Building relationships with top news reporters can make all the difference in amplifying a message. If you want your story to be heard, you need to know who’s reporting it. The journalists below are among the most influential voices in the industry, shaping public conversations and setting the news agenda.

Here are some of the most prominent reporters today:

• Lester Holt, NBC News
• Anderson Cooper, CNN
• David Muir, ABC
• Shereen Bhan, CNBC-TV18
• Robin Roberts, ABC
• Christiane Amanpour, CNN

Each of these reporters has built a reputation for delivering news with accuracy and depth. Understanding their coverage areas and reporting styles can help you craft the right approach when reaching out."

Let's start from the basics, though:

What is a news journalist?

Before looking at the best news reporters in the industry, it is important to understand exactly what they do.

These journalists are effectively the gateway to keeping the public informed on the latest events. They will gather information and news from multiple sources, including PRs, news briefings, and wire services, as well as undertaking research themselves. 

With this information, the reporter will then assemble it all together into a digestible newspaper article, television report, or radio briefing. Certain news journalists will only cover specific topics, so when approaching them, it is essential that you are reaching out with relevant information that they would be interested in. 

The best news reporters

Lester Holt, NBC News

When it comes to the best news journalists, Lester Holt continues to be one of the most recognized names in the industry. Having been the permanent news anchor on NBC Nightly News since 2015, he regularly covers some of the most hard-hitting stories in the world. 

With an illustrious career spanning several decades, he has covered some of the most iconic moments in global history. 

Anderson Cooper, CNN 

New York Times bestselling author and current anchor of CNN, Anderson Cooper, is one of the most recognizable news reporters in America. Graduating from Yale University in 1989, Anderson began his journalism career covering war-torn regions for Channel One News. 

From there, he steadily progressed through the ranks before joining CNN in 2001. Nowadays, he is the lead anchor on the Anderson Cooper 360° show on CNN while also being a feature correspondent on 60 minutes. 

David Muir, ABC 

Based in New York, David is a popular news journalist and current anchor on ABC World News Tonight. Thanks to the huge popularity of the show, he has become a household name in America and is recognized across the globe. 

Covering a wide range of major news stories, he has won multiple Emmy awards as well as several Edward R. Murrow awards for his international reporting. His career began back in 1994, when he was an anchor and reporter for WTVH-TV, but fast-forward to 2021, and he has just taken over as the lead anchor for breaking news and special events. 

Shereen Bhan, CNBC-TV18

Shereen is one of the most recognized news reporters in India, currently acting as the Series Editor for one of the longest-running shows in the country, Young Turks. Prior to this, she was a reporter and news anchor for many of India’s flagship shows, including India Business Hour and The Nation’s Business. 

She is famed for her friendly approach while on camera, and she has won multiple awards throughout her career. In 2005, she was also named the FICCI Woman of the Year, while 2009 saw her named as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. 

Robin Roberts, ABC

As the face of one of the most popular morning shows in the world, Good Morning America on ABS, Robin Roberts is one of the most trusted reporters in the industry. Starter her career as a local sports anchor for local radio and TV shows in Mississippi, she moved on to ESPN, where she worked throughout the 1990s. 

Joining ABC in 2005, she has covered a wide range of news stories and has also published several books that cover self-help topics and inspiring stories. 

Christiane Amanpour, CNN

As the Chief International Anchor for CNN, alongside being the anchor for the media outlets international news program, Amanpour, Christiane is one of the most recognizable faces in the industry. 

The British-Iranian journalist’s career spans three decades, and she has won multiple awards for her ground-breaking reporting, including nine Emmys. 

Find the best news reporters with Prowly 

While these six reporters might be some of the most influential in the industry, there and thousands of incredible journalists out there that you might want to pitch to.

Tools like Prowly can easily help you find relevant news journalists to cover your story. With a Media Database packed with over one million journalists from across the globe, this gets easier than ever.

Cover photo by Sam McGhee

The post Top News Journalists – The 2025 List appeared first on Prowly.

But what should a press release include? How to end a press release? And what about the press release format? Luckily, we have all the answers. 

There are specific guidelines for writing a press release—covering everything from news angles to press release structure. All of them you will find in our complete guide on how to write press releases that get attention (and results!), along with expert comments.

Use Prowly's AI press release generator or templates that you can use for free to easily create your own in a format that journalists expect to receive.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists based on your press release and send it to them directly from the platform.

While creating press releases with AI or templates is a great way to speed up the process, it's still crucial to know the ins and outs of writing a press release to ensure it's correct and effective.

Read on to find out what makes a good press release.

What is a press release?

A press release is a tool made to announce something that is newsworthy in the most objective way possible. The whole purpose of a press release is to get coverage and get noticed by a target audience.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, the problem is that the press release is tricky and often misunderstood by both PR specialists and the audience. To be able to write an effective material, it is necessary to understand its structure:

Press release format

If you’re building a press release on your own, remember that there is a standard, expected format for press releases.

These are the elements of a standard press release:

1. Headline
2. Subheader / Lead
3. Dateline
4. Body
5. Quote
6. Company info (boilerplate)
7. Logo
8. Media contact information

While you might get creative and unconventional when it comes to the content, the format where you present it needs to follow the rules. This is not the time to get experimental—remember that you’re writing for an audience that is used to a particular format because it works. 

"By following a standard press release format, you’re ensuring that a journalist knows how to find what they’re looking for in your release and allow them to quickly determine if they want to cover your announcement. It also shows them that you’re a seasoned PR pro who knows the ins and outs of a press release, and signals that you’re likely easy to work with." – Cassie Scher, Nahigian Strategies

Let’s go through the boxes you need to tick when formatting a press release so you can make just the right impression on media contacts and provide them with everything they need to take your conversation to the next level.

How to write a press release in 9 steps

Now that you know the correct press release format, let's dig into the details of writing a press release.

1. Choose your target audience

Before you get to the actual press release writing—the most important thing to start with is choosing your target audience and the angle that matters for them.

Remember that the angle (a perspective that the story will take, in other words) that will interest the readers of a specialist publication will be very different from the local newspaper.

Keep in mind that you’re not only targeting potential readers but also journalists. If you don’t do your research and target the wrong journalists, writing good press releases won’t get you anywhere.

By using a PR tool like Prowly, you can access a media database to find relevant journalists and also get recommendations based on your press releases. This way, you’ll always pitch relevant media contacts who are more likely to be interested.

2. Craft an attention-grabbing headline

No surprises here. Your headline needs to communicate the essence of what follows at a glance. Recipients of your press release are going to scan the headline in a fraction of a second, so this is the place to make your point. Convincing media contacts that your message is newsworthy can be a challenge when you have a limited number of characters to work with, so focus on the main takeaway. 

Pro tip: Don’t use all capital letters or exclamation points in your headline. A reasonable font size and bolding, combined with the fact that it’s the header, make it obvious to the reader that your news is somehow important. 

Humans have a shorter attention span than goldfish. So saying less is best in the headlines. Focus only on adding value, making it catchy, and creating a hook for your target audience. Avoid using clickbait in the headlines, you may lose trust among the journalists as well as will attract the wrong readers. - Mehdi Hussen, Head of Marketing @ ZoomShift

💡 Read more: How to Write a Great Press Release Headline (w/ Examples & Tips)

3. Add more information with your lead

This is optional but recommended since it gives you a chance to pack some extra information right at the top. As a de facto extension of your headline, use your subheader or lead to expand on what makes your announcement worth the time and attention of media contacts. 

As you write your subheader or lead, think of which aspects of your announcement are most likely to impress, inform, or spark curiosity about the details. If your header is a high-impact message limited to just a few words, your subheader is an opportunity to expand on it with the top one or two ways that it’s important or consequential. 

Remember about the five W's: what the news is about, who is involved, when and where it happened, and why it is important. 

Pro tip: Your header and subheader are not the places for mysterious, “read more to see…” references to what’s in your press release. Don’t make readers “work” by teasing what’s further down the page. Stick with the facts and use the time and attention the reader gives you to convey the most information possible. 

4. Include the dateline 

Typically at the introduction of the main body of text, the dateline communicates basic info like the date and location of the announcement. Bold this information and separate it from the first sentence of the body with a dash. 

The dateline always contains the name of the city in capitals, with the state being optional. Despite the name, the dateline does not have to include the date.

Be sure to change and update the dateline with any changes or updates in the press release itself. 

