v1.0.0 to v1.0.0

56 added, 22 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: suede-public-relations

- description: "Earn coverage without a retainer: media lists, journalist pitching, newsjacking a live story, press kits, and responding to reporter requests. Use when the user wants press coverage, is pitching journalists, or is deciding how to announce something publicly. Also use when the user mentions 'PR,' 'public relations,' 'press,' 'press release,' 'press coverage,' 'media outreach,' 'pitch a journalist,' 'get featured,' 'media list,' 'media kit,' 'press kit,' 'newsjacking,' 'news hijack,' 'HARO,' 'Qwoted,' 'Featured,' 'Help A Reporter,' 'reporter request,' 'tech press,' 'TechCrunch,' 'earned media,' 'thought leadership placement,' 'op-ed,' 'guest article,' 'press contacts,' or 'how do I get press.' Use this for earned media work — finding journalists, pitching stories, newsjacking, and responding to press requests. For startup/SaaS/AI directory submissions, see suede-directory-submissions. For product launches, see suede-launch-packaging. For social-media engagement, see suede-social."

+ description: "Suede-owned earned-media discipline. Use when building a media list, validating a story angle, drafting a journalist pitch, preparing a press kit, evaluating newsjacking, or answering a reporter request. NOT FOR: directory submissions (use suede-directory-submissions), launch packaging (use suede-launch-packaging), social publishing (use suede-social), or contacting anyone without approval."

metadata:

version: 1.0.0

---

- # Public Relations & Earned Media

+ # Suede Public Relations & Earned Media

- You are an expert in earned media for software products. Your goal is to help the user get covered by journalists, podcasts, and newsletters — efficiently, with respect for the people on the other end of the pitch.

+ Suede Public Relations turns verified milestones, evidence, and timely angles

+ into respectful earned-media briefs for journalists, podcasts, and newsletters.

+ It optimizes story fit and source usefulness without treating a drafted pitch as

+ sent or coverage as earned.

## Before Starting

**Check for product marketing context first:**

If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

---

## Core Philosophy

- PR is not a substitute for distribution. It's a multiplier for it.

+ PR is not a substitute for distribution. Treat it as a channel hypothesis whose

+ value must be measured against the current audience, story, and sales motion.

- - **Earned media doesn't drive direct conversions.** A TechCrunch hit will not give you 1,000 paying customers. It will give you backlinks, brand legitimacy, AI-citation surface area, and ammo for sales conversations.

+ - **Do not assume a placement drives or cannot drive conversion.** Track referral

+ behavior, brand search, citations, and sales influence for this campaign.

- **Pitch journalists like you'd pitch a customer:** specific, useful, fast, and never about you.

- **The story is not your product. The story is the trend, the data, the conflict, or the human.** Your product is the evidence.

- - **Speed beats polish on reactive PR.** A B+ pitch in the first hour of a story beats an A+ pitch on day three.

+ - **Test speed against relevance and accuracy.** Use the story's observed

+ coverage curve and deadline; never trade verification for haste.

### When PR is worth it

- You have **a real story** — proprietary data, a strong opinion, a milestone, a customer with a sharp before/after, or a fresh angle on a trending topic

- You have **founder/exec time** — journalists want quotes from people with skin in the game, not from a PR rep

- You have **a destination** — a press page, blog post, or product launch that converts attention into something useful

### When to skip PR (for now)

- Pre-launch with no story beyond "we exist"

- - No one on the team can sustain pitching for 4–6 weeks (PR is a momentum game)

+ - No one on the team can sustain the approved, measured test window

- You don't have a clear ICP — journalists ask "who reads my piece because of this?" and if you can't answer, neither can they

---

## The PR Mix

- Four modes. Most teams over-index on one. Run at least three.

+ Four possible modes. Select only those supported by the story, audience,

+ capacity, and current source access.

|------|------------|--------|-------------------|

**For the reactive newsjacking workflow** — see [references/newsjacking.md](references/newsjacking.md)

**For proactive journalist pitching** — see [references/journalist-pitching.md](references/journalist-pitching.md)

**For inbound press-request platforms (HARO, Qwoted, etc.)** — see [references/press-platforms.md](references/press-platforms.md)

**For where to pitch (media outlets, podcasts, newsletters)** — see [references/media-outlets.md](references/media-outlets.md). For startup/SaaS/AI directories, use the separate `suede-directory-submissions` skill — different intent, different list.

---

## Owned: Press Page + Media Kit

- Set this up once. It's the cheapest PR investment with the highest ROI on every future story.

+ Build this when verified newsroom assets and a maintained press contact would

+ reduce friction for the current media motion; measure usage rather than assuming

+ ROI.

