Press and PR is the job of turning one piece of real news into a press release, a short media list, and one pitch per outlet. It takes the Workflow shape and fits in an afternoon: about three hours from a list of facts to pitches ready in your drafts folder. This page covers the wider campaign, several outlets and the release behind them. If you want to pitch one local reporter well, start with local news with AI, which goes deep on finding that one angle. Here, the AI drafts the release, sketches the media list and writes a tailored pitch for each outlet. You verify every fact and every name, and you press send.
- Shape
- Workflow
- Sitting
- an afternoon
The shape: Workflow
It is a Workflow because the steps depend on each other and run in a fixed order. The release comes first, because it fixes the facts. The media list comes second, because you cannot tailor a pitch to an outlet you have not chosen. The pitches come last, each one built from the release and aimed at one outlet on the list.
Between each step there is a check that only you can do. You approve the release before the AI uses it as the source for anything else. You verify the media list before a single pitch gets written. Skip a check, and the error carries forward: a wrong date in the release turns up in twelve pitches, and a reporter who left the paper last year gets a personal note.
What that means for you: do it in one chat, in order, and do not let the AI jump ahead. Paste the first brief, stop, check, then paste the next. The chat keeps the approved release in view, so every later step reads from the same facts.
What you give the AI
Gather these before you open the chat. Plain sentences beat polished copy.
- The news in one sentence: what is happening and when, so "We open a second location on Elm Street on November 14" passes and "exciting things are coming" fails.
- The facts behind it: who, what, where, when, and why now, each on its own line.
- One number you can prove: years open, people employed, square footage, jobs completed, taken from your own records only.
- Your quote material: two or three sentences, in your own words, on why you are doing this, rough is fine.
- A partner's approved line, if any: only words that person wrote or signed off on, with the name and title they want used.
- Your boilerplate: the short "about the business" paragraph from your website, plus the address and the web address.
- The press contact: the name, email and phone number a reporter should use.
- Who should care: your customers, your neighborhood, your industry, and any group the news touches, such as a school or a trade association.
- Outlets you already know: the local paper, the business journal, a trade magazine, a newsletter or podcast your customers follow, each with two or three recent headlines pasted in.
- Your media kit, if you have one: bios, photos and past coverage, and if you do not have one, the media kit page walks you through it.
What comes back
Three briefs, pasted one at a time, in the same chat. Each one works in ChatGPT or Claude.
Brief 1: the release.
You are an experienced PR writer for small businesses.
Write a press release from the facts below. Rules:
- a headline under 12 words that states the news plainly
- a dateline with the city and [NEED: release date]
- the who, what, where, when and why in the first paragraph
- one paragraph of detail, using only the facts given
- one quote from the owner, built from the quote material,
in plain spoken language, no "thrilled" or "excited"
- the boilerplate, then the press contact
- under 400 words
- if a fact is missing, write [NEED: ...] instead of guessing
Then list every factual claim in the release as a checklist.
Facts: [paste your list]Read the release and the checklist. Correct anything wrong in the chat, then say "This is the approved release. Use only these facts from now on." Post the approved release on a news page on your own site now, so the pitches have a link to point to.
Brief 2: the media list.
Using the approved release, suggest 15 outlets that might cover
this news, across these groups: local news, local business press,
my industry's trade press, newsletters and podcasts my customers
follow, and community groups that publish news.
For each outlet give: the outlet name, the section or beat that
would cover this, why this news fits them, and the search the owner should
run to find the right person (for example, the outlet name plus
"new location" or the beat name).
Do not give any reporter names or email addresses.
Mark any outlet you are not sure still exists with [CHECK].
Return it as a table that pastes cleanly into a spreadsheet.
Outlets the owner already knows, with recent headlines: [paste]Take the table into a spreadsheet. Add columns for the person, their email, where you found it, the date you pitched, and the reply. Fill in the person and email yourself, then cut the list to the ten or so outlets where you found a real name.
Brief 3: the pitches.
