Digital PR on a $500 budget — what actually gets picked up

Ran four small data-led pieces this year on a shoestring. Two got nothing, two got 30+ referring domains each.

The two that worked had one thing in common: a local angle on a national number. Journalists do not want your national survey, they want the line about their city. Same dataset, cut 20 ways, 20 pitches.

The two that failed were "interesting" and had no hook a desk editor could write a headline from. If you cannot write the headline for them, they will not write it for you.

Writing the headline for them is the whole job. I pitch with three headline options and a one-line stat and the reply rate triples.

Where are you getting the underlying data on $500? That is usually the expensive part.

Public datasets, mostly. Government open data and the occasional $80 survey panel. The analysis is free if your time is free.

Does this work outside English-language markets? Local angle cuts feel very UK/US media.

Subbed. Please keep updating this instead of vanishing like every other journey thread.

Counterpoint: this only works while the platform lets it. Have a plan B.

Did you test this against a control group or is it vibes?