When doing a press release makes sense (and when it doesn’t)

Press releases sometimes feel like relics from a simpler, more innocent time. Much like fax machines, most people are aware they continue to exist. What’s less clear: who actually uses these things in 2025? And for what purpose?

The answer(s) might come as a surprise. Because unlike fax machines, press releases continue to be a useful tool for organizations of many sizes and sectors. 

For publicly listed companies, for example, regular press releases are (literally) mandated by law. And their subject matter is often (figuratively) unreadable, as if they were written for the express purpose of making you lose interest in seeing that company’s name ever again. 

Those are not the kind of press releases we’re talking about here. 

This guide is aimed at the types of organizations PSE typically works with: small-to-midsize nonprofits, startups, and creative businesses. If you’re reading this newsletter, that probably describes you. (And if not, thanks for opening anyway! There are some interesting/funny/useful links if you keep scrolling down!)

A press release doesn’t make sense if…

Obviously, “CEO Is Good-Looking, Smart; Plans to Have Sandwich for Lunch” isn’t newsworthy under any circumstances. Our advice is meant to help with more borderline-type cases.

• You have zero budget

  • In our experience, there’s no such thing as a good free press release service. Sometimes local media will run a release with no charge, which is nice if you’re only trying to reach local audiences. Otherwise, expect to pay around $300-$500 to get meaningful reach and pickup. 

• You’re trying to stir up user engagement

  • The average goods-and-services enjoyer simply does not read press releases. You might have better luck if your subject matter is B2B—and you’ve targeted the geographic and professional circuits wisely—but don’t expect your inbox to be filled with feedback after publication. 

• You want to impress journalists with what you’re doing

  • The point above applies double to journalists, who sift through hundreds of press releases per day. In the event they do notice yours, they’re (almost certainly) not going to take your release at face value and rush off to write a glowing story about you.  

However, a press release does make sense if…

Just get to the good part!

• Your goal is to inform journalists of what you’re doing

  • Journalists do notice who’s making press releases—and if the subject matter is appealing, some might even be inspired to get in touch. A press release is very much a “tippy-top of the funnel” tool, but that can be valuable in the right circumstances.

• You want to boost your SEO rankings

  • This is one of the most underappreciated benefits of press releases, especially when done through a large and reputable service. Craft your headline well (i.e. put your company’s name first, and any other primary keywords immediately after) and you can start seeing results overnight. 

• You have a long-term plan to shift perception of your organization

  • Even when the immediate payoff is less visible, doing regular press releases can be a valuable part of a larger strategy to bury old, bad stories or uplift new, good ones. Volume matters, and the more webpages that say “Your Organization Does Nice Thing” the more persuasive your message, in the eyes of the casual observer.

As mentioned above, the impact of your press release depends in large part on the quality of the service that publishes them. There’s no shortage of free services like PRLog and OpenPR, or established ones like Cision and Newswire. 

We’ve seen the best results from BusinessWire, though since we don’t get anything from recommending them, we encourage you to follow your heart.

Oh, and one more thing…

Because the last word is rarely the end of the conversation.

• If you’ve grown tired of proving you’re not a robot to every web-page on Al Gore’s internet, this one’s for you.

• A recent poll from the Pew Research Center found that 53% of US adults are “much more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.”

• In related news, here are personal stories of how the metastasis of AI has affected graphic designers, visual artists, and almost everyone in the make-things-look-nice sector.

Pebbles of the month

Much like penguins, we enjoy bringing you little gifts to show we care:

Move over, penguins! Orcas are bringing gifts of food to scientists… though nobody’s sure why. 

The Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis is hiring a Director of Marketing and Communications: $95,000-$100,00 per year, fully remote, lots of benefits (including 401k with employer contribution).

As streaming services get shittier and more expensive, could the future of movies be… IMAX? (That’s probably too glib, but it points to interesting trends in our collective experience of culture).

Books are still good

Here’s what one of us is currently reading:

A History of the Arab Peoples - Albert Hourani

“One of the reasons for the flowering of Andalus may have been the mixture of peoples, languages, and cultures. At least five languages were used there. Two were colloquial, the distinctive Andalusian Arabic and the Romance dialect which was later to develop into Spanish; both of these were used in varying degrees by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. There were also three written languages: classical Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew.”

We’ve written before about our fondness for books that span centuries and continents, weaving epic narrative tapestries that help explain why our world is the way it is today (bonus points if the topic tends to be dimly understood in the popular Western imagination; extra bonus points if the book is illustrated with beautiful photos). A History of the Arab Peoples is a prime example of this genre.

Hourani’s book covers a staggering variety of cultures, countries, and ideas—almost none of which are familiar to most readers in the United States. That’s part of the book’s appeal. While its format puts the history-enthusiast at ease (it’s a perfect “read half a chapter per night for two months” kind of book), the content itself is intellectually invigorating. You’ll always get a jolt of excitement picking it up again, regardless of how many times you’ve put it down.

That’s because A History of the Arab Peoples explains so much about a topic that is both relevant and unfamiliar to Westerners. If you’ve ever visited the south of Spain and marveled at the Alhambra of Granada, or been puzzled by a news article’s reference to the Sunni-Shia split, or wondered why the name “Ibn Battuta” is often linked to Marco Polo, this book will surprise and delight you.

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