Pittsburgh companies often do serious work that nobody outside their building hears about. Robotics labs, hospital groups, gas and energy suppliers, manufacturers in the Mon Valley and software startups in Lawrenceville all compete for the attention of the same editors and producers. We match you with a public relations specialist who turns that work into stories reporters can actually use.
Free, no obligation. A senior project manager walks you through the analysis.
Free analysis in 24 hours
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your marketing with your competitors'.
Free marketing analysis
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Key takeaways
Before you read on
Why it matters
The city has a reputation for modesty, and that habit shows up in how companies talk about themselves. A robotics spinout from Oakland may have a remarkable product and still describe it in a way only other engineers follow. A family manufacturer in Beaver County may have kept a plant running through several downturns and never once pitched that story. Editors notice the difference between a company that explains and a company that announces.
The regional business and news desks are not huge, and the people on them tend to cover the same beats for years. A careless pitch, an embargo broken or a spokesperson who never calls back gets remembered. That is why public relations here pays off as a patient relationship: fewer releases, more useful sources, and follow-through when a reporter needs a quick answer on deadline.
Many Pittsburgh firms sell nationally. A health technology company near the Strip District may care far more about a trade outlet read by hospital administrators in other states than about local television. Good planning decides early which audience matters, then picks outlets to match.
Who it's for
These are situations we hear about often from companies across Allegheny County and the surrounding counties.
Teams spun out of university research have credible founders but little practice speaking to journalists. The work is turning a technical milestone into a story about who benefits, and preparing founders to answer skeptical questions without drifting into jargon.
Clinics and specialty practices competing beside large regional health systems need a voice of their own. Expert commentary from physicians on seasonal illness, new treatments or access to care can earn coverage, while patient privacy rules limit what may be shared about any individual case.
Firms tied to natural gas, pipelines, steel or heavy equipment deal with public opinion that can be divided. Their PR needs calm, factual messaging, a clear plan for community questions and steady visibility in trade press read by engineers and buyers.
Restaurants in Lawrenceville and East Liberty, breweries, retailers and venues along the North Shore rely on buzz around openings, events and game days. Timing pitches to the sports calendar and neighborhood festivals makes a real difference.
Side by side
It keeps the voice authentic, but pitching competes with every other job. Follow-ups slip, media lists go stale, and a promising story sits in a draft while the news hook passes. It works for an occasional announcement, rarely for steady coverage.
Distribution services spread a release widely, yet most pickup is automated reposting that few readers see. Reporters in Pittsburgh seldom write from a wire alone; they want a source they can call and an angle that fits their beat.
A senior project manager learns your sector, audience and goals, then matches a specialist who already understands that kind of story, such as health care, energy or technology. The project manager agrees the scope, reviews every pitch plan and checks progress with you each month.
Step by step
Step 1
You tell us about your company and goals. Within 24 hours you receive a PDF that reviews your current mentions, the search results for your name, the spokespeople you have, and the story angles we see for Pittsburgh and national outlets.
Step 2
A senior project manager picks a PR specialist whose experience fits your field. A medical group and a robotics startup need different contacts, different vocabulary and different rules about what may be said in public.
Step 3
The specialist drafts a set of angles tied to your calendar: product milestones, hiring, research, community work, commentary on regional news. A tailored list of reporters, producers and trade editors is built for each angle rather than bought in bulk.
Step 4
Pitches go out in small, personal batches. Your experts get short briefings before interviews. Each month the project manager walks you through coverage earned, links gained, pitches declined and what to adjust next.
Good to know
Coverage has a second life online. When a regional business journal or a trade site quotes your engineer and links to your research page, that link tells Google your company is a real authority on the topic. Over time, those mentions help your own pages rank for the phrases buyers type, including searches from Cranberry Township, Monroeville or Mt. Lebanon.
That only works if your website is ready. We check that every story has a matching page on your site, that expert bios exist and are current, and that your newsroom page is easy for a reporter to scan on a phone. A quote with no place to land is a missed chance.
Not every call from a reporter is welcome. A plant incident, a data issue or a dispute with neighbors needs a prepared holding statement, one named spokesperson and fast internal approvals. Part of the early work is writing that plan before you need it.
Checklist
A short list helps the specialist start pitching sooner.
Checklist
How it works
The PR specialist and the project manager work online and hold video calls on Eastern Time, so briefings and interview prep fit your working day. Reporters are contacted by email and phone, which is how most editors prefer to work anyway. Press materials, reporter lists and monthly coverage summaries sit in one shared folder, so your communications staff never has to ask where a draft went.
Details on outreach, commentary and trade placements are on the public relations service page. Companies elsewhere in the Commonwealth, from Erie to Harrisburg, can start from the Pennsylvania overview, and the matching itself is described step by step under how the process runs.
FAQ
Short answers. The free analysis call covers anything specific to your company.
No. The team is fully remote. We meet with you on video calls scheduled on Eastern Time, and the work itself, from pitching reporters to preparing your spokespeople and tracking coverage, is done online. Editors reach out by email and phone, so no office is needed for them either.
After reading your analysis, a senior project manager with 15+ years in marketing looks at the beats you need, say hospital trade press or energy reporters, and pairs you with someone who has pitched those editors before. There is no catalog of people to scroll. That same project manager checks each pitch plan and speaks for the engagement.
Yes, and this is common in Pittsburgh. The specialist interviews your engineers or researchers, drafts plain-language explanations and analogies, and runs practice questions before interviews. The goal is a spokesperson who stays accurate without losing a general reader after the first sentence.
It depends on who buys from you. A restaurant or clinic usually benefits from regional news and neighborhood coverage. A supplier selling to hospitals or utilities in many states gains more from trade publications their buyers read. The analysis recommends a mix and explains why.
Each month you see the articles and mentions earned, which ones include a link, how branded search and referral visits changed, and which pitches were declined and why. Coverage builds gradually, so the first months usually focus on relationships and a few strong placements.
Free analysis
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your channels with your competitors', plus a call with a senior project manager who has run marketing for 15+ years.
Free marketing analysis
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Are you a marketer with experience in a specific industry? Join the team
Your website, full name, email and phone. A PDF with specifics within 24 hours.
Within 24 hours you get an audit by email with an analysis and a proposal: which marketer or team your business needs and where to start.