── SKILL
pr-outreach✓ APPROVED

Get press without spray-and-pray.

The story angle, the target journalists by beat, the pitch, and the follow-up a reporter might actually answer.

Inside: The angle test, tiered targets by beat, and the one-reporter pitch.

01 / HOW TO USE

Install it in one line, or paste it in.

1
In Claude Code (one command)
Copy the install line, paste it into your terminal, and restart Claude Code. The skill installs itself to ~/.claude/skills/ and runs automatically when it is relevant.
2
In Claude, ChatGPT, or a Project (no terminal)
Open the file, then upload it to your chat or paste its contents in. A skill is just a markdown file of instructions, so any capable AI can follow it.
New to skills? A skill is a plain-text file that teaches your AI a workflow. Point any capable assistant at it and it follows the steps, on your data.
02 / MAKE IT YOURS

Connect your context. Set it to your motion.

CONNECT YOUR CONTEXT · AND WHY IT HELPS
an email tool

it drafts the pitch and the follow-ups as ready-to-review messages and tracks who opened and replied.

a web-research step

helps you find reporters by beat and recent coverage, so you pitch people who wrote about this last month, not a stale list.

a CRM or contacts tool

keeps the target list, the status, and the history in one place instead of a spreadsheet.

SET IT TO YOUR MOTION

This was built for a B2B company pitching product and company news to trade and tech press. Set these to your stack:

Names, outlets, and quotes are yours to supply and verify. The skill will never invent a journalist or attribute a quote.

Set thisWhat it isDefault / Example
BEATSthe coverage areas you fityour categoryadjacent trendsregional business
OUTLET_TIERShow you rank targetstier 1 nationaltier 2 tradetier 3 newsletters
ANGLE_TYPEthe shape of the storydata storytrendmilestonecontrarian take
EMAIL_TOOLwhere pitches get drafted and trackedyour outbound email tool
EMBARGOwhether you are offering exclusivitynoneexclusiveembargoed to a date
FOLLOWUP_WINDOWdays between touches3 to 5 business days
MAX_TOUCHESwhen you stop2 follow-upsthen move on
03 / THE FULL SKILL

Everything the skill does, in full.

── WHAT THIS DOES

Takes news you think is interesting and pressure-tests whether a journalist would agree, then builds the outreach around it: the angle that is a story and not an ad, the reporters who actually cover that beat, a pitch written for a specific person, and a follow-up cadence that does not burn the relationship. It plans the outreach. It does not send on your behalf.

── THE METHOD
  1. 1
    Angle first (is this a story or an ad)

    Before anything else, decide whether the news is a story to someone who does not work for you. A milestone that matters only internally is not news. Turn it into an angle a reader would care about: a trend it proves, data no one else has, a tension it exposes. If it fails this test, the skill says so and helps you find the real angle or hold the pitch.

  2. 2
    Target list by beat (not spray)

    Build the list by beat, not by outlet size. The right target is a reporter who covered this exact topic recently, ranked into tiers. A short list of people who actually write about your space beats a giant list of everyone with a press email. Each name gets a reason: what they wrote that makes them a fit.

  3. 3
    The pitch (one reporter at a time)

    Write a short pitch built for a named person: a subject line that is the story, two or three sentences of why it matters to their readers, the specific proof, and one clear ask. Reference their recent work honestly. No mail-merge that reads like a mail-merge. Offer the exclusive or embargo if you are running one.

  4. 4
    Follow-up (persistent, not a pest)

    Space follow-ups by FOLLOWUP_WINDOW and cap them at MAX_TOUCHES. Each follow-up adds something (a new data point, a different angle, a deadline), it does not just say "bumping this." After the cap, you stop and keep the relationship warm for next time.

  5. 5
    Track and route

    Keep status per target: not sent, sent, opened, replied, passed, covered. When someone bites, route fast and get them what they need. When someone passes, note the reason so the next pitch to them is smarter.

── QUALITY GATES
  • Every pitch passes the "is this a story to an outsider" test before it goes out.
  • No invented journalists, outlets, or quotes. Names and coverage are supplied or researched, never fabricated.
  • Follow-ups are capped and each one adds value, never a bare "bumping this."
  • The target list is by beat and recency, not by a purchased list of everyone.
── OUTPUT (EXAMPLE)
EXAMPLE OUTPUT
PR OUTREACH PLAN · new usage-data report (illustrative)
Angle: "Teams are quietly changing how they do X" backed by first-party data.

Targets by beat:
Tier   Beat fit                        Why this reporter          Status
T1     Covers the category weekly       Wrote a piece on X in June  not sent
T2     Trade outlet, deep on workflows  Recurring column on this    not sent
T3     Operator newsletter              Curates this exact topic     not sent

Pitch (T1): subject = the data point itself. 3 sentences: trend, our data, the ask.
Offer: exclusive first look for 48 hours.

Follow-up: +4 business days with one new stat, then +4 with a deadline, then stop.

Next move: connect the email tool so the pitch and follow-ups draft and track in one place.
── EXAMPLE CHAT
EXAMPLE CHAT
You
We just shipped a usage-data report showing a shift in how teams do outreach. Worth pitching press?
CLAUDE
Ran it through the "is this a story" test first. Angle: "Teams are quietly changing how they do X" backed by first-party data. Targets by beat: Tier Beat fit Why this reporter Status T1 Covers the category weekly Wrote a piece on X in June not sent T2 Trade outlet, deep on workflows Recurring column on this not sent It passes. The angle is the trend the data proves, not the fact that you shipped a report, that distinction is what makes a journalist read past the subject line.
You
Write the pitch for the T1 reporter.
CLAUDE
Subject: [the data point itself] 3 sentences: the trend, your data, the ask. Offer: exclusive first look for 48 hours. Follow-up: +4 business days with one new stat, then +4 with a deadline, then stop. Sharpener: connect a web-research step so the "why this reporter" line comes from what they actually published last month, not a guess at their beat, which is the difference between a pitch that reads personal and one that reads like a mail-merge.
04 / GO FURTHER

Where an operator takes this next.

One pitch to one reporter proves the angle holds. Here's the version that keeps a real beat list current and the follow-ups on schedule.

The pitch earns the placement. The cadence is what keeps the relationship alive for the next one.

01
Keep the beat list current automatically

Run a web-research step weekly so the target list reflects who's covering the topic this month, not a list built once and left stale.

02
Draft and track from where you already work

Connect an email tool so pitches and follow-ups draft as ready-to-review messages and open/reply status updates without a separate spreadsheet.

03
Never miss the follow-up window

A scheduled Claude task checks FOLLOWUP_WINDOW against send date and queues the next touch with a new data point attached, capped at MAX_TOUCHES automatically.

05 / PART OF A BIGGER PLAY

One skill is the on-ramp.

── GET NEW SKILLS IN YOUR INBOX

One operator-built skill a week. Free.