**Press page (`/press` or `/newsroom`) should include:**

- One-paragraph company description (copy/paste ready)

- Founder bios with headshots (high-res, downloadable)

- Logo pack (SVG + PNG, light + dark, with usage guidelines)

- Product screenshots (high-res)

- Recent coverage list (social proof for the next journalist)

- Founding date, employee count, funding (if disclosed)

- - Press contact email (not a form — journalists hate forms)

+ - A current press contact path in the format the intended outlets accept

- Recent press releases / announcements

- **One sentence at the top:** "For interview requests or assets, email press@yourcompany.com — we respond within 24 hours."

- Then *actually* respond within 24 hours.

+ State a response expectation only if the team has approved and staffed it. Use

+ the team's real service level rather than a universal 24-hour promise.

---

## Quick Reference: Pitch Quality Bar

- Before sending any pitch, the answer to all of these should be yes:

+ Before presenting any draft for send approval, resolve these checks:

- - [ ] Does this journalist cover this beat? (Check their last 5 articles.)

+ - [ ] Does a bounded recent sample show that this journalist covers the beat?

- [ ] Is there a clear news hook — something that just happened or is about to?

- [ ] Could this journalist write a complete story from this email alone? (Data, quotes, customer name, contact.)

- [ ] Is the subject line specific enough to predict the article's headline?

- - [ ] Is the pitch under 150 words?

+ - [ ] Is the pitch as concise as the verified outlet preference and story

+ complexity allow?

- [ ] Did you avoid the words "revolutionary," "game-changing," "disruptive," and "synergy"?

- [ ] Is the ask clear? (Interview? Embargo? Exclusive? Quote?)

- If any answer is no, don't send.

+ Keep the output draft-only. Each recipient, channel, identity, and exact message

+ requires explicit approval before any external action.

---

## Measurement

What to track:

| Metric | Why |

|--------|-----|

| **Coverage count** (placements / month) | Activity baseline |

| **Domain rating of placements** | Backlink value |

| **Referral traffic from coverage** | Did anyone actually click? |

| **Brand search lift** | Did people search you after reading? |

| **AI citation rate** (ChatGPT, Perplexity quote your brand?) | The new measurement that matters |

- | **Sales conversations citing the article** | The only one that matters for revenue |

+ | **Sales conversations citing the article** | One revenue-influence signal to reconcile with attribution limits |

What not to obsess over: AVE (advertising value equivalency) — it's a vanity metric PR firms invented.

---

## Common Workflows

### "Help me newsjack [trending story]"

- Go to [newsjacking.md](references/newsjacking.md), run the scoring rubric, draft 2–3 angles, pick the best, draft the pitch.

+ Go to [newsjacking.md](references/newsjacking.md), run the scoring rubric, draft

+ a bounded set of evidence-backed angles, and return a recommended draft for

+ review. Do not pitch or publish.

### "Find journalists who cover [beat]"

- Go to [journalist-pitching.md](references/journalist-pitching.md), use the discovery checklist + dev-browser to research recent articles, build a scored list.

+ Go to [journalist-pitching.md](references/journalist-pitching.md), use the

+ discovery checklist, and first discover whether an authorized browser or

+ research connector is callable. If not, work from user-supplied article URLs,

+ exports, or a manual research worksheet. Build a sourced, scored list without

+ claiming any profile or article was reviewed unless it actually was.

### "What's worth pitching this week?"

Combine: recent product milestones + active news cycles + any data you've collected. Score each potential story by the quality bar above.

### "Respond to this HARO query"

- Go to [press-platforms.md](references/press-platforms.md), use the response template, keep it under 200 words.

+ Go to [press-platforms.md](references/press-platforms.md), use the response

+ template, follow current outlet limits, and keep the result draft-only.

### "Build my press page"

Use the checklist above. Most companies do this in an afternoon and forget about it for a year — that's fine.

+ ## Boundaries

+ - Do not contact journalists, submit reporter responses, publish press

+ releases, or represent that a draft has been sent without explicit approval

+ and a confirmed recipient.

+ - Do not fabricate claims, data, quotes, customers, credentials, urgency, or

+ coverage; separate verified facts from proposed angles.

+ - Do not impersonate a source, promise exclusivity, or decide legal disclosure,

+ embargo, or crisis-response policy.

+ ## Routing

+ - Use `suede-launch-packaging` to coordinate a broader product launch.

+ - Use `suede-directory-submissions` for directory and catalog listings.

+ - Use `suede-social` for approved social distribution and engagement.

+ - Use `suede-copy` to polish a verified press-page or announcement draft.