Pro tip: Sure, the dateline is a very small piece of the press release but it’s simply part of the expected format. Don’t overlook this standard press release format element just because it’s just a handful of characters!

Read more: https://review42.com/resources/dateline-press-release/

5. Provide the details of your announcement in the body

Here’s where all the who-what-when-where-why basics get covered. Never forget that you’re trying to get media contacts interested in learning more, so the newsworthy angle should always be a priority. 

Use a strong opening sentence, which will likely be a paraphrase of your headline. Remember that journalists will think in terms of “How is this relevant to my audience”, so the body of your press release is where you answer that along with the top-level details that help them to start imagining what their story about you could look like. 

There’s nothing wrong with adding a second paragraph, as long as all the information you include helps to meet the goal of explaining why your announcement is worthy of media coverage. The focus is always on how your message is interesting, valuable, relevant, etc. to those who might read about it, not how media coverage would be good for you. 

Don’t let the length of the body of your press release push the total length beyond a single page. If you push things to a second page, there is a 100% chance there is some fat to cut out on page one. 

Pro tip: This is a press release, not a copy for an advertisement. Stay away from salesy language and remember that you’re trying to ignite interest in a story, not a product or service. 

6. Include a quote to add credibility or more details

Another optional but recommended component of your press release layout quotes help to add a touch of credibility or detail to your announcement. Depending on the context, quotes can help to illustrate how much of a breakthrough you’re announcing, how important your news is for the industry, how unique or game-changing it is, etc. 

Again, the same rule applies—be sure that the information in any quote you use helps media contacts create a more complete conception of the story they could write about your announcement.  Everything is about helping to facilitate the path from your press release to press coverage. 

Pro tip: If possible, use a quote from the most high-profile, credible source associated with your organization. Also, the rule about avoiding salesly language applies to quotes as well.  

7. Provide your company info in the boilerplate

The last paragraph of your press release will include a basic but flattering description of your company. This is the press release equivalent of the “About Us” section on your website. Keep it short, keep it complimentary by mentioning your position in the industry, awards, etc., and provide a link to your website. 

Like the press release generally, keep your boilerplate section limited to the most essential, high-level kind of information and use later follow-ups to expand on the details. This is no time for the complete history of your company!

Pro tip: This boilerplate section of your press release can contain information you might be tempted to include elsewhere, like the subheader or the body. If you are “California’s leading supplier of building supplies” or “The Southwest’s largest medical research facility” or whatever, say that in your Company Info section instead of repeating it. This will free up space in those other sections for additional information.  

8. Add your logo

Your company’s or organization’s logo is part of any professional press release. Search online and you’ll find that there’s plenty of disagreement of where exactly it should appear on the page but top-middle and bottom-middle are the two leading contenders. You can decide based on what you think looks best. 

Pro tip: Use a full-color logo and keep it down to a fairly small size. Remember, the logo is there for brand identity purposes, not to steal the show.  

9. Include your contact details for the media

You’ve put all this effort and planning into your press release because you want to generate interest among media contacts, so be sure that you make it easy for them to get in touch. This info will depend on who your contact is, of course—the person writing the press release, a Marketing or PR representative, an outside agency, etc. 

A simple “[Brand name] is happy to share more information…” or “Please direct all media inquiries to…” or some similar call to action is sufficient to make it clear that this is the person who will handle replies from the media. 

Pro tip: A phone number and an email address is all the contact information you need to share with anyone responsible for handling replies to your press release. While you may have reached out to media contacts via their social media, you want their replies to go through your phone or email. 

Common mistakes when writing a press release

1. The story isn’t actually newsworthy

First things first. Is your story actually a story? Is it new or interesting? Will people outside your organization really care about it? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you might be onto something. If it’s not new, not interesting and you’re not sure if anyone will really care, it might be a good idea to come up with something else.

Reserve press releases only for the most timely and newsworthy announcements about your client or company. So often business leaders and PR pros get 'release happy' and mistakenly believe that if they're not sending releases at a regular cadence, their media outreach is going stagnant. This simply isn't the case. - Robyn Ware, Principal, Robyn Ware PR

2. You’re beating around the bush

Nail the story in the first few sentences: get the facts out quickly and succinctly and the chances of a press release making it from an inbox to an editorial meeting will increase dramatically. Journalists are pushed for time more than ever before, so the importance of communicating the bones of the story in the first few lines of a press release is vital. Chances are, they’re not going to have time to read the whole thing, so the quicker you get to the point, the better.

I still get exceedingly long press releases that resemble a book’s chapter. A bad book's chapter with an excess of self-promoting adjectives. Anyone who works in media is always running against the clock with deadlines, so the best piece of advice I could give is to always remember to include the most newsworthy information at the very beginning of your press release. If you leave it to the very end, chances are that the journalist will not read that far, and a good story will be overlooked. - Marcio Delgado, Journalist, Digital Consultant and Producer

3. Press release quotes don’t come off as authentic

Whether it’s a young person talking about how happy they are to have secured an apprenticeship or a CEO analyzing the latest financial results, it’s a wise idea to make the people quoted in a press release sound real.

For example, the said young person is unlikely to use words you’d need a dictionary to understand, so remember to have your story feel authentic. Just try to make sure they’re not ‘delighted’, even if they are.

How to create a press release with AI

AI-powered tools for PR can help you create high-quality press release drafts, provide advanced editing suggestions, and even recommend who to send your press release to.

While it's worth knowing how to create an effective press release from scratch, using tools can help speed up the process and ensure you've ticked all the boxes when it comes to the format and content that journalists expect to receive.

Read more: Mastering AI Press Releases: Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Sending + Practical Examples

Here’s how to create (and send) a press release using a tool like Prowly’s AI-powered Press Release Generator.

Step 1: Enter basic details about your press release

1. Start the process by entering the type of your press release.
2. Once you select the type, Prowly's AI will ask you to pick your target audience. There are predefined options, such as industry players, customers, or local communities, but you can also add your own.
3. Choose the language of your press release draft.

Step 2: Enter key messages about your press release

Here, you'll want to be as specific as possible and ensure that whatever you choose is the most relevant information.

The key messages you'll want to provide will depend on the type of your press release and what it's about.

Here are three general key messages that you can include:

• What is happening: Clearly state the main event or announcement. This is the core of your press release.
• Why it matters: Explain the significance of the event or announcement. How does it benefit your audience or the public at large?
• What's next: Provide a brief overview of future plans or developments related to the event. This helps to maintain interest and anticipation.

Step 3: Answer the follow-up questions

Once you’ve entered the basic information about your press release, Prowly’s AI will ask you more in-depth questions designed to mirror a natural conversation with the journalists you’re targeting.

You’ll receive ten questions tailored specifically to the content you shared earlier. This will complete your press release draft and reduce the need to answer many follow-up questions from the person you're pitching to.

Step 4: Customize and edit the press release draft

Whether you've generated a press release draft or written it yourself, you can adjust header font styles, fine-tune the content just like you would in a regular text editor, adjust your press release length, and cater it into a format you're happy with.

An AI Assistant trained in PR writing best practices reviews the draft and suggests improvements based on 11 key criteria, indicating exactly where to edit.

Step 5: Get contact recommendations for your press release

Prowly’s AI will start suggesting journalists you can pitch to based on the keywords found in your press release.

As long as you have contact information for the people you want to pitch to, you can always do deeper work and find out about their interests, what they've written about before, or what they're hooked on at the moment.

Press release examples

Now that we've covered how to write a press release, here are two examples to help you get a better idea of what a press release should look like.

Find more examples in our post: 20+ Press Release Examples to Draw Inspiration From in 2023.

If you're looking for a specific guide to match your field of work, check out one of these how-to articles that cover precise tips and examples carefully selected by our PR consultant:

• How to Write a Book Press Release (Example & Template)
• How to Write a Music Press Release (Examples & Templates)
• How to Write a Sports Press Release (Example and Template)
• How to Write an Acquisition Press Release (Example & Template)
• Writing a New Hire Press Release (with Example and Template)
• How to Write a New CEO Press Release (with Examples & Template)
• How to Write a Social Media Press Release (with Examples)

Example #1: Apple

According to Nelson Jordan (and plenty of other experts, I imagine), Apple does a great job with its product announcement press releases. If you look at this press release example for a new product, Apple’s new walking audio program, you’ll quickly notice that it’s written in a way to make it easier for journalists to pull facts, details, and quotes for their stories. That’s precisely what makes it a good press release.

