Outreach

Proactive PR

planned PR · created news

Definition

Proactive PR is creating the reason to talk: a study, a launch, an exclusive, a stunt with actual news in it. You set the clock. You still do not set the lede.

Digital PR campaigns are mostly proactive. The failure mode is a calendar full of “thought leadership availability” with no news.

How it works

Build the asset, the list, the embargo or exclusive plan, and the owned URL before the first email. Measure placements, links, and downstream search or citations against the brief you wrote in advance.

Worked example

A permit-time study with a methods page and 18 local cuts is proactive. Waiting for a reporter to ask about permits is reactive. Both can run in the same week.

How it differs

Newsjacking hijacks an existing wave. Reactive answers inbound. Proactive makes the wave. A press release without a story is just owned paper.

Common errors

Launching four times a month until desks mute you. Calling a blog post a campaign.

Sources