Media Relations
That Earns B2B Coverage
B2B buyers consult specific outlets, journalists, and analysts before shortlisting vendors. Zen Media places your brand inside those conversations through earned media programs built around your buyers' research habits.
Client results
170+
Pieces of coverage in 90 days
Dwolla, Zen Media client
250+
Social engagements in 90 days
Dwolla, Zen Media client
1.35M
Avg. unique monthly readers
Cheetah Digital placements, Zen Media client
400M
Total audience reach
Cheetah Digital campaign, Zen Media client
The Coverage Disconnect
A placement in a publication your buyers have never heard of does nothing for a B2B sales cycle.
General PR optimizes for reach and media impressions. B2B buyers make decisions based on what appears in a small set of trusted outlets they consult repeatedly during vendor evaluation. Those are two different lists of publications, and most PR programs pursue the first while claiming credit for the second.
How B2B buyers use press during evaluation
Reading category coverage in the specific industry publications they trust as authoritative in their space
Using third-party coverage to validate vendor claims that the vendor cannot verify themselves
Sharing specific articles with other buying committee members to build internal consensus
Checking for absence of coverage as a signal that a vendor lacks the credibility to be worth evaluating
What most B2B PR programs pursue instead
High-reach consumer and business press that no member of a B2B buying committee reads for vendor research
Reporting success on impressions and clip counts rather than placement quality or buyer audience overlap
Running the same pitch to every outlet rather than developing story angles matched to specific journalists and readers
Generating coverage the sales team has no use for because the placement carries no weight with the buyers they are trying to close
The program
Six stages, built around your buyer
Every stage feeds the next: strategy informs messaging, messaging drives targeting, targeting shapes the pitch, and coverage gets amplified into sales assets at the end of each cycle.
Discovery
Strategy Alignment
Buyer research, go-to-market goals, competitive media audit, and share of voice baseline
Messaging
Narrative Development
Thought leadership angles, proof point inventory, spokesperson positioning, and editorial calendar
Targeting
Media List Build
Prioritized outlet and journalist list matched to your buyer persona and go-to-market strategy
Outreach
Proactive Pitching
Journalist relationship development, tailored pitch development, and active placement pursuit
Monitoring
Coverage Tracking
Real-time coverage monitoring, share of voice measurement, and competitor mention tracking
Amplification
Sales Activation
Coverage packaged into sales assets, social amplification, and SEO backlink capture
Coverage Targeting Framework
Where your buyers read and where most PR programs pitch are different places.
Every media list Zen Media builds is mapped to your specific buyer persona, prioritized by audience overlap with your ICP. The tier structure below reflects how we sequence targeting and evaluate coverage quality.
Buyer-Specific Industry Publications
The specific publications, newsletters, and media properties your target buyers read to stay current in their function. These outlets combine high buyer audience density with strong editorial authority in the category, making them the highest-value coverage per placement and the hardest to earn. Every Zen Media program prioritizes T1 outlets first.
Broad B2B Business Media
Cross-sector B2B publications with strong executive and practitioner readership. Lower buyer-audience density than T1 for any specific category, but high authority and significant reach across buying committees. Used for brand authority and backlink value alongside T1 coverage.
General Business and Consumer Press
High-reach general media with broad business coverage. Valuable for brand signal and SEO authority, but low buyer-audience density for most B2B categories. A T3 placement in isolation rarely influences a B2B buying decision. Most PR programs default here because impressions are easiest to accumulate.
Deliverables
What the program produces
Four core deliverables, each tied directly to a stage in the program. Built to serve both the PR team and the revenue team using the coverage.
Media Relations Strategy Brief
Documented strategy aligned to revenue goals, including buyer research findings, competitive share of voice baseline, and editorial angles matched to target outlets.
Message and Narrative Development Kit
Buyer-centric narrative framework, proof point inventory, and thought leadership angles developed for pitching across outlets and formats.
Media and Influencer Targeting List
Prioritized, continuously updated outlet and journalist list matched to your buyer persona and ICP, ranked by audience overlap rather than publication size.
