Get press without spray-and-pray.
“How do I get press coverage without blasting every reporter and hoping someone answers?”
The story angle, the target journalists by beat, the pitch, and the follow-up a reporter might actually answer.
What this skill does
Takes news you think is interesting and pressure-tests whether a journalist would agree, then builds the outreach around it: the angle that is a story and not an ad, the reporters who actually cover that beat, a pitch written for a specific person, and a follow-up cadence that does not burn the relationship. It plans the outreach. It does not send on your behalf.
Inputs
- Works today with: what happened (the launch, the raise, the data, the hire), who it matters to, and any reporters or outlets you already have in mind. Paste it in.
- More powerful connected to an email tool: it drafts the pitch and the follow-ups as ready-to-review messages and tracks who opened and replied.
- Sharper with a web-research step: helps you find reporters by beat and recent coverage, so you pitch people who wrote about this last month, not a stale list.
- Sharper with a CRM or contacts tool: keeps the target list, the status, and the history in one place instead of a spreadsheet.
How it works
- 1Angle first (is this a story or an ad)
Before anything else, decide whether the news is a story to someone who does not work for you. A milestone that matters only internally is not news. Turn it into an angle a reader would care about: a trend it proves, data no one else has, a tension it exposes. If it fails this test, the skill says so and helps you find the real angle or hold the pitch.
- 2Target list by beat (not spray)
Build the list by beat, not by outlet size. The right target is a reporter who covered this exact topic recently, ranked into tiers. A short list of people who actually write about your space beats a giant list of everyone with a press email. Each name gets a reason: what they wrote that makes them a fit.
- 3The pitch (one reporter at a time)
Write a short pitch built for a named person: a subject line that is the story, two or three sentences of why it matters to their readers, the specific proof, and one clear ask. Reference their recent work honestly. No mail-merge that reads like a mail-merge. Offer the exclusive or embargo if you are running one.
- 4Follow-up (persistent, not a pest)
Space follow-ups by FOLLOWUP_WINDOW and cap them at MAX_TOUCHES. Each follow-up adds something (a new data point, a different angle, a deadline), it does not just say "bumping this." After the cap, you stop and keep the relationship warm for next time.
- 5Track and route
Keep status per target: not sent, sent, opened, replied, passed, covered. When someone bites, route fast and get them what they need. When someone passes, note the reason so the next pitch to them is smarter.
Output format
PR OUTREACH PLAN · new usage-data report (illustrative)
Angle: "Teams are quietly changing how they do X" backed by first-party data.
Targets by beat:
Tier Beat fit Why this reporter Status
T1 Covers the category weekly Wrote a piece on X in June not sent
T2 Trade outlet, deep on workflows Recurring column on this not sent
T3 Operator newsletter Curates this exact topic not sent
Pitch (T1): subject = the data point itself. 3 sentences: trend, our data, the ask.
Offer: exclusive first look for 48 hours.
Follow-up: +4 business days with one new stat, then +4 with a deadline, then stop.
Next move: connect the email tool so the pitch and follow-ups draft and track in one place.
Tips
- Every pitch passes the "is this a story to an outsider" test before it goes out.
- No invented journalists, outlets, or quotes. Names and coverage are supplied or researched, never fabricated.
- Follow-ups are capped and each one adds value, never a bare "bumping this."
- The target list is by beat and recency, not by a purchased list of everyone.
Turn 'we should run ads' into a plan with a kill rule.
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Run a webinar that fills seats and moves pipeline.
The topic that draws, the promo sequence, the run-of-show, and the follow-up that converts attendees.