Publishing a press release and getting press coverage are two different things. The release creates a record; coverage happens when a journalist decides your story is worth their byline. This guide covers how small businesses get that second thing without paying a PR agency a monthly retainer.
What an agency actually does for the money
Worth being clear about, because it tells you what you are replacing. A PR agency gives you three things: existing relationships with journalists, the judgement to know which stories are worth pitching, and the time to do the follow-up. Retainers typically run from a few thousand dollars a month upward.
The relationships are the part you cannot buy cheaply. The judgement you can learn. The time you have to find. For most small businesses with two or three genuine announcements a year, the retainer maths does not work, and doing it yourself does.
Start with whether you have a story
Most self-run PR fails here, before any outreach happens. A journalist covers something because it is new, because it affects their readers, or because it gives them a number nobody else has. Your company existing is none of those.
Stories that get covered:
- You have data nobody else has. If you process a thousand transactions a week, you know something about your market that no journalist can get elsewhere.
- You are the local angle on a national story. A national piece about energy costs needs a business willing to say what its bill actually did.
- Something genuinely changed — funding, a named partner, an acquisition, a licence.
- You will say the thing others will not. Candour is scarce and journalists notice it.
If none of these apply, the honest answer is to wait rather than to pitch harder. Our guide to writing a press release has a fuller list of what counts as news.
Build a list of ten journalists, not a hundred
Mass-emailing a purchased media list is the single most common mistake, and it is worse than doing nothing because it gets your domain filtered.
Instead, spend an hour building a list of ten people who have already written about your specific subject in the last six months. Search the publication, find the byline, read two of their recent pieces. That is the whole method.
Ten relevant journalists will outperform a thousand irrelevant ones, and the list stays useful for years.
The pitch email
Short, specific, and written for one person. A pitch is not a press release; the release is the attachment or the link underneath.
Subject: Manchester logistics firm doubling capacity - 26 new jobs Hi [Name], You covered warehouse expansion in Greater Manchester last month. We are opening a second site in Trafford Park on 14 March: 40,000 sq ft, 26 jobs, and the first temperature-controlled capacity we have had. Happy to give you the numbers before it goes out, and our MD can talk about why we were turning contracts away. Full release: [link] [Your name, title, phone]
Why it works: the subject line is the story, the first sentence proves you read their work, the facts are specific, and there is an offer of something extra. Under 100 words.
Timing
- Pitch two to five days before the announcement, offering it under embargo. Journalists need lead time.
- Tuesday to Thursday morning in the journalist’s own time zone.
- Follow up once after three or four days, then stop. A second follow-up costs you the relationship.
Where distribution fits
Distribution and outreach do different jobs, and confusing them is why people are disappointed by both.
- Distribution gives you a permanent, indexed page stating that something happened. That page is what people find when they search your company later, and it is what you link to in the pitch.
- Outreach is what produces actual coverage.
Doing distribution alone gives you a record with no coverage. Doing outreach with nothing published gives journalists nothing to verify against. Most small businesses should do both, with the release as the reference document.
Other routes worth the time
- Journalist request services. Reporters post what they need and you answer. Being fast and specific matters more than being impressive.
- Trade publications. Far easier to get into than national press, and their readers are more likely to be your customers.
- Local press. Consistently underrated. A regional paper covering 26 new jobs reaches exactly the people who might work for you or buy from you.
- Podcasts in your sector. Chronically short of guests with operational detail.
What not to do
- Do not buy a media list and blast it.
- Do not pitch a story you would not read.
- Do not ask to approve the article. It ends the conversation.
- Do not pay for guaranteed coverage in a named publication. That is advertising, and readers can tell.
- Do not chase more than once.
Frequently asked questions
Can a small business get press coverage without an agency?
Yes, and for two or three announcements a year it is usually the better option. What you are replacing is relationships, judgement and follow-up time. The relationships take longest to build, but a list of ten relevant journalists in your sector is achievable in an afternoon and stays useful for years.
How many journalists should I pitch?
Ten who have written about your specific subject recently, pitched individually. A thousand generic contacts will produce nothing and can get your domain filtered as spam. Relevance beats volume by a wide margin in outreach.
Should I send the press release or a pitch email?
A short pitch, with the release linked underneath. The pitch is written for one person and explains why this story suits their beat. The release is the reference document with the full detail, quotes and boilerplate.
Is press release distribution enough on its own?
It gives you a permanent indexed record, which is genuinely useful when customers, partners or investors search your company. It will not by itself produce journalist coverage. Treat distribution as the foundation and outreach as the thing that gets you written about.
How long before an announcement should I pitch?
Two to five days, offered under embargo. That gives a journalist time to check facts and write. Pitching on the day means competing with everything else in their inbox with no time to work on it.
When you have something to announce
Concierge Wire publishes press releases after editorial review, on a permanent indexed URL with backlinks to your site, from $149. See the plans, or read our guides to press release examples and what distribution costs.
