What is media relations and press coverage?
Media relations is the work of identifying relevant journalists, offering them verifiable stories, supporting interviews, and tracking the coverage independent editors choose to publish. You do not pay an outlet for earned coverage. PressFriendly activity records count 7,000+ targeted pitches a year to 2,500+ reporters across the agency. Those figures describe activity, not a placement promise for one client. Use named target outlets, an outreach cadence, replies, and published links to evaluate the program.
What you are actually buying is judgment: which reporters cover your space, what each considers news, and which of your moments qualify. Reporters sort every pitch into a small set of story types, and a pitch that fits none of them dies unread, however good the product is.
| Story type | What makes it land |
|---|---|
| Funding round | The size, investors, company evidence, and market context determine relevance |
| Product launch or major update | The most reliable path for a startup |
| Metrics or milestone | Traction with a clear "so what?" for the reader |
| Partnership | A real, named partner that validates you |
| Founder story | Works only with a genuinely unusual person or path |
| Trend story | Ties to a real behavior shift, not a manufactured one |
Funding rounds and launches carry enough buying decisions to get their own pages in this handbook: see the funding and financial communications page and the product launches and announcements page.
One part of this is non-delegable. An agency can find the right reporter, but only you know which of your moments are real news, why a metric should matter to a reader, and whether a partnership is genuine enough to lean on. The best vetting test follows from that: a good firm pushes back on a weak news peg and builds toward your next real moment. A bad one pitches whatever you hand it and reports on its monthly activity whether or not any coverage results.
PressFriendly publishes a $5,000 per month Seed and Series A plan on the pricing page. Use the sample context and limits in what PR costs before treating any external range as a market average.