Press Releases are Ruining Your Media Relations Strategy
- Houston Holmes
- Aug 31
- 4 min read
Historians theorize that the first writing by humans was a press release. It began something like “Mesopotamia, the global leader in developing Sumerian cuneiform…” and ended with a quote from their CEO about how CTaaS (Clay Tablets as a Service) would be the future of human communication.
It was ignored by the media and collected dust in Mesopotamia’s newsroom, where it remains today.
This is a tough lesson to learn, and it’s one that businesses are still learning in 2025. The first thing you’ll hear in almost any comms strategy meeting is the obligatory “well, we need a press release.” And, yes, you probably do need one. But it’s time to face the truth: this format will not drive the direct media coverage you’re looking for.
The humble press release is not useless—far from it. But building one with media coverage as the primary goal is a mistake, and can even damage your outcomes in much more valuable use cases.
Overused & Misused
Even a good press release will rarely ever land media coverage on its own—and “good” doesn’t just mean “approved internally.” Many businesses continue to treat their newsroom as a blog, publishing releases and BCC blasting journalists for every minor product change and company update. These releases won’t ever get picked up, and any better ones will quickly be lost in the noise.
I’ve spent the past few years at Trend Micro driving our media relations strategy. The first thing we did was overhaul our press release process to bring quantity down and quality up. This meant reexamining our messaging priorities and working to determine objectives for every release beyond simply earning coverage.
Today, despite doing less, we’ve seen a consistent increase in media coverage in key industry publications as well as the national outlets that everyone wants to land in. This is largely the result of our team now being able to focus more on high-quality message development and pitching. (And no, we don’t pitch press releases.)
Forget About Pitching
If your initial pitch to a journalist includes a press release, you’ve wasted your time and theirs. Journalists can receive hundreds of pitches per week, and the majority are long-winded and unhelpful. The golden rules of pitching have been said a thousand times, and they’re still true: understand who you’re pitching, tailor your message personally, and keep it short! Doing any of these with a press release is impossible.
So, who or what is a press release actually for? Plenty:
Investors & Stakeholders: Know your audience! These are the people who actually WANT to read your press releases. Keeping investors and business partners informed about important developments is a critical function.
Content Marketing: A strong press release can be a gold mine for content, so don’t be shy. Repurpose the best pieces into blog posts, newsletters, and social media content wherever possible.
Crisis Communication: Every rule has exceptions, and this is one. Journalists reporting on a crisis are looking for any available information and will likely publish your message in full. Take the opportunity to communicate clearly, effectively, and with compassion.
SEO: Press releases are an underrated tool for sales enablement. Use them to optimize search engine rankings, gain share of voice, and establish authority.
Brand Positioning: A lot has changed, but not everything. Press releases remain an easy way to announce awards, organizational changes, industry insights, partnerships, and events.
Don’t forget the potential internal communications benefits, either. When launching a product, announcing a major change, publishing earnings, or sharing any other major news, having a go-to source for messaging is invaluable.
Rethinking Press Release Content
Your goal is no longer just to drive media coverage, so don’t build with only that in mind. When drafting your next release, decide what your objective is and then consider how the content needs to be tailored to achieve it. Who are you talking to? Why do they care? What is your value proposition? Are you the first or the best at something? What differentiates you? Make sure that your messaging is aligned with your overall communications strategy, otherwise it will have no legs to stand on.
Stay clear, concise, and engaging. A press release longer than one page can likely be trimmed. Longer than two pages? That’s a whitepaper, and you’re in the wrong place.
“I Just Really Love Press Releases. Am I Doomed?”
All is not lost, reader. A journalist who is interested in your (good, strong, organic) pitch will often be interested in the context and information that your press release can provide. Just don’t lead with it.
Once you’ve secured interest, you now have the opportunity to share your masterpiece: a strong, engaging, informative document. Its messaging is found throughout your content marketing, it’s boosting your SEO, your internal comms team is sharing it to keep everyone updated, it’s leaving a helpful paper trail for salespeople—and sure, your favorite journalist can take a peek, too.
