“We need to get in the news” sounds like a straightforward PR goal. But media coverage itself is rarely the real goal. A company may actually be trying to build awareness among prospective customers, strengthen an executive’s credibility, support a product launch, attract investors, drive attendance or advance another measurable business objective. Publicity can help accomplish those things, but only when the media strategy is built around the outcome the company is trying to achieve.
That is why getting media coverage should begin before anyone writes a press release, builds a media list or starts pitching reporters. First, define what the business needs to accomplish, who needs to be reached and what you want that audience to know, think or do. Those decisions provide the foundation for determining what kind of media coverage could actually be useful and how success should be evaluated.
From there comes the question that determines whether there is a media opportunity at all: What is the story? Something can be important to a company without being interesting to a journalist or valuable to that journalist’s audience. Effective media relations finds the connection between the company’s objective and a story people outside the organization have a reason to care about.
So how do companies actually get media coverage that supports a larger goal? It takes more than distributing a press release or sending pitches to a long list of reporters. It requires a clear objective, a relevant audience, a genuinely newsworthy story, smart media targeting and the right resources to help journalists tell that story. Here’s how that process works.
What Media Relations Actually Is
For a business leader, media relations is a strategic process of connecting a company, its expertise, and its news with journalists and media outlets that reach the audiences the business wants to reach. That can include pitching story ideas, offering subject matter experts for interviews, providing original research or data, coordinating media opportunities, responding to journalists’ requests, and distributing news releases when an announcement has legitimate news value. The specifics depend on the business objective and the story.
One of the most valuable roles a PR team can play is separating what’s important to the company from what’s interesting to the media. A new executive hire, a product update, an award, a partnership, or internal milestone might be significant to the organization, but may not be as significant to a journalist’s audience. A good PR team helps to determine where the actual story is.
This could mean turning company data into a larger industry trend, or positioning an executive as an expert for thought leadership on an issue that’s already making headlines. It might involve finding the human-interest element behind an organizational announcement or connecting a local business story to a bigger national conversation. A product launch could provide a timely example of a consumer shift. An event might connect to a broader community or cultural story.
The goal is to find the bridge between what the company needs to accomplish and what a journalist’s audience would find valuable.
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How to Get Media Coverage Through Strategic Pitching
Once a business objective and potential story are established, media outreach can begin. The process involves a lot more than sending a message to a long list of reporters. It requires identifying journalists and outlets most likely to reach the target audience, then determining how the story fits their coverage. For a company considering a media opportunity, several questions can help reveal whether the story is ready:
- Who needs to hear this message?
- Who would care about this story?
- Which journalists cover this topic?
- What does this journalist’s audience need?
- Why is this story relevant now?
- What can the company provide that makes the story stronger?
- Is there data, expertise, customers, trends, or a timely development that adds substance?
Doing the research to answer these questions can change how a company’s news is presented.
For example, imagine a financial services company has developed a new retirement planning tool. “Company launches new retirement planning platform” might work as a press release headline, but it’s not a super-compelling media pitch. A better approach could connect the tool to a larger issue, such as how changing economic conditions are affecting retirement decisions. Then, the company has more to offer than an announcement; it has an expert who can explain a trend, data that can support the conversation, and a resource that could help the journalist tell the story. That is the difference between pitching what the company does and pitching why the company has something valuable to say.
What Journalists Are Looking For
Journalists often use PR content as part of their reporting. According to Muck Rack’s 2026 State of Journalism report, 86% of journalists said at least some of their published work began with a PR pitch. That’s a strong indication that journalists do find value in the work PR professionals do to bring story ideas to the surface and connect them with relevant sources. Press releases still have an important place in that process, too. Cision’s 2025 research found that 72% of journalists said press releases were the most useful resource PR professionals could provide to them. For business leaders, those statistics offer an important takeaway: press releases and PR pitches still have value, but distribution alone doesn’t produce media coverage.
A press release can give a journalist credible information about a company’s news, while a targeted pitch can connect that information to a specific editorial opportunity. Relevance is a big part of that equation. A journalist covering financial markets may have no use for a general announcement from a tourism company, while a travel reporter could find the same information useful if it connects to a trend affecting travelers. The story, the outlet, and the audience all need to make sense together.
