What is Media Outreach? Definitions, Benefits & Best Practices

Every public relations professional knows the importance of media outreach. Get it right, and it can unlock fruitful relationships with reporters, boost brand awareness, and establish long-term credibility in your industry.

According to the 2025 Comms Report, media outreach and influencer management ranks as the third highest priority for communications leaders this year, with 37% of PR professionals placing it among their top strategic focuses.

But what is media outreach? Why does it matter so much to your brand's success? And what does effective media outreach look like in today's digital-first world? Let’s dig into the fundamentals and find out how it can help move the needle for your organization.

What is Media Outreach?

A core function of PR, media outreach is about using any aspect of the media to secure earned media coverage for your brand or client. This largely comes from working with journalists, media outlets, and influencers, with the goal of getting them to cover your desired story.

Media outreach and media relations are closely connected; however, outreach is more proactive and campaign-focused, involving strategic work to generate coverage around specific announcements, launches, or events, whereas relations looks at the ongoing cultivation of journalist relationships over time.

In addition, and unlike advertising (or paid-for advertorial content that resembles editorial), media outreach relies on a compelling story, a newsworthy hook, and/or journalist and influencer relationships to generate press coverage.

Good media outreach means connecting the right stories with the right storytellers at the right time. This not only requires PR pros to have deep knowledge of the industry they operate in, but also the ability to craft pitches and press releases the resonate with journalists and their audiences.

Different Types of Media Outreach

There are multiple approaches you can take with media outreach. Each of the below are related to different PR goals, circumstance, and desired outcomes:

• Proactive media outreach: This involves initiating contact with journalists or influencers to pitch stories, announce news, or position your brand spokespeople as industry authorities. It could also include pitching news or trending stories, or suggesting thought leadership content in line with a reporter’s audience.
• Reactive media outreach: This is when PR teams respond to journalist inquiries about news events, trending topics, conferences, or similar. When reporters seek expert commentary or industry perspectives, reactive outreach can position your brand as a valuable knowledge hub – and ensure you’re part of the media conversation.
• Relationship-building outreach: A focus on nurturing long-term relationships with media professionals. Even if you’re not actively pitching a story or have no “angle” to pursue, sharing insights, providing information, and consistent communication can help foster bonds with reporters.

Why is Media Outreach Important?

Media outreach isn’t just a “nice-to-have" aspect of PR, it’s a critical tactic in driving brand success. If you’re not doing media outreach, are you really doing PR at all?

Here are five reasons why it matters:

1. Strengthens Journalist Relationships

Having a good relationship with a journalist can make it easier to secure earned media placements. Of course, this bond can’t be conjured up overnight, but it’s worth knowing that 85% of journalists say an email introduction is the best way to go about connecting with them.

2. Enhances Brand Awareness

Media outreach can lead to your brand finding audiences you might never have found through paid channels alone. When your story appears in credible publications, that means more visibility among potential customers, investors, and your industry peers and competitors.

3. Builds Trust & Credibility

Earned media carries more weight than paid advertisements because it comes from an independent, third-party source. According to the 2025 State of the Media Report, 40% of journalists cite maintaining credibility as one of their top professional challenges, which means when they choose to cover your story, they're doing so with their reputation at stake.

4. Shapes Public Perception

Rather than letting others define your story, proactive media outreach allows you to frame your news exactly how you want, highlight your strengths over competitors, and link your brand to trending industry conversations.

5. Cost-Effective Marketing

Effective media outreach certainly requires a big investment in terms of time and effort, but a successful PR campaign can yield significant results without the large monetary costs associated with traditional advertising.

What are Examples of Media Outreach?

Any successful PR campaign requires a media outreach strategy with multiple approaches. Let’s explore some of the different ways PR teams can connect with and engage the media.

