When a client opens their coverage report, they see the result: a kitchen across a double-page spread, a project on a design website, a quote in a trend piece, a product in a round-up. What they don't see is everything that went into it. Most of PR happens out of sight, and a good chunk of it ends in a no.
I spent years on the other side of the desk, as an editor, so I know what a pitch looks like when it lands in a full inbox on deadline day. That's why we work the way we do. It's also why I think clients deserve to know what they're paying for when the report looks quiet.
The pitching
A pitch isn't a press release sent to a list. It's one idea, shaped for one title, one section and one editor. A shower tray launch might be a product story for a trade title, a design angle for a homes magazine and a practical how-to for a renovation website. Same product, three different pitches.
That means reading the magazines and the websites, knowing which editor covers what, knowing what they ran last month, and knowing what's coming up. Print plans issues months ahead. Online moves by the day, and an editor might want a quote and three images this afternoon for a piece that goes live tomorrow. That reading never shows up on an invoice, but it's the difference between a pitch that gets opened and one that gets deleted.
Digital coverage often does more work than print. It can be found through search long after a magazine has been recycled, it's easy to share, and it can send readers straight to your website. So we pitch online titles with the same care as print, not as an afterthought.
The chasing
Editors are busy, and most pitches don't get an answer first time. So we follow up. Politely, once, with something useful: a better image, a new angle, a quote that fits a piece we know they're writing. Then we wait.
There's also the chasing nobody thinks about: high-res images from a photographer, sign-off on a quote from a managing director, a price from the product team, a stockist list that's actually current. A journalist who asks for something at 4pm usually needs it by 5pm. If we can't get it to them, the slot goes to someone who can.
The no
And then, sometimes, it's a no. The feature has been dropped. The editor loved the project but already has a kitchen in that issue, or ran one on the site last week. The round-up went live with a competitor's product because their images arrived first.
A no isn't wasted work. A good editor remembers who sent them something worth considering, who didn't waste their time and who was easy to work with. That relationship is what turns the next pitch into a yes.
Why it still counts
Coverage reports measure what landed. They don't measure the editor who now knows your brand, the stories we held back because the timing was wrong, or the piece that's lined up for spring. That's the work that makes the next yes possible.
So when a month looks quiet, it usually isn't. It's the part of PR you can't see yet.
If you'd like to know what that work could look like for your brand, start a conversation.