public-relations · press-platforms

Press Request Platforms — Inbound PR

Journalists posting "I need a source for X" — you respond, sometimes you get quoted, sometimes you don't. The cheapest PR play available, but only if you treat it seriously.

Contents

• The major platforms
• Daily triage workflow
• Response template
• What makes a response get selected
• What kills a response
• ROI reality check

The Major Platforms

Recommended starter set: Connectively + Qwoted + Help A B2B Writer + monitoring #JournoRequest on X.

Daily Triage Workflow

These platforms generate volume. Treat it like email triage — fast pass, deep response on the rare matches.

Step 1 — Filter (5 min)

For each digest / request feed:

• Drop everything where you don't have direct experience or data
• Drop everything from outlets your ICP doesn't read
• Drop everything with a deadline you can't meet
• Keep only requests where you can give a complete, named, on-the-record answer

Realistic conversion: 50 daily requests → 2–4 worth answering.

Step 2 — Deep response (15 min per request)

For each keeper:

• Read the request 3 times — what's the actual angle?
• Look up the journalist if possible — recent coverage, beat
• Write a custom response (see template)
• Send within their stated deadline (early > late)

Step 3 — Log

Track in a spreadsheet:

• Date
• Platform
• Journalist + outlet
• Topic
• Response sent (yes/no)
• Outcome (no response / passed / quoted / linked)

After 30 responses, you'll see which topics/platforms convert.

Response Template

Keep responses under 200 words. Journalists are scanning 50+ replies for one quote.

Hi [name],

Quick response to your request about [topic].

[Specific credential — 1 sentence. "Built X for 5 years" / "Led marketing at Y" / "Have analyzed N companies in space"]

The most important thing about [topic]: [your actual point in 2 sentences].

[A specific example, story, or data point — this is what gets quoted.]

[If applicable: a contrarian or surprising angle that differentiates from typical answers.]

Happy to expand on any of this, share data, or be quoted directly.

Feel free to use this attribution:
[Your name], [your title], [your company]

Contact for follow-up: [email + phone]

Note the structure:

1. One-sentence intro
2. One-sentence credential
3. Two-sentence answer
4. Specific example (the quotable part)
5. Optional: differentiator
6. Clear offer
7. Pre-written attribution (saves them 30 seconds)
8. Contact info

What Makes a Response Get Selected

After analyzing hundreds of quoted responses, the patterns:

Quotable specificity

Bad: "Companies should focus on customer experience."
Good: "When we A/B tested 47 onboarding flows, the version with a 30-second video at step 3 increased activation by 41%."

The good version is a quote. The bad version is filler.

Concrete credential

Bad: "As a marketing expert..."
Good: "I've run growth at three Series B SaaS companies, all in B2B sales tooling."

Specificity beats title-stacking.

Story over advice

Bad: "It's important to track the right metrics."
Good: "We almost shut down because we were optimizing for MRR when our real problem was activation. Once we switched to tracking 7-day activation, everything else followed."

Stories make articles. Advice makes filler.

Pre-formatted for their workflow

• Pre-written attribution
• Multiple quotable lines (let them pick)
• High-res headshot link (don't attach)
• One-line company description

Time match

Most quotes come from responses sent in the first 6 hours. After 24 hours, your chances drop sharply. Treat deadlines as if they're 24h earlier than stated.

What Kills a Response

• Pitching your product when they asked for expert commentary
• Generic advice that could come from any expert
• Multiple "experts" from your company responding to the same request (looks coordinated, often is)
• Hiring a PR firm to spam responses — journalists smell it
• Demanding a link back to your site — most can't promise links
• Ignoring the deadline by 1+ days
• Long bio sections before the actual answer
• Asking to "see the article before publication" — you don't get to do that
• Asking what other experts said so you can differentiate — they won't tell you

ROI Reality Check

Most teams overinvest in these platforms because they're cheap. Be honest:

A quote in a tier-1 outlet is worth:

• A backlink (DR depends on outlet)
• A sales-collateral asset ("As featured in...")
• AI-citation surface area
• Brand legitimacy in the abstract

A quote in a tier-3 outlet is worth:

• A backlink, often nofollow
• Maybe an Instagram screenshot

Decision rule: if you can sustain 5 hr/week of quality responses for 90 days, this is worth it. If you can only do 1 hr/week, skip it and invest in proactive pitching instead.

Setup Checklist

Before you start responding:

• Press page exists and is current (see main SKILL.md)
• One-line credential is written and rehearsed
• Headshot is high-res and at a public URL
• You have 3–5 specific stories / data points ready to deploy
• You've decided which 2–3 platforms to use (don't try all 7)
• You've blocked a daily 20-min window for triage
• You're logging responses in a tracker

Without these, you're spamming and wasting their time and yours.

Source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/skills/public-relations/references/press-platforms.md · v1.1.1 · MIT License (c) 2025 Corey Haines.