See the entire news release example

Example #2: TaskShift

As already mentioned, good press release examples are concise and to the point - and this new business press release sample from TaskShift is no different. It clearly states what the news is all about (new service launch), mentions the USP, mission, and vision behind it. There’s not much else to add there, really.

See the entire press release sample

If you're launching a new business and curious about how to write your first press release for a small business, here is the step-by-step guide.

Press release templates

As press releases follow a similar format, using templates can be an effective way to speed up the writing process.

In Prowly you can find free press release templates based on common announcement types, such as a product launch, book launch, or a new hire. In addition, the software can build a targeted media contact database based on the keywords in your press release.

The post How to Write a Press Release (With Tips From PR Pros) appeared first on Prowly.

Keep in mind that getting covered by the top-tier media is really challenging. To have better results when pitching, you might want to start by targeting smaller, relevant media outlets and see where it gets you.

If you’re looking for a list of the top media outlets, here are the most popular titles you should be aware of. 

• The New York Times
• The Daily Mail Group
• CNN
• MTV
• Huff Post
• Buzzfeed
• TIME
• Forbes
• The Washington Post
• Men’s Health
• Women’s Health
• VOGUE

Top 12 media outlets to cover your news 

The New York Times 

With a market worth of over $6 billion, The New York Times is one of the biggest media outlets in the world and is renowned for its cutting-edge journalism. Appearing in the paper or on the online website can transform a business and power them forward. 

The Daily Mail Group

Read across the globe, the Daily Mail and Mail Online are some of the world’s most popular media outlets. Although they have a heavy focus on celebrity and entertainment culture, the news outlet does cover a wide array of topics and breaking news. 

CNN

When it comes to top media outlets, CNN is the world leader in news and information. Staffed 24/7, it is one of the most popular online media outlets and has over 4,000 staff working across the globe to cover major events and stories. 

MTV

First appearing in 1981, MTV quickly became the world leader in music television, and news. Traditionally, it was known for its ground-breaking approach, and it helped to create the birth of the music video, nowadays though it is has moved into more reality and entertainment features. 

Huff Post

Formally known as The Huffington Post, Huff Post is one of the world’s most visited news outlets and covers everything from breaking news to popular media, lifestyle, comedy, healthy news, and technology stories. The site also features a lot of user-generated content.

Buzzfeed 

Buzzfeed is the leading independent digital media outlet in the world and reaches hundreds of millions of people each week. Featuring a massive cross-platform network of channels and insight, the outlet covers everything from breaking news to entertainment. 

TIME

Founded back in 1923, TIME Magazine remains one of the most authoritative and informative media outlets in the world. With over 20 million subscribers a week, it has become the voice for creating progressive and thought-provoking articles. 

Forbes 

Formed over a century ago, Forbes is now one of the biggest news and media outlets globally and employs over 400 people full-time, alongside working with nearly 3,000 employees. The outlet is renowned for celebrating success and regularly chronicles aspiring individuals. Appearing in Forbes is a major achievement for any organization or individual and is often considered a pinnacle piece of coverage. 

The Washington Post 

The Washington Post might be the largest circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area, but it is also one of the most read online news sites in the world. Having won 69 Pulitzer Prizes, it is regarded as one of the top media outlets for sharing breaking news and uncovering breaking news stories. 

Men’s Health 

Published in 59 countries around the world, Men’s Health has become the leading media outlet for health, fitness, and wellness topics. It is the largest selling men’s magazine in the United States, and it is seen as the go-to solution for the modern man. The online website is also incredibly popular and receives 118 million views a month. 

Women’s Health 

Following the success of Men’s Health, Women’s Health was launched in 2005 and enjoys millions of readers across the globe, with the magazine currently sold in 25 countries worldwide. Covering everything from health, nutrition, and wellness to sex, fashion, and beauty topics, it is the one-stop shop for women looking to live a healthy lifestyle. 

VOGUE

One of the most influential fashion magazines in the world, appearing in VOGUE cements a brand’s success. First appearing over 120 years ago, the magazine and corresponding news website are dubbed the ‘fashion bible’ and is often the first media outlet to review the latest beauty and fashion trends from the world’s leading brands.

💡 Tip: Explore this article to discover the top magazines to pitch, specifically curated for the US market.

Find the top media outlets for your news 

No matter whether you are a PR agency looking to secure your clients that big piece of coverage, or a brand looking to promote your business yourself, appearing in one of the world’s leading media outlets is a huge achievement. 

However, appearing in these titles is incredibly challenging, and the key to finding them and contacting them comes from having a proven media list and strong media relationships build beforehand. 

With Prowly, you can actually browse over a million journalists from the world’s most popular media outlets, find the most relevant contacts to cover your news, and manage media relations in one place.

Cover photo by AbsolutVision

The post Top Media Outlets for Your News - The 2025 List appeared first on Prowly.

Here’s what is media monitoring, why is media monitoring important, and what are the advantages of media monitoring—in one simple guide for PR professionals.

What is media monitoring: definition

Media monitoring encompasses the processes, techniques, and tools you can use to monitor what is being said about your brand, industry, competitors, and topics of interest to your business.

PR professionals used to review magazines and newspapers looking for mentions of the organization. They would clip the articles and paste them into clip books or folders. Long gone are the days when you needed to subscribe to them all and review page after page of every publication. 

In our digital world, monitoring the media goes beyond typical press clipping, and includes online, broadcast, and social media. Effective media monitoring may mean the difference between suffering from critical tweets and media slamming and containing the problem before it turns into a disaster. 

Types of media monitoring 

There are slight differences between media, brand, and backlinks monitoring, as well as social listening. Depending on your needs, you might be interested in different media monitoring types (and dedicated tools): 

• Media monitoring revolves around scanning public information on print or digital media to find out what’s being said about specific topics that are critical for you and your PR strategy
• Brand monitoring is about tracking different channels and platforms to identify where (and in what context) your brand is mentioned.
• Social listening involves monitoring social networks and analyzing the data collected. It usually has features like sentiment analysis, which enables you to understand the emotions behind specific mentions.
• Backlinks monitoring, on the other hand, is about ​​tracking and managing your website backlinks.
• Print monitoring lets you gain instant access to global, national, regional, and local newspapers, trade publications, consumer magazines, and business journals. You can also track mentions of your brand, competitors, and industry trends across domestic and international print and paywalled outlets.
• Broadcast monitoring gives you the ability to effortlessly monitor mentions in real-time, gaining valuable insights into how your brand is being discussed across various media channels. With tools that give you advanced query building and filtering options, like Prowly, you can customize your searches to capture exactly what you need. Plus, using our easy-to-use dashboards makes it simple to visualize your media data.

PR professionals and communications agencies like yourself leverage all types of media monitoring for their brands and clients. Among other things, PR media monitoring makes it possible to track earned media coverage and the success of PR campaigns, establish a baseline of media behavior, and detect early negative comments and mentions to avoid PR crises.

It is also important to highlight that there is a difference between social media monitoring and listening. We cover all the variations in this article. And in case you're looking for the best tools, we have prepared two lists with software systems for social listening and monitoring.

You can also learn all about using social monitoring for PR from The Complete Social Media Listening Guide for Public Relations.

Prowly monitoring combines all media channels in one tool: broadcast sources, social and online media, and print publications. This includes NLA-licensed and paywalled outlets.

Why is media monitoring important?

Half of the world’s population is active on news sites and social media these days, and more and more businesses are subject to online reviews. 

PR media monitoring is essential because, without it, you cannot control your brand, or your client’s, reputation. You should be able to track how your brand is faring in online publications and social media. You can also measure the effectiveness of your communication strategy with these tools and practices. Media monitoring tools allow you to track the reactions to your campaign and measure its effectiveness. 

Regardless of the size of your audience, tracking mentions can be an uphill battle—and practically impossible—without software tools.

Advantages of media monitoring tools

Prevent a public relations crisis

Depending on what you are exactly monitoring, you can catch an impending crisis from comments, articles, blog posts, and even reviews people have posted right in time to draft a powerful strategy to diminish bad sentiment. In fact, you can create one based on our "How to Create a Powerful Social Listening Strategy for PR" article, filled with tips and examples.

