This is the cold email plan we'd run for a PR agency that serves one industry. Press coverage is public and so are the moments that deserve it. A funding round with no coverage is one of the clearest openings there is.
Your market is every company in your industry with news worth telling. Startups raising money and firms launching products and companies hiring senior leaders all have stories. Few of them have anyone pitching those stories.
These are the signals worth looking for.
Crunchbase shows the round. Search the company name in the news. A press release and nothing else means the story never got pitched.
Search their industry's trade publications for their competitors' names. A rival quoted twice this quarter while they are never mentioned is a gap they will feel.
The date on the last press release in their newsroom tells you when PR stopped.
A new product or a new senior executive announced on LinkedIn. Both are stories trade reporters cover.
The yearly awards and top company lists in their industry. Rivals on the list and them absent.
A founder or partner who clearly knows the subject and has never been quoted. Reporters need sources like that.
At startups the founder or the CEO decides. At bigger companies it is the head of communications or the head of marketing.
The last 20 articles in their trade press that quoted a competitor with the reporter's name next to each one.
It works because it names the exact people who should be writing about them.
Walk through it on a 15 minute call. They'll know which of those reporters they've already met and which stories they can talk about. The next step is someone pitching those reporters.
A few story angles built from their own news and data with each one matched to a named reporter who covers that topic.
It works because it shows them they already have stories.
Go through the angles on a call because some depend on numbers or clients they may not be able to share. The ones that survive are the first pitches.
Write one story pitch from their angle list and send it to the matched reporters. They approve the pitch first and pay nothing.
It works because they watch the whole process from angle to inbox. A reporter replying is the strongest argument for the retainer.
It starts with a 20 minute call to pick the angle and check what they can say on the record. Send it within a week of that call.
Each segment gets its own email because a specific email gets more replies than a general one. Split each segment by sub-industry too so the examples in the email fit the reader.
Keep each email under 100 words with one reason for writing and one line of proof and one offer and one question. The proof lines are examples of the kind of result to use. Swap in real results of your own before anything goes out.
Lead with the round and the coverage it didn't get. Offer the coverage gap.
Hi {{first_name}},
Congrats on the {{round}}. Searched for coverage and found the press release and not much else.
We do PR for {{industry}} companies. Pulled the reporters who covered {{competitor}}'s round last year.
A client we took on after a quiet raise was in three trade publications within six weeks.
Want me to walk you through the list?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the rival's coverage and offer the story angles.
Hi {{first_name}},
{{competitor}} was quoted in {{publication}} twice this quarter. Couldn't find {{company}} in any of the trade press.
Put together the angles I'd pitch for you and the reporter I'd send each one to.
The same approach got a client quoted in its three main trade publications within two months.
Want me to walk you through them?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the announcement and the reporters who cover it. Offer the free pitch.
Hi {{first_name}},
Saw {{company}} announced {{announcement}} this week. {{reporter_name}} at {{publication}} covers exactly this kind of news.
Happy to write the pitch and send it to {{reporter_name}} and two others free. You'd approve it first.
The last free pitch we sent for a client landed a story in its biggest trade publication.
Interested?
{{sender_first_name}}
Lead with the date of the last release and ask for a call directly.
Hi {{first_name}},
The last release in {{company}}'s newsroom went out in {{last_release_month}}.
We get {{industry}} companies covered in the publications their buyers read. A client that had been quiet for a year had 11 pieces of coverage in its first quarter with us.
Worth 15 minutes to see which stories you're sitting on?
{{sender_first_name}}
Send two follow ups in the same thread three to five days apart.
Each reply should end in a booked meeting that actually happens. The lead magnet and the offer get delivered on that call and never go out as a file to read later.
The replies below cover the three ways people say yes.
They asked for the reporter list. The call finds out which stories they can tell.
Hi {{first_name}},
Happy to. The list is most useful once I know which of those reporters you've met and what you can say about the round. Fifteen minutes is enough to go through it.
Does Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They want the free pitch. The call agrees the angle and what's on the record.
Hi {{first_name}},
Great. I need 20 minutes with you to agree the angle and what you can say on the record. The pitch goes out within a week of that call.
Does Thursday at 11am or Friday at 3pm work?
{{sender_first_name}}
They said yes to a call. Tell them what they'll leave with so they show up.
Hi {{first_name}},
Perfect. I'll bring the reporters covering your space and three stories I think {{company}} could pitch now. You'll leave knowing which one to lead with.
Does Monday at 1pm or Tuesday at 9am work?
{{sender_first_name}}
Results aren't guaranteed and nobody honest can promise a number before the first emails go out. A few things decide how a campaign does.
The first few weeks show how the market responds. The list and the copy and the offer get sharper from there.
We build and run this campaign for one agency per industry.
This page is a starting point and a strategy we'd happily test ourselves. Working together gives us more context on your agency. That context lets us add better strategies and build better lists and offers and automations for you.
Thirty minutes on your market and how we'd reach it.