Write one pitch email for each outlet below, from the approved
release. Rules for every pitch:
- under 150 words
- open with the news as it matters to this outlet's readers,
not a greeting paragraph
- one line that shows the pitch was written for this outlet,
using the recent headline given
- offer an interview, photos and the full release as a link:
[NEED: link to release]
- a subject line under 10 words
- use only facts from the approved release
- address it to the person named; never invent a name
Outlets, people and a recent headline from each: [paste rows]What you get back is one release of a page or less, a table of outlets with no names in it, and a set of short pitches that each read differently.
How to judge it
Read the release first, because everything else inherits from it.
A bad release reads like an ad. Words like "leading", "innovative", "premier" or "world-class" mean the AI reached for filler. Cut them, or ask for a rewrite with no adjectives a reporter could not check.
A bad release buries the news. If the first paragraph does not tell a stranger what happened, where and when, the release fails before anyone reads the quote.
A bad release invents. Look for numbers you did not give it, an award you did not win, a "first in the state" claim, or a partner quote you never received. Every [NEED: ...] marker is a good sign; it means the AI admitted a gap instead of filling it.
A bad media list is generic. If every row is a big national outlet, or the "why this fits" column says the same thing on every line, ask again with more about who your customers are. A good list has a few outlets you had not thought of and that turn out to be real when you search.
A bad media list has names in it. If the AI added reporters anyway, delete them. Find each person from a recent byline on the outlet's own site.
A bad set of pitches reads as one email with the outlet name swapped. Read two side by side. If you could trade their first lines without anyone noticing, the tailoring did not happen.
What stays with you
The facts are yours to check. Go down the claims checklist line by line against your own records before the release goes anywhere. Dates and numbers drift in drafting, and a correction after publication costs more than ten minutes now.
The names are yours to find. Read the outlet, find who covered something like your news in the last few months, and take their address from the outlet's contact page or a recent byline. An address the AI suggests is a guess, however right it looks.
The permissions are yours. Get a yes from any partner, employee or customer before they appear in a release or a pitch. Use only photos you own or have the right to share.
The send button is yours. Send pitches one at a time from your own email, to one person each. No mail merge, no long CC line, no list that the person did not ask to join.
The follow-up is yours. One short note a few days later, with something new if you have it. Then mark the row in your spreadsheet and move on.
The outcome is never yours to control. A reporter may take a different angle, run it weeks later, or pass. That is the trade with earned coverage, and it is why it carries more weight than an ad when it runs.
Where the release lives
A release needs a home before the first pitch goes out.
| Option | Who does the work | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| A news or press page on your own site | You post it | Almost always: it is the link every pitch points to |
| Attached to each pitch | You attach it | Rarely: many inboxes treat attachments with suspicion |
| A paid wire service | The service distributes it | Larger news with wide reach in mind; check price and reach on the vendor site |
For most small businesses, the first row is the answer. Post the release on your own site, link it from every pitch, and share the same news on your own channels the day it goes public. Being named on other sites also helps search and AI answers find you, which we cover in what small businesses should publish for more AI mentions.
An editorial example
This is an invented business, used only to show the method.
An example: a small family-run bike shop is opening a second location near a new trail system and starting free repair clinics for the local high school's cycling club.
Brief 1 returns a release with the opening date as a [NEED: ...] marker, because the owner had only written "November." The owner fixes the date, rewrites the quote so it sounds like the owner, and gets the club coach to approve a line before it stays in.
Brief 2 returns fifteen outlets: the city paper's business section, the regional business journal, a cycling trade newsletter, the parks department's community bulletin, two local podcasts, and a neighborhood newsletter, among others. Two turn out not to exist anymore when searched. The owner finds named people at eleven and drops the rest.
Brief 3 returns eleven pitches. The business journal's version leads with the second lease and the new jobs. The neighborhood newsletter's version leads with the clinics and the address. The owner sends them one by one over two days and logs each in the sheet. Whether any of them run is up to the outlets.
Keep the kit for next time
Save the three briefs, the spreadsheet and the approved release in one folder. The next piece of news takes half the time, because the list is already built and only needs checking. If an outlet asks for more, your media kit answers most of it, and if a win is worth applying for, see awards and applications. For more jobs you can finish today with the AI you already pay for, see the full DIY marketing list.
Of every job on this list, social media is the one that comes back every week, and Boomp is software that does that one for you. See ten posts made from your website, free