Get complete coverage of the media 24/7

The internet works 24/7 and the media can be talking about your business on various channels at any time. Media monitoring tools can help you find mentions of your brand without having to hire a specialist who works around the clock.

Collect data to spot trends or outliers

Putting all the statistics together can be difficult if you don’t have the right media monitoring tools. Once you have gathered the information, you can see which strategies work best and which ones should be adjusted.

With Prowly, you can easily embed media mentions from the web and social media to your PR reports. For broadcast and print, you can add a metric with the number of broadcast clippings directly to the report.

Track mentions in overlooked channels

Are you sure you’re tracking your campaigns on the right channels? Sometimes your brand will get mentioned in a channel you overlooked before and didn’t think of targeting. Monitoring automation enables you to track mentions and keywords when a discussion about your brand takes place. 

Get alerts for mentions that matter to you

Have you been waiting for that one specific media outlet to publish something about your desired mention? Effective monitoring tools can notify you the moment it goes online without the need to monitor it at all times.

Build better digital PR campaigns

Digital PR is very reactive. You need real-time alerts and regular monitoring updates to stay in the loop and spot all the coverage or relationship-building opportunities. That's what a good media monitoring tool gives you: the possibility to be timely and relevant with your pitches.

💡 Tip: Explore this article to learn more about how reactive PR compares to proactive PR—and how to put it into action.

How to start looking for relevant media mentions

Before you start, determine your media monitoring needs. Review which channels your audience is on and define the outcome you want to achieve with media monitoring, for example:

• Avoid PR crises: Looking for negative comments and discussions across the web and keep them from escalating 
• Track media mentions: Measuring the results of your PR campaigns 
• Understand your audience: Monitoring online discussions to gain a better understanding of your audience and identifying influencers

Once you set clear goals and objectives, think about what you need to monitor to achieve those goals. These may include: brand mentions, competitors, partners, vendors, and stakeholders that can affect your reputation, or other relevant keywords.

When choosing which channels to track, include the obvious channels as well as others that may be relevant to your PR activity. The exact mix will depend on your business needs, but here is a quick list: 

• News/online news: You can use a press clipping service for print media that will send a daily report to your desktop. Online news monitoring services generate reports from thousands of online news sources. Here's the Practical Guide to PR Clippings for your PR agency if you'd like to delve a bit deeper into the topic.
• Social media: Social media monitoring services and tools include several features like real-time tracking and sentiment analysis tools.
• Broadcast: These stations are monitored through closed caption video feeds. Automated services monitor closed captions and generate a text file of relevant stories. Thanks to this, you can better understand the media landscape by analyzing your media presence across TV, over the Radio, and in podcasts on both local and global scales.
• Print: PR isn't only about digital media, so add in print monitoring to make sure you have access to diverse sources to ensure you track coverage everywhere it appears.

Many organizations use different monitoring services for different types of media. This is why, once you have defined your media monitoring needs, it’s time to choose your ideal service provider. 

Your options include free and paid PR monitoring software. Free or low-cost applications (such as Google Alerts or Yahoo News) are generic in their approach and simply note news that mentions your business. Paid tools have various degrees of sophistication, registering multiple keywords and providing basic analysis. Premium services and software offer alerts and in-depth analysis and reporting in real-time. 

Most services are subscription-based and provide a media monitoring summary or media monitoring analysis report. The fees can be monthly or annual. Some services charge an extra fee per clip. Here's how much media monitoring actually costs →

💡 Want to make the most of your print coverage? Discover how to turn print media monitoring into a powerful part of your PR strategy.

Ready to invest in media monitoring? 

Media monitoring tools can give you a competitive advantage by providing the information you need in real-time. The process should be continuous to ensure you’re not missing out on an opportunity to spot or secure media coverage, avoid potential PR crises, and get to know your audience better. 

Once you have the importance and advantages of media monitoring clear, go ahead and choose the right media monitoring software for your needs.

If you're interested in a customized plan that aligns with your specific goals, or if you want to add print and broadcast monitoring to your toolkit, simply provide your contact information, and we'll handle the rest.

Cover photo by Daniel Thomas

The post Media Monitoring for PR Professionals: Importance, Advantages & More appeared first on Prowly.

Sorry to ruin the surprise ending, but it’s a fact. With so many contacts spread over so many platforms in the digital space, you simply must have the right tools to carry out your media strategy. 

Why do you need media relations software? 

Media relations tools are used to communicate with the media and manage relationships with journalists. Since many of these solutions contain a CRM for press contacts, they are often called media relations CRM tools. 

Among other things, with a media relations tool, you can:

• Save time that you can better spend making and maintaining personal contacts. PR is a people business. Time spent on a keyboard is time not spent on the phone, at a pitch, at conferences, or in any number of other places where some face time can expand your circle of contacts. 
• Discover and connect with contacts well outside of your immediate circle. More often than not, media relations tools contain a media database that’s meant for finding new contacts. 
• Organize the information you collect. A post-it note here, a scribbled name and number there, a number quickly added to your phone without a complete name to match — this “system” can only last for so long. You need a space to create a digital contact list where you can easily access the details you need. 
• Create and distribute your message. The best media relations tools used to communicate with the media don’t make you go somewhere else to create your press release and send it out to the world. A unified tool that lets you do everything in one space is the standard now and the convenience they deliver is clear. 

You get the idea. Now comes the hard part. With so many tools for media relations to choose from, how do you know which one is right for you? 

Here’s a list of some of the top choices along with their primary features to make your decision just a little easier.

Best media relations tools

Prowly 

Easy to use, intuitive user interface, access to well-curated journalist contact database with over 1m names, easy creation and sending of pro-level press releases, tracking tools to measure how your message was received, a live online branded newsroom where journalists can learn everything about you in one place. 

If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for your PR needs, Prowly should be at the top of the list. Add very customer-friendly contract terms and pricing and your search for the right media relations tool just might be a short one. If you're still not convinced, check out why PR professionals choose Prowly.

Muck Rack 

A more broad-based (and more expensive) media relations tool, Muck Rack, goes beyond straight PR functionalities and includes a tool for monitoring news mentions and even a platform for journalists to build and share their own portfolios (along with how they prefer to be pitched!). 

Their media monitoring tool can give users a heads up to potential opportunities (and problems) at an early stage, allowing for quick responses and better engagement.

Prezly

Sending press releases from directly within the application is not a unique feature, but Prezly does it well. It’s the same with branded online newsrooms, which Prezly makes simple to use and great-looking at the same time. 

Press releases are simple to put together and a range of features make it easy to create a visually impressive message, complete with multimedia elements, galleries, and everything you need to bring the page to life. 

Local language options, a well-designed live newsroom, and tracking analytics make Prezly worth a look. The only thing that you might be missing is a media database.

Propel

Propel adds media monitoring to its standard features like a contact database, simple creation & sending of press releases, and analytics. 

An article research tool helps to discover names and outlets that cover your field that may not have been on your radar and expands your potential media reach. 

That reach can be expanded even further through an interesting AI-powered pitch recommendation engine that identifies media contacts most likely to be interested and respond to your message. In a PR world where every contact matters, this could be just the edge you need to gain the coverage you’re looking for.

Meltwater

One of the most established names in the business, Meltwater started in social media monitoring and eventually expanded into a very comprehensive media relations tool. 

Meltwater offers all of the services that have been mentioned above from other providers, just for clients at a larger scale. While no one disputes the effectiveness of Meltwater’s services, they are likely to be a bit overkill for the needs of many brands and the price reflects that. 

If you’re looking for a full-spectrum solution to address every online mention of your name and prepare a media strategy to leverage those mentions into a higher profile and more coverage, Meltwater is likely the way to go. Most companies, however, find that a more PR-focused media relations tool is more than enough to successfully carry out their PR strategy.

→ Learn more about Meltwater pricing here.

Best tools for media relations revealed

The real question is not if you’re going to use a media relations tool, but which media relations tool you’re going to use. There is definitely no one-size-fits-all solution here and much will depend on how a particular platform fits with your needs and the way you like to work.  

Keep in mind that what appear to be small differences between one and another can in fact make a huge difference in the way you pursue your PR goals.

If you need more guidance on how to make the right decision, read the buyer’s guide to PR software and make sure to give at least a few media relations tools a try before you commit to anything.

Cover photo by Christin Hume

The post Best Media Relations Tools: The 2025 List appeared first on Prowly.