Amplification and Sales Activation Toolkit
Coverage packaged for sales team use: placement summaries, social amplification assets, and backlink capture. Turns earned media into a proof point sales teams deploy in active deal cycles.
Is this the right fit?
B2B media relations works best in specific conditions
Long evaluation, committee-based buying
B2B companies where buyers spend weeks evaluating vendors and where third-party credibility in respected outlets shapes shortlist formation before sales is contacted
Category creator or market challenger
Brands entering a category or repositioning against established players who need earned media to shape how analysts and buyers define the market
Enterprise sales motion
Companies selling to enterprise accounts where multiple stakeholders research independently before converging on a shortlist and where brand authority directly affects deal velocity
Post-funding or growth stage
Post-Series A or later companies where external credibility is needed to support enterprise sales, talent acquisition, and investor visibility at the same time
Consumer products
Zen Media works exclusively with B2B companies. Consumer brands, DTC products, and B2C marketing programs are outside the scope of this practice
One-time press release
Sustained media relations programs compound over time as journalist relationships deepen. Companies looking for a single announcement placement are better served by a standalone press release service
Transactional, short-cycle sales
Media credibility builds over time and influences buyers during extended evaluation. Companies where decisions happen within hours or days are better served by direct response and paid acquisition
No spokesperson availability
Effective media relations requires executive participation in interviews, commentary, and spokesperson development. Companies where leadership is unavailable for media engagement cannot build the authority this program delivers
Zen PR
Other services in the Zen PR pillar
Media relations works alongside the full Zen PR practice to build credibility at every stage of the buyer's research process.
Common questions
B2B media relations: questions and answers
What is B2B media relations and how is it different from general PR?
B2B media relations focuses on placing your brand in the outlets, publications, and analyst channels your specific buyers consult during vendor research. General PR measures reach and sentiment. B2B media relations measures credibility at specific points in the buying process: the trade publication a procurement team reads, the industry newsletter a CTO follows, the business press a board member cites. The audience is narrower, more skeptical of brand claims, and far more influenced by third-party editorial than by any owned content your company produces.
What kinds of media placements does the program target?
The program targets national business press, vertical trade publications, and analyst channels relevant to your buyers. Cheetah Digital secured placements in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, AdWeek, Newsweek, and Ad Age through the Zen Media program. Outlet selection is driven entirely by where your buyers conduct research during evaluation.
How does Zen Media develop the media target list?
The media targeting process starts with understanding who your buyers are, what they read, and which journalists and analysts cover topics that intersect with your category. The output is a prioritized list of outlets, journalists, and analyst relationships matched to your buyer persona and go-to-market strategy. The list is updated continuously as editorial relationships develop and new opportunities emerge.
How long before a media relations program produces coverage?
The early weeks of a program are used for strategy alignment, message development, and building the media target list before active pitching begins. Journalist relationships take time to develop, and coverage velocity builds as those relationships deepen and the editorial calendar matures. Dwolla produced 170 pieces of coverage and more than 250 social engagements in a single 90-day campaign through the Zen Media program.
How is media relations performance measured?
Measurement covers placement volume, outlet tier and audience reach, share of voice against named competitors, and downstream indicators including website traffic from coverage, lead attribution, and sales team usage of coverage assets. Cheetah Digital placements reached 1.35 million average unique monthly readers and generated 400 million in total audience reach through the program. Reporting is formatted for marketing leadership and board-level review.
How does media relations connect to the rest of Zen Media's work?
Media placements feed the GTM Influence Model by establishing third-party credibility that makes all other marketing channels more effective. Buyers who encounter your brand in earned media arrive at sales conversations with higher baseline trust. Placements generate backlinks that improve organic search authority, and coverage assets become proof points that sales teams use in outreach and that reduce objection volume in active deal cycles.
Let's Talk
Ready to get in front of the outlets your buyers trust?
Tell us who your buyers are and which publications they read. We will tell you honestly whether media relations is the right program for your current stage.
or call 1-866-858-0660
No pitch. A real conversation about your gaps.
Response within one business day.
B2B brands only. No generalist engagements.