Getting Seen in Media: A Simple Guide to Press Releases That Actually Work
Key Takeaways
A press release earns attention in the first few seconds, or it doesn't earn it at all.
Plain words beat fancy words. Say what happened, why it matters, and what you want the reader to do next.
One honest quote and one real number build more trust than a page of claims.
Sharing your news in more than one place — your site, social media, a distribution service — puts it in front of more of the right people.
People now ask AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity who to hire before they ever open Google. Writing your release to answer a real question helps you show up there too.
You have real news. Maybe you launched a new program, hit a milestone, or landed a feature that proves your work matters. And still, most of the people who should know about it never will, because the release explaining it reads like a legal notice instead of a story worth sharing.
That gap is fixable. Here's how to close it.
Start With a Headline That Actually Says Something
Your headline is the whole pitch in one line. If it's vague, busy people scroll past it. If it's specific, they stop.
Skip the clever wordplay. Say what happened, plainly: who did what, and why it matters. A short subhead underneath can add one more useful detail, like a number or a name.
Write Like You're Explaining It to a Friend
Once someone stops to read, don't lose them with jargon or long windups. Put your biggest, most important fact in the first two sentences. Save the background for later, or cut it.
Short paragraphs. Short sentences. One idea per paragraph. If a sentence needs a second read to make sense, rewrite it.
Add One Quote, One Number, Zero Fluff
A short quote from you, a client, or a partner makes the release feel human instead of like an ad. Keep it real. Don't write a quote that sounds like nobody actually said it out loud.
If you have a real number that backs up your news, use it. If you don't have one you can stand behind, leave it out. A made-up statistic will cost you more trust than it earns.
Tell Them What to Do Next
Every release needs one clear next step: visit your site, book a call, register for the event. Just one. Put it near the end, once the reader already understands why it matters.
Put It Where People Will Actually See It
Writing the release is half the job. Getting it seen is the other half.
Share it yourself. Post it on the social platforms where your ideal clients already spend time, whether that's LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or X (the platform many people still call Twitter). Tailor the post to fit each one instead of copying and pasting the same thing everywhere.
Team up with a partner. Look for another business that talks to the same audience you do, and ask if they'll share your news too. A guest post, a joint social push, or a shared event gets your name in front of people who trust that partner already. That trust carries over to you.
Help AI Tools Find You Too
Here's the part that's changed the most in the last couple of years: your next client might not search Google first. They might ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or a similar AI tool who they should hire, and expect a straight answer.
Those tools build their answers from real, trusted sources on the open web, and press releases that get picked up by legitimate news sites are exactly the kind of source they pull from. This is a newer, still-developing trend, but the direction is clear: showing up in an AI answer works a lot like showing up in a Google search. It rewards the same things — a clear headline, the real news stated plainly up top, and distribution through outlets people already trust.
The good news is you don't need to learn a new skill for this. Write your release the way this guide already describes: real news, stated clearly, in the first couple of sentences, distributed through a real outlet. That's the same recipe that helps a person find you and helps an AI tool find you.
One more thing worth doing, if you have the time: type the exact question your ideal client might ask ("who's a good business coach for new moms," for example) into Google or an AI tool and see what comes up. That tells you, in plain terms, what kind of content is already winning that spot, and gives you a real target to write toward.
How to Tell If It Worked
You don't need fancy software to measure this. Watch for:
More visits to your site right after the release goes out.
More likes, shares, and comments on the social posts you built around it.
More people mentioning it to you directly, or picking it up on their own site.
More inquiries from people who say they found you through it.
If you have Google Analytics or a similar tool already set up, it'll show you the visit spike. If you don't, just ask new leads how they found you for a few weeks. You'll hear the pattern.
Learn From What Happens, Then Do It Again
After the release goes out, pay attention to what people say about it. If more than one person tells you the message wasn't clear, that's useful information, not criticism. Use it to sharpen the next one.
If you're reporting results to a business partner or team, keep it simple: what happened, what it led to, and what you'd do differently. A summary earns more trust than a pile of numbers nobody asked for.
Common Questions
How often should I send a press release? Whenever you have real news: a launch, a milestone, a partnership worth telling people about, or a product or service people should know about. Sending one just to stay visible, with nothing new to say, tends to backfire. Quality over frequency.
How do I find the right journalist to contact? Look up who already covers your industry and read a few of their recent pieces first. Reach out with something short and specific: who you are, what the news is, and why their readers would care. Mention their own work if it's genuinely relevant. Real relationships, built over time, beat a one-time cold pitch.
But is all
Can a press release really help my reputation? Yes, when it's honest and well-placed. Getting picked up by a real outlet signals that your work is worth covering, and that kind of trust builds slowly, release by release.
You don't have to figure this out alone. If writing (and actually getting seen for) your next press release feels like one more thing on a list that's already too long, that's exactly where we come in. Book a free Authority Visibility Audit, and we'll show you where you're already showing up, where you're invisible, and what a realistic next step looks like.
Book Your Authority Visibility Audit →
Michele Dobros is the founder of Visibility Edge, helping coaches, consultants, and experts become more discoverable across Google, AI search, and social platforms.
