faster. You get an estimated timeline per outlet upfront.
- You want credible third-party articles ranking for your name and feeding AI answers
- Cold-pitching journalists has gotten you nowhere (it has a very low success rate)
- You want a named publication, a price, and a published article, not a PR retainer
- You want a wire press release treated as real coverage (we are honest about what syndication does and does not do)
- You want placements that read as ads (contributor pieces carry the outlet's paid-content disclosure)
- A target list of named publications where your story fits
- The pitch and the drafted article, approved by you before it goes live
- Full management of the editorial process through publication
- Optional press release writing and wire distribution for announcements
A placement is a published article, not independent reporting about you. We follow each outlet's disclosure rules and never dress paid placement up as earned media.
01 Research · What is already written about you
First we find where your story fits
Before pitching anything, we run the searches your customers, clients, or investors run. What ranks for your name, what the AI assistants say about you, and what coverage already exists. That tells us what a placement needs to accomplish: fill a gap, answer a doubt, or give the assistants a source worth citing.
Then we map the outlets where your story belongs. Regional, national, or industry-specific, matched to what you do and who needs to see it. You get a short list of named publications where the fit is natural, never a spray of pitches.
02 Plan · Named outlets, before you commit
Then we spell the whole thing out
Media plans have a reputation for vagueness, so ours is specific. We walk you through each proposed placement in plain English: which outlet, which format, what it costs, and what it does for your search results. Editorial features make you the subject. Bylined contributor pieces make you the author, and they carry whatever paid-content disclosure that outlet uses. We explain the difference and the disclosure rules before you choose, because that is the honest way to do this work, and because the FTC's endorsement guidance expects a material connection between a brand and an endorsement to be disclosed rather than inferred.
03 Execute · Writing it, then placing it
Then we write it, place it, and see it published
From here the work is ours. We draft the article from an intake conversation, you review and approve every word before it goes anywhere, and we manage the editorial process through to publication. The finished piece lives on the outlet's domain, carries the outlet's authority, and can be tracked for indexing, branded-search visibility, referral traffic, and citation in AI answers. If we cannot place the article, you do not pay.
For each placement, we define its job before drafting: establish an independent source, answer a recurring question, support a branded search, or give search and AI systems a clear factual reference. After publication, we measure whether it was indexed and where it appears for the searches it was intended to support.
A result you own, on the page people read
- yoursite.com Your name: official site The page you control, answering the question people actually search.
- linkedin.com/in/your-name Your name: professional profile A current, accurate profile that matches the rest of the results.
- example-directory.com Your name: listing A neutral third-party reference, consistent with your own pages.
04 Monitor · The work keeps paying
Then we track what each article earns
A placement is not finished when it publishes. We watch it get indexed, track where it ranks for your name, and check when the AI assistants start drawing on it. That is how we know which outlets earn their keep and what the next placement should do. Coverage compounds: each credible article makes the next one easier to place and gives search and AI a deeper story to tell about you. Our monitoring service keeps that whole picture current, month after month.
What a placement cannot do
A placement is a published article, and we follow each outlet's disclosure rules. We never dress paid placement up as earned media, and we will not pretend a contributor piece is independent reporting about you. There is a search reason as well as an ethical one: Google's spam policies name buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam, enforceable by a manual action, and that penalty lands on the client's domain rather than on whoever sold the links. One article will also not fix a first page full of negative results by itself. If that is your situation, the honest starting point is removals and suppression, with placements as one part of the plan.
Clients on the coverage we have built
We have placed work for founders, lawyers, consultants, and companies before. The names are real, and so are the words.
★★★★★“Since I began working with The Discoverability Company and Drew Chapin its founder in November 2023, I’ve seen incredible growth in my personal brand reputation and online visibility. ... I continue to work with Drew and his team to this day, and I couldn’t be happier with the ongoing results.”
★★★★★“As lawyers and businesspersons, we have relied upon Drew Chapin and The Discoverability Company’s expertise in bringing our message to the digital marketplace. ... He has helped us stand out. I give him credit for a large part of our success”
Frequently asked questions
How do I get press coverage for my business?
There are two paths. You can pitch journalists directly, which requires media relationships and a story with real news value. Or you can work with a placement service that has existing relationships with editors and publications. We handle the second path. We identify publications where your story fits, craft the pitch or article, and place it through editorial channels. You end up with a real article, in a named outlet, ranking for your name.
How much does a press placement cost?
Pricing is per engagement and depends on the outlet, the format (editorial mention vs. bylined contributor piece), and the scope of work. Regional and industry-specific outlets are at the lower end. National publications and major business outlets cost more. We do not charge retainers or monthly PR fees. You pay per placement, and we handle everything from the pitch to the published article. We give you a full quote with named publications before you commit to anything.
What is the difference between a press placement and a press release?
A press release is a formatted announcement distributed through a wire service. It goes to thousands of outlets at once, and most of them ignore it. Read our guides on how to write a press release and press release distribution for the full picture. A press placement is a full article placed in a specific publication through editorial channels. It reads like journalism because it is structured as journalism. Press placements build real authority and get indexed by both search engines and AI systems.
Can press coverage help my Google search results?
Yes. Published articles in authoritative outlets rank well in Google and can appear on the first page for your name or business name. They also serve as signals to AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity when those systems are asked about you. A single well-placed article helps push negative results down and gives you a credible, controlled narrative on the first page. Multiple placements compound the effect.
How long does it take to get a press placement published?
Editorial placements typically take 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff to publication. That includes the intake process, article drafting, editorial review, and publication scheduling. Some outlets move faster, some slower. We give you an estimated timeline upfront based on which publications we are targeting. Bylined contributor pieces can sometimes move quicker because the editorial pipeline is more direct.
Do I need a PR agency or can I get press on my own?
You can pitch journalists on your own. If you have a story with real news value and the time to build media relationships, direct outreach works. The challenge is that most businesses do not have a traditional news angle, and cold pitching has a very low success rate. We place specific articles in specific publications at a per-placement price. It is transactional, transparent, and results-based. For early-stage companies, our startup PR strategy guide covers the do-it-yourself path too.
You see the publication names before you commit a dollar.
We build a target list of publications where the story actually fits, price each placement on its own, and manage the piece through publication. Most run 2 to 4 weeks. If we cannot place it, you do not pay.