Journalists may also need more than the announcement itself. Depending on the story, useful supporting resources can include:
- A knowledgeable company spokesperson who can give an interview
- Original research or data
- Customer or community perspectives
- Expert commentary on a developing trend
- High-quality photography or video
- Background information that helps explain the issue
- Access to an event, product, location, or other firsthand experience
Providing those resources can make it easier for a journalist to evaluate and pursue the story, and it also gives the media more than a corporate announcement to work with.
Why Relationships Matter in Media Relations
Strong media relationships are built on trust, not simply familiarity. Knowing a reporter’s name or having exchanged emails with someone at a major publication doesn’t automatically create a meaningful relationship. A useful media relationship develops when a PR professional consistently understands a journalist’s beat, sends relevant information, respects deadlines, responds when needed, and provides credible sources.
That trust develops over time. A journalist who knows a PR professional will provide accurate information and respond quickly may be more willing to consider a future story opportunity. The relationship can also be valuable when a journalist needs an expert, background information, or a source on a tight deadline.
PRSA similarly emphasizes research and professional, cooperative relationships as foundational elements of effective media relations in its professional values. Relationships can’t turn an irrelevant story into a newsworthy one. A strong connection may help a legitimate opportunity get noticed, but the story still needs to make sense for the journalist and their audience.
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Why Companies Struggle to Get Media Coverage
When a company has news but isn’t getting the media coverage it expected, the problem may not be lack of effort; however, it could be that the opportunity hasn’t been positioned in a way that connects the company’s priorities with what the media and its audiences need. Here are a few common mistakes:
- The company is focused on its announcements instead of the audience: A company may be excited about a new product, partnership, executive, or milestone. That excitement is understandable, but the announcement needs to answer a more important question: Why should anyone outside the company care? The strongest media opportunities connect company news to a broader audience interest, need, trend, or conversation.
- The story is being pitched too broadly: A story about a healthcare innovation may be relevant to a healthcare trade publication, a local business outlet, or a reporter covering technology. Those journalists may need different information and perspectives, even when they’re covering the same company news. A broach approach can miss the opportunity to show each outlet why the story belongs in its coverage.
- The strongest angle hasn’t been identified: Sometimes the most obvious announcement isn’t the most interesting part of the story. Maybe a new executive has expertise related to an issue already making headlines, or, maybe a company’s research may give a surprising insight about its industry. Finding a stronger angle is often where the real work happens.
- There isn’t a timely reason for coverage: A company can have a legitimate story and still struggle to earn coverage if there isn’t a clear reason for journalists to consider it now. A new report, seasonal event, emerging trend, recent development, regulations change, cultural conversation, or breaking news story can provide that context. Timing gives the story a place in the current news cycle.
- The company isn’t prepared with supporting information: A journalist who is interested in a story may need access to an expert, data, photography, video, background information, or a spokesperson who can respond quickly. Having those resources ready can make the difference between an idea that sounds interesting and a story that can actually move forward.
None of this means press releases are obsolete. Journalists still consider them the most useful resource PR professionals can provide, which reinforces that a well-developed release can be valuable to the media. But a press release and media relations serve different purposes.
A press release documents and distributes news. It gives journalists a concise source of verified information about an announcement, including key facts, quotes, and details they may need.
Media relations goes further. It considers which journalists may care about the news, why they may care, how the announcement connects to a larger story, and what additional resources or sources could make the opportunity more useful to them.
That distinction is important because distributing a press release doesn’t guarantee coverage. The release can communicate the news, but the broader media strategy determines where the news may best fit, who should receive it, and how it can support the company’s larger objective.
The Fletcher Approach
The companies most likely to achieve meaningful media coverage understand that publicity is a means to an end, not the end itself. The process starts with the business objective, then moves to the communications goal, audience, story, media opportunity, and tactics that can help achieve it.
That strategic process is central to Fletcher’s approach. Our media relations team includes former journalists with newsroom experience and established local, regional, and national media relationships. We use that perspective to help clients determine where their business goals intersect with legitimate media opportunities.
Sometimes the right opportunity is a press release. Sometimes it’s an expert interview, a trend story, original research, a media tour, a product placement, or another form of earned media. The right tactic depends on what the company is trying to accomplish and what will give the story the strongest chance of reaching the intended audience. So, how do companies actually get media coverage? They start with something worth communicating, connect it to a larger story or audience need, approach the right journalists, and provide credible information and sources at the right time.
The role of strategic media relations is to find that connection and make it happen – with purpose. If your company has a business goal you’re trying to achieve and you’re wondering whether our media relations team can help, let’s talk.