Having a detailed PR roadmap can lead to more and better coverage and turn up the volume on everything associated with a new launch. A lot of work needs to be done before your new product even gets near a single store shelf so let’s look at the elements of a great PR product launch strategy. 

• Plan your product launch PR campaign
  • Pre-launch: Build up the tension
  • Product launch date
  • After the dust has settled

Plan your product launch PR campaign 

PR has a role to play before, during, and after a product launch, with various tactics devoted to different aspects of the big debut. Let’s take them in order. 

PRE-LAUNCH: Build up the tension

6 months before product launch: Establish your authority

When the big day finally comes, six months from now, visitors of all types, including media, will be crawling all over your brand history, especially your online presence. 

You need to be sure that they find a reasonably solid history of activities indicating that you are a credible source of expertise and industry knowledge. This means your online newsroom, blog, social media profiles, your presence on other forums as a guest, your name showing up everywhere, and your online footprint generally. 

Look at it from the media’s perspective on launch day—what are they supposed to think about a brand that is asking for attention now but has been essentially inactive over the last six months? Does that seem like something they should buy into? Also, creating a credible history of brand engagement lets the media know they can count on you when they need professional commentary. 

Let’s also add a reminder that all of your content should be consistent in terms of communicating your value proposition as a brand. It should be easy for someone who knows nothing about you to read just a couple of posts or interviews and get what you’re all about. 

5 months before product launch: Research your target audience

The next step is to properly define all the recipient groups. This will tell you where your target audience can be found, which will help you choose the best communication channels to spread information about the product. 

What you should consider when doing such research:

1. Define the target market. The target audience should not be too narrow, as it may not yield the expected profit. It is also difficult to create an advertising campaign "for everyone and their mother". Creating a list of places where your business should be present will also make it easier for you to create promotional materials. 

2. Analyze what your competition is offering. Always.  

3. Create a list of media outlets and journalists that are important to your business. It is important to divide the media into categories that are appropriate for them, such as general, business, and industry. This will make it easier to tailor your content to a specific media.

With Prowly, you can easily find relevant journalists and create different media lists for your product launch plan. Try it for free.

4 months before product launch: Ask for reviews

Testing is extremely important when launching new products. Depending on the company, bloggers, testers, and journalists may also participate in the excitement-building stage. 

As far as company policy allows, sending them a test model of the product earlier and asking them to publish an announcement article (called a teaser), without giving away details, will help the success of the campaign, while winning the hearts of people who can test the product earlier. And, maybe some of them will decide to become ambassadors of your brand?

Remember to do your homework before you send out your mailing and check if the editors, blogs, and influencers you are contacting even publish reviews. Also, don’t forget to set the date and medium that is preferred for publication. 

3 months before product launch: Tell your story

One of the most powerful techniques in PR & content marketing is storytelling. People love personal stories. They want to know that someone is behind the brand and that someone's passion and vision have been manifested in what they are buying. 

Such content allows PR to create an atmosphere of uniqueness around the brand, build its identity and provide it with engaging value. Stir their imagination and show another side of your story. Spark the discussion. Learn to talk about the journey that’s behind you and your plans for the future as if it were a memorable adventure. Because that’s what it is, right? 

A product launch example to follow: IKEA has been a master of storytelling for years. They’re not about selling furniture, they help you to create the perfect home. They continue this story at every level of their operation - from the design of their products to the style of their sales, to their communication in every aspect of ​​customer contact with the brand.

2 months before product launch: Reveal something 

This is a crucial (and tricky) part of the process - getting customers to want the product before they can see it. Through a series of activities, based on discovering residual information about the product, its features, and fragments of photos, excitement is built and the desire to learn more is created. 

Remember that “reveal” doesn’t mean “show everything”. Keep some mystery involved and try to create more questions with any info or visuals you share. 

1 month before product launch: Put your media outreach into overdrive 

Let's say your idea is brilliant, the implementation went great and now you want to organize a press conference to tell the media about it. You have to keep one thing in mind: the editors of the most popular portals and newspapers receive up to tons of similar emails every day. Of course, each of them describes a unique and one-of-a-kind product that will revolutionize the industry. 

It’s time to make sure you have every “must” media figure on your contact list. Your press release and the pitch it contains have to be sharpened to perfection. Create multiple versions of your press release to send to different types of media. At this stage, you might also want to create a media kit with relevant press materials, to make it easier for music journalists to cover your story. This will also help you control the narrative when getting publicity for your product.

A product launch example to follow: A good example is WWF’s provocative campaign, informing women's magazine journalists about the launch of a new brand of cream called 3200, which contains tiger fat. The press release accompanying the cream first described the innovation of the product and then debunked it by explaining that 3200 was not a brand of cream, but a number of endangered tigers. The campaign proved very effective - attractive, surprising, and highly emotive content in the form of a box of cream and a message (which linked to the website, which featured a controversial film about poachers), generated a lot of interest from the media and lifestyle bloggers.

2 weeks before product launch: Increase your visibility 

At this stage, brand presence in the media is an absolute must. PR activities are necessary for the phase of launching a new product (or rebranding) while building awareness and identity of a new brand and during a social campaign. Make sure your previous PR efforts are actually bringing some results, and keep distributing content in the media, social networks, and among bloggers whose audience consists of potential customers (teasers and viral videos work great here).

A dedicated website is obviously a must-have. Be sure to include information about how to place pre-orders. It is also a great platform to post a demo video or display visuals, such as a countdown timer for the day the product will be available in the market. Also, most consumers are willing to share their personal information with brands if they receive something in return, such as a discount on their first purchase.

An example to follow: Take a look at this creative campaign of a new (relatively, since the campaign is from 2013) Lexus model in the United States, which was promoted on Instagram with a hashtag (#LexusInstafilm). The brand invited two hundred of their fans (so no production costs!) to make a stop-motion video promoting the car with photos they took via the application. The video became great material for further distribution in the media and social networks - increasing its authenticity and shareability.

1 week before product launch: Use your data 

If you have a database of potential customers' email addresses, it’s worth sending them a message about the launch. You can easily create a chain of emails, with the first simply introducing the new product. The following emails can be focused on various aspects of the product or the lifestyle around it. 

Once the product launch is done, an email with a "buy now" call to action, and product photos are the final step to help close the sale. Add a sense of urgency by offering discounts or limited-time offers.

PRODUCT LAUNCH DATE

Respect deadlines 

When you go to market with a product, you become "public" and time is then extremely important. The media and customers will follow your activities. Taking advantage of your time in the spotlight is critical and lots of third parties are involved in keeping it white-hot. Don’t cause problems for them by failing to keep to schedules and deadlines—be ready when you say you’ll be ready. 

Be original 

The launch of a new product is a great opportunity to attract journalists. This is also the moment when you can initiate all kinds of special activities that can bring benefits in the future. 

Press conferences allow you to go wild with your creativity while presenting your product but also to have direct contact with journalists from your industry and beyond. Most of them will have seen many such presentations before so put special emphasis on trying to impress and making your product stand out. 

Stay in the spotlight 

Always make sure that the communication strategy chosen is appropriate in the context of the content and to whom the messages are addressed. The job of the PR specialist is to structure the message in a way that sparks dialog and interaction so that the advertising is engaging, fun, and unique. 

One of the best ways to build a lasting customer relationship is to allow your audience to contribute to your content - ask them to take photos of their products or topics and tag them with specific hashtags. This way, the message reaches everyone in our recipients’ circles.

Showcase the product 

Prepare segmented communication at the beginning of the general sale of the product, depending on the profile you have collected and the customer preferences. 

If you know that someone cares about technology, show how technologically efficient a new product is. For those who focus on design, send communication that draws the eye to the product’s great looks, and for those who are driven by price, show what benefits they will get by buying upfront. 

Consider a way to register the products purchased—it should be easy, quick, and secure, and the registration should be done with a social account. To collect even more data, offer some incentive for registration. 

AFTER THE DUST HAS SETTLED

Collect feedback 

Ask your customers (especially new ones) for their opinions. Remember that you are now investing in continuing to sell the product. It is important to ask for an opinion relatively quickly - if the customer still remembers the initial emotions associated with the new purchase and is happy to share them with others, they will feel like an expert and an advisor.

Say thanks

You just spend months working with your contacts and getting them to cover your launch. Some of them came through for you and helped you out by getting you media coverage. Don’t forget about them until the next time you need something. Reach out to everyone with some gratitude for their help and cooperation. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do—take every opportunity to build relationships with people that you’ll need at some point in the future. 

