Why most press pitches go unanswered
PR outreach means getting journalists to write about your company: a launch, a funding round, a customer milestone, or a point of view on something happening in your industry. Coverage puts you in front of readers who trust the publication, and it creates lasting pages about your company that buyers, investors, and AI answer engines all find later.
Reporters receive far more pitches than they can read, and most are easy to ignore. They come from mass email lists, they pitch a story the reporter doesn't cover, and they open with a paragraph about the company instead of a reason the reporter should care. The pitches that get answered tend to share one trait. They go to someone who has written about this kind of story recently, and they say so in the first few lines.
That makes media outreach mostly research. For each reporter, someone has to find what they've published in the last few months, decide whether your news fits, and work out the angle that connects the two. A PR agency does that work with a team and an existing media database. A small company without an agency usually skips it and sends the same pitch to everyone, which is why it hears nothing back.
An AI agent fits this work because the research is careful, repetitive, and different for every person. Kite is an AI marketer in your Slack. It researches your business, builds a growth strategy, and ships the work that brings you new customers. For a press campaign, it finds the right reporters, reads their work, and writes each one a pitch of their own. Here's how it works.
How Kite runs a media outreach campaign
Kite starts with your news and what it already knows about your company. Your team's knowledge base holds your positioning, your customers, your competitors, and the results of earlier work, so Kite can judge which parts of the announcement are actually newsworthy and to whom.
From there, Kite works in four steps. It shapes the story and prepares the material a reporter will look for. It builds a media list from the reporters who recently covered stories like yours. It reads each reporter's recent coverage and writes a pitch for that person. Then it sends the pitches, follows up with the reporters who haven't answered, and tracks the coverage that results.
Kite shows you the list and the pitches in Slack before anything goes out. You approve them by replying in the thread.
- Shape the story before you pitch it
- How do you find journalists who cover your industry?
- How does Kite personalize each pitch?
- Send the pitches and follow up
- Track the coverage that runs
Shape the story before you pitch it
A pitch only works when there's a clear story behind it, so Kite starts by deciding what the news actually is. "We launched version 3" is an update. "Dental clinics can now fill last-minute cancellations automatically, and our first 40 clinics recovered an average of six appointments a week" is a story a trade reporter can use.
Kite looks at your announcement alongside your positioning and your market and proposes one or two angles. One might suit trade publications that cover your customers' industry, and another might suit business or startup reporters. Kite explains which kind of reporter each angle is for, so you can choose before it builds the list.
Reporters who are interested will look for more than the email. Kite can prepare that material too:
- An announcement post. Kite writes the post for your blog or newsroom and publishes it on a website it hosts or through your connected content system once you approve it.
- A press kit page. A page with your company description, logos, product images, key facts, and a press contact.
- A founder bio. A short biography written for press, with the background that makes the founder worth quoting.
- Images. Product visuals and graphics in your brand's colors and fonts that a publication can use with the story.
How do you find journalists who cover your industry?
The most reliable way to find the right journalists is to start from the stories, not from job titles. Kite searches the web for articles published in recent months on your topic, your market, and your competitors, and works out who wrote them. A reporter who wrote about a competitor's funding round in August is a far better prospect than someone whose title says "technology editor."
For each reporter it finds, Kite looks up their public professional profile to confirm their current outlet and role. Their recent public posts add context about what they're following now. Kite also finds a professional email address when its research sources have one. When a reporter has moved to a new publication or no longer covers the beat, Kite drops them from the list.
Kite then sorts the reporters by fit. It weighs how recently they covered a related story, how closely their beat matches your angle, and whether the publication reaches the people you want to reach. It also notes the third-party sites that AI answer engines already cite for questions about your category, because coverage on those sites can get your company into AI answers as well.
You get a media list in Slack. For each reporter, it shows their name, publication, the recent articles that make them a fit, the angle Kite recommends for them, and an email address where one was found. A list of 15 well-matched reporters is usually worth more than a list of 300 names. Kite can also save the list to a spreadsheet or CRM you've connected.
How does Kite personalize each pitch?
Kite personalizes a pitch by connecting your news to something the reporter has already written. Before writing, it reads the reporter's recent articles and asks what about your story would matter to that reporter's readers. The answer shapes the subject line, the first sentence, and which facts come first.
Here's an example. Say a reporter at a dental industry publication wrote last month about clinics losing revenue to no-shows. Kite's pitch to that reporter opens with that article, then offers the number the reporter doesn't have yet: what 40 clinics recovered after using your product. A business reporter who covers small-company software gets a different pitch for the same news, built around the founder's story and the funding behind it.
Each pitch is short and written in your company's voice. It gives the news in a sentence or two, the reason it matters to this reporter's readers, one or two concrete facts, and a clear offer, such as an interview with the founder, early access, or customer contacts. It links to the announcement post or press kit for anything more. Kite writes a subject line for each pitch that says what the story is.
