The press release has always been a self-serving genre where the process matters far more than the result. You have dozens of sign-offs across the client’s organization, the agency has its own internal ladder to climb, and legal is an entirely different headache.
Why does the press release sit at the very top of the corporate food chain? Because it’s a tangible, completed task. Once your department drafts a release and gets it signed off, you can already log it under your KPIs.
Whether it actually gets picked up no longer matters. When you show up to the executive meeting and they ask, “What have you done this quarter?”, you simply say: “We drafted the press release and distributed it.” Just like that, the internal KPI is checked off- and the agency’s nightmare begins.
It’s an industry-wide pain point. Here is how to fix it:
1. Manage Expectations Early
When that many people have a hand in drafting a single piece of paper, expectations go through the roof. Early-stage founders start daydreaming about Bloomberg or the WSJ - to say nothing of large corporates.
The second the release is finally cleared after days of redlining, the heat turns squarely on the agency: Why isn’t it out? Where are the pickups? Who dropped the ball? Why is the reporter ghosting us?
In the scramble to lock down a retainer, agencies promise front-page ink while clients burn money on useless media training. In the end, the release drops and nobody cares. PR people need to stop being timid and stop lying about a minor banking feature capturing the attention of Tier-1 financial desks.
Be blunt from day one: “You aren’t JPMorgan. Nobody cares. Nobody is reading this release; the best you can hope for is niche trade press, and even then, probably only if you buy a sponsored package.”
Tell the truth early, because sugarcoating and unhinged promises always blow up when the client starts asking hard questions. The exact same rule applies in-house. Instead of honesty, the industry defaults to self-deception.
2. Stop Being a Yes-Man and Tell the Client the Truth
I understand colleagues who tell prospective clients, “Of course we have the contacts, and your news will land in a top-tier outlet.” They do it to kick off the relationship on a positive note. But what’s the point if the story has no legs? The lie eventually unravels, and instead of providing strategic advisory, the PR professional gets reduced to a simple yes-man.
That gives the client all the leverage to manipulate the dynamic, demanding to know where all those promised placements went and why nothing is getting published. It quickly becomes a crushing psychological burden for the practitioner. I’ve been there myself; I used to make those promises, and I stopped. What matters first is building a relationship of trust with the client, not indulging in the corporate theater of chasing the “perfect press release.”
LinkedIn is drowning in tens of thousands of performative posts about “how to build rapport with a reporter” just to land a piece that had zero news value to begin with. People unironically brag that this takes them months. What’s there to brag about, when you could have simply told the client upfront that the pitch has no legs?
Now there’s an entire micro-genre on “how to dial a reporter”. What are you even doing in PR if picking up the phone and punching in ten digits feels like an existential hurdle? If you have no exclusive, if your draft is pure internal corporate trivia, and if you read it yourself and realize no one gives a damn - why hit send?
3. The Forgotten Playbook: Value and Access
Meanwhile, the actual solution is embarrassingly simple: cultivate real relationships with journalists instead of obsessing over open rates and sending emails at 9:00 AM sharp.
Newspaper columns aren’t built purely on world-shaking exclusives; they rely on daily filler, context, and secondary quotes. Your announcement doesn’t need a standalone headline - getting named or quoted in a broader sector story is often cleaner, easier, and carries far more credibility.
Nobody is going to run outright garbage, and you shouldn’t pitch it. But if you regularly feed a reporter solid, exclusive industry color, they’ll actually take your call when you have a borderline story down the road. You don’t even need your client’s news for this: offer them unvarnished sector color, an off-the-record take on an M&A deal, or introduce an expert who can explain why a competitor’s margins just collapsed.
The takeaway is straightforward: stop wasting days agonizing over the release - no offense to the legal team. AI can draft the release in thirty seconds. Spend that time building actual access and commercial relationships instead.
That takes actual skill, but more on that next time.
If you’re done with corporate theater and want the actual playbook on how to work with financial desks, subscribe below. Next week, we’re breaking down what reporters actually want to hear when you pick up the phone.
The obligatory fine print: This analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Do your own due diligence before signing anything.