Reassure your customers about their choice 

Once new product sales are up and running, and the base of customers who have benefited from the offer is growing, it pays to be ready for the next level of communication. This is an important moment in terms of future relationships with customers and their satisfaction with the purchases they have just made. Now you need to tell them that they did the right thing when they chose your brand. 

Send them tailored messages showing more content about the new product. It can be a video showing the product in daily use, it can be a new blogger review, it can be an instructional video exploring all the features and secrets of a new product step by step. The communication should include a lot of rich content, beautiful photos, and a feedback form with contact to customer service so that the customer feels safe and knows what to do if he has ab questions.

At this stage, you can also show accessories that go with the new product, as well as complementary solutions that offer additional options. You can build additional sales here.

Ready for a product launch?

The launch of a brand involves the creation of a well-thought-out plan, which, if carried out efficiently, will enable a brand to quickly find its place in the market. It is important that the new brand is innovative and generates interest. A good product is not enough in this age of high competitiveness and market saturation. A suitable narrative should be prepared for it. A unique story with which future customers can identify.

The preparation of an innovative and surprising PR launch strategy is one of the most important elements of the brand’s success. Constant activity and openness to market dynamics and their changes are crucial here. It is important to remain active, by responding to changes in customer expectations, and the inevitable emergence of "new players".

Cover photo by Korie Cull

The post How to Use PR to Make Your Next Product Launch a Success appeared first on Prowly.

However, creating a media list can be an incredibly challenging and time-consuming task. Trawling through Twitter, websites, and magazines to find the right contact details for design journalists is a slow process. There is also a high probability that you will be unable to find the details or miss key outlets. 

If you're looking for top design journalists, you came to the right place.

• Kat Burroughs, Interiors Editor at The Times and The Sunday Times
• Claudia Baillie, Editor at Elle 
• Gabrielle Fagan, PA Media
• Tamara Kelly, Digital Editor at Ideal Home
• Kiera Buckley Jones, Freelancer
• Paul Goldberger, Editor at Vanity Fair
• Inga Saffron, Critic at Philadelphia Inquirer

Looking for more examples? Explore a database of over one million journalists and find the very best design journalists around the world, filtering your list by location, publication, and position.

The most influential design journalists

Katrina Burroughs, Interiors Editor at The Times and The Sunday Times

Kat is the Interiors Editor at The Times and The Sunday Times. She has been writing articles and content for the home section of these papers for over ten years. She started her career writing for a magazine about stolen art before moving on to the Evening Standard as a resident journalist. 

After her time at the Standard, she went on to write for the How To Spend It section in the Financial Times before moving onto the Times. When she is not writing about interiors, Kat likes to go clay pigeon shooting and Labrador training. 

Want to make your press releases look better? Check out our latest article “How to Design a Press Release (w/ Tips & Examples)“ for some helpful tips!

Claudia Baillie, Editor at Elle 

Currently the Editor for Elle Magazine, Claudia has had a wide and varied career that has primarily surrounded around interiors and home décor. While regularly writing for Elle, Claudia is one of the most respected design journalists in the industry and regularly contributes to the Sunday Times, Evening Standard, Telegraph, and Amara. 

She studied for a foundation degree at the Winchester School of Art before going on to secure a BA (Hons) in Fashion and Apparel Design at the University of the West of England. 

Gabrielle Fagan, PA Media

Gabrielle covers a wide range of topics, from celebrity stories to sports, but her main focus is on design. Currently working for the Press Association, her career has been incredibly varied, and she has written for many of the leading media outlets across the UK and US. 

Nowadays, Gabrielle primarily focuses on interior design and the latest décor trends; however, she does also cover best buys for the latest products. 

Tamara Kelly, Digital Editor at Ideal Home

Tamara, or Tam as she is known, is the Digital Editor for the Ideal Home, one of the UK’s leading design websites. As one of the most well-known design journalists in the industry, her career has spanned over two decades, and she has covered everything from fashion to beauty. Nowadays, though, she focuses only on the latest interior design trends. 

Prior to joining Ideal Home, Tamara worked at Country Homes and Interiors and has been part of the award-winning interiors team at both titles. She has covered some of the biggest design shows in the world and is often the first with the latest news. 

Kiera Buckley Jones, Freelancer

Kiera is a highly experienced design journalist and has worked across a wide range of outlets, including Elle and Metro. She has helped put together some of the most influential design shoots in the industry in her role for commission style shoots, but she is also responsible for decorating news and creating interior design profiles. 

She can often be found sharing fantastic images to her thousands of followers on her Instagram account, including exterior and interior design. 

Paul Goldberger, Editor at Vanity Fair 

When it comes to architecture, Paul is one of the most respected design journalists in the industry. Starting his career working across several local papers, Paul was the architecture critic for The New Yorker between 1997 and 2011. 

Nowadays, he contributes to numerous magazines, much of his work remains around Vanity Fair. He is also an award-winning author, having written multiple books on architecture and design. He has also taught at the Yale School of Architecture and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as The New School.

Inga Saffron, Critic at Philadelphia Inquirer 

Inga won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism and covers a wide range of design issues, although her primary focus remains on architecture. Her career began in the early 1980s, when she wrote for the Courier News in New Jersey, before moving to the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1984. 

Initially covering news topics, she moved to architecture and design in 1999 and has since won many awards for her articles on the city’s changing skyline. She is famed for her insightful and powerful stories and critiques.

💡 Tip: To get to know the top magazines to pitch in the US market, explore this article.

Find more design journalists with Prowly

When it comes to design journalists, finding the right outlet for your needs can be a challenge. A targeted media list is essential in helping you to maximize your coverage, and building it can get much easier when you have access to a media database

Prowly's Media Database gives you access to over one million journalists and lets you filter by niche, location, job title, and media outlet, ensuring you can find the very best design journalists in the industry. Why not give it a try?

Photo by Christopher Burns

The post Top Design Journalists to Cover Your Story - The 2025 List appeared first on Prowly.

Press release definition

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Some claim that the press release is dead. They say it’s boring, targeted to a wrong group of people or just way too promotional. But is it always the case? Before we dispel some of these myths, let’s start with defining what a ‘press release’ is and what it really does.

The whole idea behind the press release is communication. It can be written, recorded or even shown – the form doesn’t matter as long as it’s effective. It is a tool made to announce something that is newsworthy in the most objective way possible.  The whole purpose of a press release is to get coverage and get noticed by a target audience.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, the problem is that the press release is tricky and often misunderstood by both PR specialists and the audience. To be able to write an effective material, it is necessary to understand its structure:

Wikipedia's press release definition

It's also worth noting what Wikipedia has to say on the subject. According to them, "a press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy. Typically, they are mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to assignment editors and journalists at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, online media, television stations or television networks."

What is the most important thing about a press release?

When writing a press release, it’s important to start with basic questions like who did what, when and where it happened, what it was for, etc. Keeping this form makes it easier to judge whether the material is newsworthy or not. If it’s not, without any media attention it will just get lost on the web.

The crucial part of getting coverage is directing the release to the right group of people. The research on the topic shows that 67% of journalists claim they receive irrelevant materials not in the area of their work or interest. So if a journalist specializes in technology, do not send a release about a new line of cosmetics – he won’t even bother to read it.

Always write your #PressRelease with your audience in mind. What do they want to know? If it isn't interesting to them then start again!

— Denise Wilton (@DeneezWilton) June 1, 2016

The press release is supposed to be kept simple and short – and preferably in a form that allows copying and pasting. Journalists are always busy, and if they have to read and edit text that is too long, they just might give up before ever starting. Experts admit that they want releases to be clear and straight to the point, without waffling over the topic. A release that is written in the form of a finished article has bigger chances of wide distribution.

If you're in search of a guide on writing a press release, check out our recent article on the 'Anatomy of a Press Release.' It provides valuable insights and tips for crafting effective press releases.

What should you remember about the press release?

The next time somebody asks you "what is a press release?", remember that the press release is not made only for getting press — it’s also a great tool that can help your SEO. It’s not only an advertising tool, but rather a means designed to communicate what is going on with the company. As long as the authors remember that, they can create effective content that will be noticed by their audience.

[bctt tweet="The press release is not dead; it just has to be done right." username=""]

Looking for more information? Check out these press release templates & examples.