Send the pitches and follow up
Kite sends each pitch individually, so every reporter receives a personal email instead of one copy from a mass send. You review the pitches in Slack first, change any you want, and approve them by replying in the thread.
Pitches can go out from your team's own Kite address, which works from your first day with no setup. If you'd rather reporters hear from you directly, connect your Gmail account, and Kite sends from your own address so replies land in your inbox. Kite can also leave the pitches as drafts in Gmail if you want to send each one yourself.
Plenty of coverage comes from the second email, not the first. Kite keeps track of which reporters haven't replied and, after a few days, sends a short follow-up in the same thread so the reporter sees the original pitch right below it. The follow-up adds something new where it can, such as a customer willing to talk or a fresh figure, rather than simply asking whether they saw the first email.
When a reporter replies to your team's Kite address, Kite reads the reply and tells you in Slack, with a suggested response for you to approve. If you've connected Gmail, Kite can follow those threads in your inbox and let you know which replies need you, such as an interview request.
Track the coverage that runs
A media campaign is measured by the coverage it produces, not by the number of emails sent. Kite can set up a watch for mentions of your company and your news, so it finds articles as they're published and posts them in Slack with the reporter and publication.
Kite then reports on the whole campaign. The report shows which reporters received pitches, which replied, which ran a story, and which angles worked. Kite records what it learned in your team's knowledge base. The next time you have news, Kite starts from the reporters who covered you before and the angles that got a response.
If you track your visibility in AI answers with Kite, it can also check whether the new coverage starts appearing among the sources ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude cite for questions about your category.
What you get
A story angle for each kind of reporter
One or two ways to frame your news, each matched to the publications it suits, so you can choose before outreach begins.
Supporting material
An announcement post, a press kit page, a founder bio, and images that reporters can use with the story.
A media list
The reporters who recently covered stories like yours, with their publication, the articles that make them a fit, the recommended angle, and an email address where one was found.
A pitch for every reporter
A short email that connects your news to the reporter's own recent coverage, ready for you to review in Slack.
Sending and follow-up
Pitches sent one at a time from your Kite address or your Gmail, with follow-ups in the same thread and replies brought to your attention.
A coverage report
The stories that ran, who replied, which angles worked, and what to try with the next announcement.
How to get started
Add Kite to Slack and tell it about your news in plain language. You might say, "We're announcing our Series A on November 4. Find the reporters who'd care and help us pitch them," or "We just launched a no-show feature for dental clinics. Who should we pitch?"
Kite replies with the angles it recommends and the material it plans to prepare. Once you pick an angle, it builds the media list and shows it to you. Remove anyone you'd rather not contact, add reporters you already know, and approve the list. Kite then writes the pitches and sends them for your review before anything goes out.
You don't need to connect anything to start. Kite's built-in research finds the reporters and their email addresses, and your team's Kite address can send the pitches. Connect Gmail when you want the pitches to come from your own address. Kite asks for approval before it sends each round of email by default, and you can give it more autonomy once you trust how it pitches.
Integrations used to run a media outreach campaign
Kite finds reporters and reads their coverage with its built-in research sources, so you don't need a media database subscription for that part. The integration that matters most here is the one that sends your pitches.
Common questions
Can AI replace a PR agency?
For a company with occasional news and no agency, Kite does most of what a small PR engagement covers: shaping the story, building a media list, writing pitches, following up, and tracking coverage. What an established agency adds is years of personal relationships with specific reporters. If you already know a few journalists, tell Kite, and it puts them first on the list and writes to them in a way that reflects that you've met.
Do I need a media database like Cision or Muck Rack?
No. Kite finds reporters from the articles they've actually published recently, which is often a better guide to what they'll cover than a database listing. It then confirms each reporter's current outlet through their public profile and finds an email address when its research sources have one. Some reporters don't list an address anywhere, and Kite tells you which ones so you can reach them another way.
How many journalists should I pitch?
Pitch as many as genuinely fit your story, which for most small companies means somewhere between 10 and 30 for a single announcement. A long list of loosely related reporters takes more time to review and makes it harder for each pitch to say something specific. Kite recommends a list size based on how many strong matches it finds and tells you why each reporter is on it.
Can Kite handle an embargoed announcement?
Kite can write the embargo date and terms into each pitch so reporters know when the story can run. It doesn't yet keep track of embargoes on its own, so keep the date in mind and ask Kite to publish the announcement post when the embargo lifts.
Can Kite pitch podcasts and industry newsletters too?
Yes. The same approach works for podcasts and newsletters. Kite finds the shows and writers that recently covered your topic, researches their recent episodes or issues, and writes a pitch that explains why your founder or your story fits their audience.