• Pitching story ideas: Bringing your ideas to journalists remains the cornerstone of media outreach. But customization is key. According to the 2025 State of the Media Report, pitching a new, relevant story idea is one of the best ways to start building that connection. Further, most journalists will automatically write off a pitch that has no relation to what they cover – and the PR person behind it. The lesson: Do your homework on journalists before you reach out. Even if the story isn’t picked up, they’ll appreciate the gesture and remember you next time you reach out.
• Distributing press releases: The tried and tested press release continues to be a key component of the PR toolkit. Despite the speed of change across the media, press releases are still cited by journalists as the most useful resource PR teams can provide. Moreover, the emergence of AI-driven search has led to press releases becoming even more valuable when it comes to brand discovery.
• Inviting media to events: This creates an opportunity for journalists to experience your brand or product firsthand. Whether it's a launch, industry conference, exclusive briefing, or media tour, events provide face-to-face interactions that can strengthen relationships and generate earned media coverage.
• Offering expert commentary: Knowledgeable spokespeople within your organization can be positioned as thought leaders and industry authorities. They can help by responding to queries, providing quotes for stories in development, participating in podcast or webinar interviews, and contributing to owned articles.
• Engaging on social media: An essential part of modern media outreach, this includes following reporters who cover your industry (hint: LinkedIn is the preferred social media platform among journalists, but Bluesky is quickly gaining momentum) and thoughtfully engaging with their content. These efforts can spark conversations and build rapport that ultimately lead to authentic connections. However, be wary of sliding into a journalist’s DMs: Most journalists still prefer email for pitches, and many say they will even block PR pros who message them with a cold pitch via social media.

Developing an Effective Media Outreach Strategy

A successful media outreach strategy requires clear goal-setting, a strong core message, and good content to take flight. Here are six things to think about: 

1. Define Your Goals

First, establish exactly what you want to achieve. Whether it’s launching a new product or managing a reputation issues, your goals will shape each aspect of your media outreach strategy, from the publications you target to the stories you pitch.

2. Target Your Audience

Who are you trying to reach through media coverage? What publications and journalists do they trust? By thinking about your audience first, you’ll be able to better align with broader business goals, pinpoint the outlets you want to target, and target the right journalists for your outreach. Speaking of... 

3. Identify Relevant Journalists

Creating a targeted media list is key to effective outreach – but it’s only a first step. Spend time understanding the journalists who cover your sector, their recent work, and the outlets they work for. This intel can help you craft more personalized pitches that won’t go unnoticed. The 2025 State of the Media Report found that 86% of reporters will reject a pitch if it isn’t relevant to their audience or beat, so thorough research is essential.

4. Craft Your Core Messages

State of the Media data also tells us that 49% of journalists want a unique story angle that hasn't been covered extensively. What does that mean for PR? A clear, compelling narrative that sets itself apart from the crowd. What makes your story newsworthy? And what unique angles or insights can you provide?

5. Anticipate Journalists’ Needs

Journalists are incredibly busy – the easier you make it for them to cover your story and work with you, the more likely they will. Proactively providing high-quality content assets up front – such as press releases, media kits, expert quotes, high-resolution images,  data or any other resources that add credibility and context to their story – will go a long way in earning trust, providing value, and setting the groundwork for a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership.

6. Understand Measurement

How will you measure success? Is it through earned media placements, share of voice, website traffic, sentiment analysis, or a combination of several metrics? This will help you refine your media outreach strategy over time and demonstrate ROI to stakeholders.

Best Practices of Effective Media Outreach

Good media outreach isn’t just about what you say, it’s who you say it to, how you say it, and the environment in which you convey the message. Here are some best practices for effective media comms:

• Personalize every pitch: Every pitch you send should be tailored to the individual reporter and their specific audience. Generic, mass-blast pitches are a thing of the past and the quickest way to damage your credibility with media contacts.
• Keep your message concise: Journalists are inundated with pitches every day. Keep your subject line clear and compelling, and your introduction should immediately convey what's newsworthy and why it matters to their audience.
• Time your outreach: Understanding journalist deadlines and workflows is crucial. Email remains the preferred communication channel, but timing matters. Consider the journalist's publication schedule, whether they’re print, digital, or broadcast, and the required lead times of each.
• Don't be transactional: Effective media outreach is built on genuine, long-term relationships. Engage with journalists even when you're not actively pitching, share their work when it's valuable, and provide background information that helps them better understand your brand and any audiences you may share.
• Make good on promises: Always be truthful about what you can and can’t deliver. If you promise to provide additional information or arrange an interview, supply it promptly to give the reporter time to hit their deadline. Remember that trust remains the foundation of any successful PR-journalist relationship.

For more on what good media outreach looks like, according to more than 3,000 journalists we surveyed, download The Complete Guide to PR Pitching.

Media Outreach: Final Thoughts

The way the media (and public relations) operates will continue to shift, but the fundamentals of good outreach remain the same: relevance, authenticity, and mutual value that builds trust. Relationship-building can be backed up by data-driven insights from PR tools like CisionOne, allowing you to create more effective, customized outreach that resonates with journalists and their audiences.

Find out how CisionOne can help your PR team’s media outreach. Speak to an expert today.