August 7, 2025

Hot Take: Most GTM Teams Don’t Understand the Real Job of a Press Release

Jen Tagliaferro

Sydney Fenkell, Head of Marketing Comms at Proscia, shares her perspective on the real job of a Press Release. With 10 years of building marketing programs from the ground up—from being Proscia's first marketing hire post-Series A to establishing integrated campaigns at companies like Mobiquity—Sydney has witnessed how buyer research behaviors have transformed and how traditional PR tactics need to evolve for the modern discovery landscape.

🌶️ Hot Take: Most GTM Teams Don’t Understand the Real Job of a Press Release

The Contrarian View

Let’s get this straight: press releases aren’t just for the press anymore, and they haven’t been for a long time.

But too many marketing teams, execs, and even comms pros still treat them like they are. They write for journalists, put them on the wire, hope for a pickup, and move on. That’s outdated thinking and a missed opportunity.

Today’s press release is a multi-functional GTM asset that does far more than chase headlines. When written strategically, it can:

  • Rank in search and appear in AI-generated summaries via your favorite LLM, expanding discoverability in the age of AI
  • Educate and validate buyers who are doing self-directed research on your company or category
  • Serve as a timely, high-credibility asset for sales, offering an “excuse to reach out” or a link to drop into a follow-up
  • Signal traction to prospects, customers, analysts, partners, and investors
  • Anchor your message in owned channels, giving your narrative longevity and SEO/GEO value long after the initial announcement fades

If your press release isn’t designed to show up–in search, in chatbots, in decks—you’re not just behind. You’re invisible.

Why I Believe This (And What I’ve Seen Work)

I’ve written my fair share of releases, from product launches to strategic partnerships. Early on, success meant media coverage: Did the trades run it? Did it get syndicated?

But as buyer behavior evolved, so did our approach. Now, the value of a release lies in how well it reaches and resonates with modern decision-makers—buyers doing their own research, sellers looking for timely proof points, and yes, AI systems scanning for credible sources.

Our most recent announcement introduced new survey findings, but we didn’t just “PR the data.” We approached the press release as a discovery asset—structured to signal authority across channels, crafted to tell a story that supports sales conversations, and positioned as a launchpad for downstream demand generation. It wasn’t about buzz. It was about building durable visibility and utility in a world where buyers often find you long before you ever speak to them. And the early signals–as measured by traffic, engagement, and yes, media coverage–suggest the approach is working.

One Practical Takeaway

Tip: Before you publish your next press release, paste it into your LLM of choice and ask: “What would a buyer learn from this?”

You’ll quickly see whether it communicates value, credibility, and differentiation—and how ChatGPT makes sense of it.

In a world where AI is the new front door, your release needs to resonate with buyers and their algorithms.

Final words

Press releases aren’t dead. They’re just underutilized. In the right hands, they’re one of the most underrated tools in the modern GTM playbook.