The post Press Release Definition — What Exactly is a Press Release, Anyway? appeared first on Prowly.

We can’t resist the temptation to join the prediction game about our favorite topic, public relations, so allow us to share some thoughts on some trends that are ready to break through in 2022. 

We got some help by reaching out to PR pros and getting their input. Spending as much time as they do on the front lines of the industry, we think they’re a pretty reliable source of educated guesses on which way the wind will blow in the coming year. We’ve included their quotes here so you can get a taste of the variety of opinions that we collected. 

Some of these predictions may have been on your radar already while others might come as a surprise. Some have been building for a while while others have been triggered into being fairly recently by larger events. 

Either way, here are 6 trends that we think are going to define the conversation about PR in 2022:

• Moving closer towards content regulation on social media
• A greater emphasis on social responsibility & business ethics 
• The rise of Artificial Intelligence and data science 
• Digital events are the new norm 
• Soon, everyone will have a podcast
• Paid exposure is likely to replace earned media

Top PR trends in 2022

Moving closer towards content regulation on social media

Every PR specialist knows the power of a good social media campaign. It is (mostly) free, it’s a medium where your target audience is active and pretty much the entire planet is accessible at this point. 

But the social media landscape is changing fast behind the scenes. Concerns about misinformation, political conflicts and, some would say, the centralization of a lot of power have all combined to create a very different environment than the one you might remember from years ago.

As audiences continue to move away from traditional media outlets towards social media, there have been opportunities for brands to take greater control of their brand narratives than ever before. Questions arise around where content creators’ responsibility ends and platforms’ begins affects brand strategies and messaging. In fact, companies are already moving towards increased enforcement of guidelines designed to prevent online misinformation. -  PR specialists @ HM&M PR

It’s very hard to say where this is headed, but the takeaway here is to be aware of both the need for full transparency at all times and to avoid putting all of your eggs in one social media basket. 

In fact, the importance of justice and transparency is likely to be a particularly prominent topic in the next few years, which leads right into our next big trend.

A greater emphasis on social responsibility & business ethics 

You’ve surely noticed that transparency and accuracy in communication have been growing in importance in the PR community. Some see it as an inevitable step of the development of social-first journalism, while others connect the increased interest in social responsibility from the brands’ standpoint to other issues they can’t address directly.

Consumers want to feel like they’re doing business with the right brands and don’t want to be associated with scandal and anything with even the faintest hint of controversy.

The recent economy-wide disruptions (and PR nightmares) caused by supply chain and shipping problems were on the mind of at least one PR specialist who responded to us:

The main trends will be a sharper focus on the benefits of a company’s products or services in light of the shipping problems that have been experienced and, in many cases, price increases. The challenges for the PR professional will be convincing product purchasers and/or service consumers, and media, that your client or employer has learned from the ongoing pandemic and has adapted to the “new normal.” Public skepticism is going to be at an all-time high for the foreseeable future. - Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA & Adjunct Professor of Communication @ University of Tampa (FL)

There is a growing interest in where major brands stand ethically, which initiatives they support, and, more importantly, what it all means to the communities they serve.

Consumers are no longer willing to believe a mission statement or corporate talking head claiming a company does the right thing — they want proof. Customers will seek, support, and engage with brands aligned with their ethos — and they’re more than willing to call out dishonesty and inaccuracy. Accurate communications and consistency across all media platforms will help consumers trust and support your brand. - Amy Roberts, Vice President of Communications + Client Services @ KNB Communications

Many say that businesses are pressured by a variety of stakeholders to take a stance on vital social issues, from BLM to gender equity, healthcare, pay equity, DEI, etc. Not only take a stance, but put action plans together and demonstrate real progress, not just rhetoric (Greg Feistman, Assistant Chair of Public Relations @ Temple University).

What does this mean for PR specialists? It’s pretty simple: our job now is to make sure that our clients have a worthy, respectable cause to represent, a cause is aligned with their companies’ missions & customer base, and that the world knows about all the effort they are making. 

Staying out of these conflicts is becoming harder all the time, as is navigating the path forward. The best advice here is to act with caution and do everything you can to keep your finger on the pulse of your clients’ markets and industries. 

The rise of Artificial Intelligence and data science 

Don’t panic – we’re not predicting the rise of the machines (yet?). But this is one of those trends that has been building for a long time and has reached boiling point. 2022 will be the year that statistical data analysis moves to the center of effective PR tactics: 

Leveraging relevant data and analytics, statistics, and reports with a pitch will be highly important. Having the right storyline is one part of the equation, anchoring that pitch with a dynamic statistic will boost its relevance 10X. Offering up a key stakeholder who can knowledgeably speak to that data is even better.  Publicists should consider working with their clients on how to mine and own the right data on behalf of a company.  - Zoe Weisberg Coady, Founder & CEO @ Brandstyle Communications 

And when it comes to effective data gathering, Artificial Intelligence is now a must-have. AI allows you to find and pull all the relevant information faster and it is also a crucial factor when it comes to communication and processes automation.

PR is becoming more dependent on data. To tell compelling stories to your target market, important data has to be collected and scrutinized. Companies that want to succeed today must embrace numbers and analytics and need to be smarter about how they use data. Data analysis gives deeper insights into behaviors and habits. - PR specialists @ HM&M PR

Data-driven AI allows PR specialists to automate mundane tasks such as searching for the most relevant channels and media contacts, calculating the best time of day for sending press releases and other media materials, establishing the most suitable type of content for a given campaign, following up effectively, and more.

Let the machines do the work for us now and hope they’ll be nice to us later.

Digital events are the new norm

https://prowly.com/magazine/public-relations-conferences-2024/This trend shouldn’t come as a big surprise given the ongoing pandemic situation. Webinars, workshops, conferences, interviews, public statements - all are done online now and most people seem to be on board. This does, however, imply a major shift into how PR specialists need to approach digital PR events:

Events will no longer be about the volume of attendees, people have become pickier about how they choose to spend their time, so a more targeted approach will be essential to catching key influencers. It'll no longer be about the number of attendees to an event, but rather the quality of those who attend and ensuring you work with the best contacts that are well aligned to your brand to form lasting brand advocates. - Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO @ Mavens & Moguls

Emphasizing quality over quantity is always tricky. Nevertheless, it tends to be good for all stakeholders in the long run. Make up for what participants miss in terms of face-to-face networking with outstanding content. Attendees get valuable information and the feeling of “getting exactly what they paid for”, businesses benefit from their target clients’ satisfaction, and PR managers leverage the boost to their personal brand.

If you haven’t started upgrading your ability to organize virtual events, get to work.  

Soon, everyone will have a podcast

While we mentioned that content is becoming the go-to strategy for public relations managers these days, there is one form of content that deserves its own place on this list: podcasts. 

Podcasts and podcast listeners are growing at rapid rates. Podcast interviews in particular are great for exposure because they offer extended time for founders to talk about their story and their mission. Podcast listeners are dedicated audiences who are looking to learn and take action, and a potential lead can decrease the time needed to convert. Plus, podcast episodes stay ‘live’ forever, so by being on a podcast, you can have a recurring and evergreen stream of leads. - Kayley Hamilton, CEO & Founder @ KAYLEY Media

As you can see, getting your clients a spot on a trending podcast can be very beneficial over the long term. Also, consumers have embraced the medium so there’s no need to educate your core audience on what this whole ‘podcast’ thing is all about.

Finally, by dedicating a part of your PR strategy to podcasts, you will access a whole new audience who prefer this kind of content, thus significantly boosting your clients’ brand awareness.  

That’s what we call a win-win. Podcasts are easy and inexpensive to produce, the technology puts everyone on an equal footing and, as they say in every Marketing department on the planet, content is king. 

Paid exposure is likely to replace earned media

Finally, there is a very significant challenge for all of the PR professionals to address in the upcoming year: 

[2022,] this is the year when pay-to-play reaches critical mass. Next year could be the tipping point when paid exposure is far more accessible than earned media. In some cases, it will be more desirable to clients, who are interested in a niche. - Sharon Geltner, President @ Froogle PR 

Today, it is easier than ever to promote your own business: you simply need to press the right set of buttons on Facebook, and your recent post will be visible to whomever your heart desires. So, naturally, many of your potential clients will decide against investing in a full-time PR specialist on their side. 

With so much content making it so hard to stand out, many companies are deciding that simply paying to go to the top of the list is a better option. 

