Marketing SkillsView repo

Marketing Skill

Public Relations

A working system for earning media coverage — newsjacking, journalist pitching, responding to press requests, and setting up an owned press page — that treats reporters like people, not targets. Point your agent at it when you have a real story and want it in front of the right journalists fast.

Maintained by Corey Hainesv1.0.0Updated 2026-06-104 references
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

Installs the full library — Public Relations included

MarkdownView source

You get press by pitching journalists like you'd pitch a customer: specific, useful, fast, and never about you. The story is the trend, data, conflict, or human — your product is just the evidence. Run at least three of the four PR modes: reactive newsjacking (inject your POV into trending news, hours to days), proactive pitching (build a list of 20-40 journalists who actually cover your beat and pitch original stories over 4-8 weeks), inbound (answer HARO/Qwoted queries), and owned (a press page reporters can self-serve). Every pitch clears a quality bar: right beat, clear news hook, under 150 words, a specific ask, and none of the words "revolutionary," "game-changing," or "disruptive."

What's inside

The playbook covers

Before StartingCore PhilosophyThe PR MixOwned: Press Page + Media KitQuick Reference: Pitch Quality BarMeasurementCommon Workflows

Reference library — 4 deep-dives

Journalist Pitching — Proactive PR WorkflowBuilding a media list, scoring journalist fit, and crafting pitches that actually get opened. This is a 4–8 week practice, not a one-shot.Media Outlets — Where to PitchA curated, opinionated list of *where* to pitch for software/SaaS PR. This is the media-outlet slice of resources like submit.co — the journalist-driven half. For startup/SaaS/AI directories (Product Hunt, BetaList, Futurepedia, etc.), use the separate `directory-submissions` skill — different intent, different audience.Newsjacking — Reactive PR WorkflowInjecting your POV into a story that's already trending. Done well: free distribution off a wave of attention. Done badly: cringe at best, brand damage at worst.Press Request Platforms — Inbound PRJournalists 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.

Key data

The recommendations are grounded in benchmarks, not opinion:

[ ] Read their last 5 articles — are they covering your beat right now?
Journalists who haven't posted in 6+ months** — they may have left
Tier 1 (8–10):** Personal pitch with original angle. Custom each time.
Tier 2 (5–7):** Standard pitch, lightly customized.
Tier 3 (below 5):** Skip or pitch only when story is exceptional.
Under 50 characters** — mobile preview cuts off

FAQ

How do I get a journalist to actually open my pitch?

Pitch someone who covers your exact beat (check their last 5 articles), lead with a real news hook, and make the subject line specific enough to predict the headline. Keep it under 150 words, include everything they'd need to write the story — data, quote, customer name, contact — and make one clear ask. If they couldn't write a complete piece from your email alone, it's not ready.

What is newsjacking and when should I avoid it?

Newsjacking is injecting your point of view into a story that's already trending for free distribution off the attention wave. Skip it entirely for tragedies, accidents, or deaths; skip politically charged stories unless your brand takes political stances; and skip any story more than ~48 hours old where you weren't first. If your only angle is "we have a product for this," that's marketing, not a story.

Does PR drive direct sales?

Not directly — a TechCrunch hit won't hand you 1,000 paying customers. PR is a multiplier for distribution, not a substitute: it earns backlinks, brand legitimacy, AI-citation surface area, and ammunition for sales conversations. Measure it by coverage referenced in sales calls and AI-citation rate, not by advertising value equivalency (a vanity metric).

Build a tool for this workflow?

Marketers run this skill mid-task — the exact moment your tool matters. Partner tiers put your tool inside the skill their agent runs.

See partner tiers