sales-media-relations

What this skill does

# Media Relations & PR Outreach Strategy

Helps the user plan and execute media relations programs — from choosing the right tool and building journalist lists through pitch writing, outreach, coverage tracking, and PR measurement.

## Step 1 — Gather context


If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. **What do you need help with?**
   - A) Choosing a media relations / journalist database tool
   - B) Building a media list for a specific campaign
   - C) Writing a PR pitch or press release
   - D) Planning a press outreach sequence (timing, follow-ups, embargoes)
   - E) Tracking and reporting on press coverage
   - F) Measuring earned media and PR ROI
   - G) Something else — describe it

2. **What's the context?**
   - A) Product launch / announcement
   - B) Fundraising / funding news
   - C) Ongoing thought leadership / expert positioning
   - D) Crisis communications
   - E) Event / conference promotion
   - F) Industry research / data report
   - G) Other — describe it

3. **Current setup?**
   - A) No PR tools or processes in place
   - B) Manual outreach (Gmail, personal contacts)
   - C) Using a tool — which one?
   - D) Working with a PR agency
   - E) Evaluating tools / building an in-house PR function

4. **Budget range?**
   - A) Free / bootstrapped
   - B) SMB ($100-500/mo)
   - C) Mid-market ($500-2,000/mo)
   - D) Enterprise ($2,000+/mo)

**If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step.** Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.

## Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to a specialized skill, route:
- Meltwater platform setup/config → `/sales-meltwater`
- Influencer outreach (not journalist) → `/sales-influencer-marketing`
- Cold sales email outreach → `/sales-outreach` or `/sales-cadence`
- Social listening / brand monitoring → `/sales-social-listening`
- Email deliverability for outreach → `/sales-deliverability`

Otherwise, answer directly from the strategy knowledge below.

## Step 3 — Media relations strategy reference

**Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for detailed module documentation, pricing, integrations, and data model.

*You no longer need the platform guide details — focus on the user's specific situation.*

## Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Based on the user's specific question:

1. **Tool selection** — recommend the best platform for their budget, team size, and use case
2. **Media list** — build a targeted journalist list for their campaign
3. **Pitch writing** — draft personalized pitches with strong subject lines
4. **Outreach plan** — design a sequence with timing, follow-ups, and escalation
5. **Measurement** — set up coverage tracking and reporting

## Gotchas

*Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about pricing and capabilities that may change.*

- **Journalist databases go stale fast.** Journalists change beats, publications, and contact info constantly. Even "verified" databases have 5-15% stale contacts at any given time. Always verify before pitching.
- **Response rates are low.** Expect 5-15% response rates on cold pitches. Build your list at 5-10x your target coverage count. Personalization is the single biggest factor in response rates.
- **Enterprise tools require annual contracts.** Meltwater (~$6K/yr), Cision (~$7K/yr), and Muck Rack (~$5K/yr) all require annual commitments. No monthly options. Negotiate before signing.
- **69% of PR pros now use AI for pitching.** AI-generated pitches are common, and journalists can tell. Use AI for research and draft structure, but personalize the actual pitch yourself. Mass-generated pitches get ignored.
- **"PR tool" ≠ "social listening tool."** Meltwater combines both, but most PR tools (Cision, Muck Rack, Prowly) focus on journalist outreach and coverage tracking, not social listening. If you need both, evaluate them separately.
- **Source requests (HARO-style) are changing.** Connectively (formerly HARO) is the main platform where journalists request sources. Response competition is fierce — speed and relevance are everything.

- **Self-improving**: If you discover something not covered here, append it to `references/learnings.md` with today's date.

## Before recommending a specific platform skill

This skill covers a strategy domain across many platforms. **Before pointing the user to any specific platform skill** (any `/sales-{platform}` listed in `## Related skills`, e.g., `/sales-mailshake`, `/sales-klaviyo`, `/sales-apollo`), read that platform skill's actual `SKILL.md` first. The 1-line description in `## Related skills` is enough to *identify* a candidate — it's not enough to *commit* to it or to write a prompt that invokes it well.

**How to read it:**
- If `~/.claude/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` exists locally, `Read` it.
- For `sales-*` skills, `WebFetch` directly from this repo: `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` — e.g., for `sales-mailshake`: `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/sales-mailshake/SKILL.md`.
- For non-`sales-*` skills (third-party), look up `{org}/{repo}` in `~/.claude/skills/sales-do/references/skill-sources.md` if installed and fetch the same `skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` path under that repo.

**After reading,** ground your recommendation in something concrete from the SKILL.md (its scope, a sub-flow, its `argument-hint` shape, or a "Do NOT use for..." negative trigger). Align any generated invocation with the platform skill's `argument-hint`. If the platform skill turns out not to fit the user's situation, swap to another or handle the question here directly rather than recommending a poor fit.

## Related skills

- `/sales-meltwater` — Meltwater platform help — monitoring, media relations, influencer marketing, API
- `/sales-social-listening` — Cross-platform social listening and brand monitoring strategy
- `/sales-influencer-marketing` — Influencer marketing strategy (creator outreach is different from journalist outreach)
- `/sales-cadence` — Outbound sequence design (adaptable to PR outreach cadences)
- `/sales-cloutboost` — Cloutboost platform help — gaming PR, influencer discovery, campaign management
- `/sales-gaming-marketing` — Gaming influencer marketing strategy — streamer partnerships, game launch campaigns
- `/sales-do` — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do`

## Examples

### Example 1: Choose a PR tool
**User says**: "I'm starting an in-house PR function at a Series A startup. Budget is tight — maybe $300/mo. Which journalist database should I use?"
**Skill does**:
1. Evaluates budget against platform pricing
2. Recommends Prowly ($259/mo) as the best balance of database quality and affordability
3. Notes BuzzStream ($24/mo) as an outreach CRM if they already have contact lists
4. Suggests manual research + free tools (LinkedIn, publication mastheads) to supplement
**Result**: Clear tool recommendation with fallback options for tight budgets

### Example 2: Write a product launch pitch
**User says**: "I need to pitch TechCrunch about our new AI product that launches next month"
**Skill does**:
1. Identifies relevant TechCrunch reporters by beat (AI, startups, enterprise)
2. Researches their recent coverage for personalization hooks
3. Drafts a pitch with specific subject line, personalized opening, and news hook
4. Designs outreach timing (exclusive offer → broader pitch → follow-ups)
**Result**: Ready-to-send pitch with outreach plan

### Example 3: Measure PR campaign results
**User says**: "We got coverage from our launch last month — how do I measure if the PR campaign was worth it?"
**Skill does**:
1. Identifies available metrics based on their tools and track