Our job here is to educate our clients about all the pros and cons of such an approach and explain why working with a professional is always a safer option.

More importantly, we will have to work much harder to retain existing client bases, as many of them will give in to the temptation to run their own show. Your existing connections with journalists, access to various media platforms, and experience are definitely going to help you mitigate the damage from this unfortunate trend.

If this wasn’t on your radar before, it needs to be front and center now. Work on refining your value proposition and make what you bring to the table very clear. 

What does it all mean for you?

As you can see, there’s a common denominator to all the most-likely scenarios envisioned by the PR experts: it’s time to level up in the game and bet on quality work.

Everybody — consumers, clients — is growing more sophisticated and that’s why the tricks that took you viral in 2018 aren’t likely to impress in 2022. Are you ready for it?

The post 6 PR Trends That Are Ready To Be a Big Deal in 2022 appeared first on Prowly.

We hope that day arrives sooner rather than later but we can all be sure of one thing—events will be back in a big way once we all get the green light. 

That’s why we thought it would be a great time to review some tips for planning and strategies to help make your next PR event a huge success. You can never stress the basics enough and even seasoned pros can pick up some new twists on familiar ideas so a refresher on the elements of a great PR event plan is always a good thing. 

But before we dive in—and until that green light comes—let us just quickly remind everybody that you can organize effective online-only PR events for as long as you have to. Sure, they’re not your first option but don’t underestimate how much you can achieve with some creativity and effort. From simple Q&A sessions to deeper, more engaging contact, there is plenty you can do to keep your brand or client in the minds of your media contacts. Read our dedicated post on the subject of promotional events in the age of physical distancing for more details. 

So let’s turn the focus to the future with tips on how to make a great return to the world of face-to-face PR events. 

PR tactics for events

Establish the format of the PR event

• What’s the experience going to look like for those who attend the event? 
• How many different people will address those gathered, on what topics, and with what visual aids (if any)? 
• What’s the general “flow” of everything from beginning to end? 

These are important questions for a number of practical reasons, from how to pitch the event (we’ll get to that in a minute) to physically organizing and scheduling anyone who will speak into a microphone. But there are other benefits that come with examining these questions that you may not have considered.

By carefully planning the format of the event well in advance, you get a chance to focus on potential speakers and presenters (and the time to connect with them and start the conversation about joining you). This can be a key element in the success of any PR event for a couple of reasons. Not only can the lineup of speakers be decisive in attracting media attention, but those who follow the speakers for professional reasons can expand your audience and result in even more coverage. 

Leveraging the professional profile of speakers and presenters can greatly expand your media reach and is easier than ever, thanks to social media. Connecting with those who may not have heard of your event but are fans of someone appearing at it is essentially free exposure—it’s simply a matter of working with them to get the word out.

The fact that it’s possible to enlist the help of people with bigger media footprints than you might have is something to embrace, so think about how the message of your event can be amplified with their help!

Focus on the right media contacts  

The media contacts in attendance are the oxygen of any public relations event. Getting your pitch in front of the right people puts you in a position to maximize the potential of your PR event by preselecting journalists who are likely to be interested in learning more about you and what you have to share. 

It’s important to be on the right side of the quality vs. quantity issue here. Put an emphasis on contacting and inviting the journalists that are most likely to use their platforms to rebroadcast your message. That often means they have:

• Existing connections to your industry. You want journalists who are already focused on your field and write for the audience that comes with that. This also makes it easier to pitch to them since they will more easily understand the significance of whatever you are sharing. 
• Ties to the local scene related to your field. Sure, it would be great to have journalists from huge national media outlets sitting in the front row during your presentation and there’s nothing wrong with trying to make that happen. However, there are likely plenty of local journalists who would accept your invitation to join your event. Their audience may be smaller but they can be more willing to deliver the kind of coverage you want. Once that coverage is posted online, it becomes just as valuable as any other link when it comes to enhancing your digital presence. Don’t overlook journalists in your own backyard, especially if your PR event has primarily local relevance. 
• Some history with you or the people you work with. It makes sense to reach out to contacts that you’ve worked with in the past. Use relationships built on previous cooperation to start making the list for your next event. 

Still, your PR event strategy requires you to cast your net as wide as you can and that will probably involve reaching out to new contacts. The challenge then becomes connecting with as many high-value media contacts as possible while not spending all of your time trying to figure out who makes the list. A shortcut to success would be helpful here.

That’s where tools like Prowly’s Media Database come in handy. You can get access to a curated list of verified contacts from every field and location you might need, saving you tons of time and skipping the hard work of finding the contacts on your own.

Creating a targeted audience from these contacts puts you closer to your goal of media coverage and the same tool can be used to craft and send your pitch. And speaking of your pitch…

Craft the perfect pitch (and press release)

With a clear vision of what your PR event is all about and a carefully selected list of journalists, putting together the PR materials you’ll need to get attention will be that much easier. 

That means a pitch to invite journalists to attend your PR event and a press release for those who can’t or don’t. These are often very similar texts but we’ve covered the difference between them extensively if you need a reminder. 

The essentials of any PR pitch apply here. That means addressing these questions:

• Why should your media contact be interested in your PR event? What’s in it for them?
• How is the information you want to present at the PR event relevant to the journalist’s audience? How will you help to provide engaging content for them?
• How does your PR event fit with the subject area the journalist / media outlet covers? Is there some way you can present the focus of your event as especially relevant? 

When creating your pitch, consider adding the possibility of some kind of exclusivity, whether in the form of early access, interviews, or personalized guidance through the substance of your PR event. This can be especially beneficial for products, services, or other topics that may require a bit more information and context than most journalists might bring to the table. Don’t let a complex message get in the way of media engagement—take the first step and offer the help needed to adequately cover your announcement. 

Now let’s turn to press releases for a moment and their role in PR events.

Of course, your first choice is to get lots of RSVPs from journalists eager to attend your event but many will be unable to join in person. That doesn’t mean they’re lost as a potential source of media coverage, though. That’s where your press release comes in. After the event, follow up with those who could not attend with the bullet-point version of the highlights of your announcement along with an invitation to get in touch to learn more. 

Anyone who responds to your pitch, even with a “Sorry, but I can’t make it”, is still part of an ongoing conversation, so take advantage of the opportunity to keep them engaged through your press release. 
If you run into the classic “What should my press release look like?” version of writer’s block, have a look at these press release templates to get your preparation back in the fast lane.

And when it comes to pitches, press releases, and other materials you share with journalists, upgrade your game to an online newsroom. This is a dedicated, branded online space where you can post any & all materials you want to share about you and your brand. Online newsrooms offer more than just convenience, they’re a modern spin on PR work and a pleasant surprise to journalists used to old-fashioned pitches.

Instead of sending PDFs or asking journalists to download your press packet, you can just include a link that takes them to your newsroom for live, up-to-date info about, for example, your upcoming PR event. This lets you add updates, make corrections, and allows for last-minute changes when needed—try that with PDF. 

Get the word about your PR event out to interested journalists

By now, you’ve got your targeted contact list ready to go, your killer pitch and press release written and you know exactly what the whole event should look like. It’s time to get your invitations out through the channel that journalists repeatedly indicate as their preferred method of communication. 

That means email. 

Even in this social media-driven world, email is the way to go when it’s time to get your pitch in front of a potential audience. If you have an existing relationship with a particular media contact, then you may already have a message chain going somewhere in social media. For everyone else, start with email. 

Integration between your contact lists and your email tool is a huge time saver. Even better, a tool where they are natively integrated can turbocharge your PR outreach. Managing your outgoing messages and responses to them while easily adding additional contacts allows you to react appropriately as journalists engage with you. In addition to carrying on conversations, you can follow up with those who, for example, opened your mail but didn’t respond or didn’t open your message at all. 

Different contexts call for different kinds of follow-ups and the right tool makes it easier to juggle all the separate conversations you’re involved in while putting together a PR event. 

The right platform will help you keep all those balls in the air until they’re lined up & signed up for your event!

PR events will be back soon—are you ready?

So there’s our refresher course on the basics of planning an in-person PR event. It’s been too long since things have functioned normally but we’re sure that everything will come back to you once we get into the swing of things. We’ve got our fingers crossed for your long-awaited return to successful live PR events!

Cover photo by Andrei Stratu

The post PR Events Will be Back Soon—Are You Ready to Plan Yours? appeared first on Prowly.