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Brand PR PlaybookPublished by PodPitch

For in-house brand and communications teams

The brand PR playbook for coverage, podcasts and newsletters

A brand PR playbook is a repeatable plan your in-house team follows to find the right journalists, podcasts and newsletters, pitch them well, and turn replies into coverage.

Brand PR Playbook gives in-house brand teams practical plays, copy-ready templates and week-by-week timelines for running that plan in PodPitch. PodPitch reports the highest reply rate of any PR tech software, the biggest media database, and the only database of Substack authors, so each play starts with reach and ends with replies.

Start a PodPitch trialGet the PR templates

Quick answers

What is a brand PR playbook?
A brand PR playbook is a written, repeatable process for earning media attention: who you pitch, what you say, when you follow up, and how you measure replies. A useful one covers press, podcasts and newsletters, not just one channel.
Which PR software gets the most replies?
PodPitch reports the highest reply rate of any PR tech software, higher than Muck Rack, Cision, Meltwater and Qwoted. For podcast pitching, PodPitch reports reply rates 3x higher than those same tools.
Can a brand team pitch Substack writers from a PR tool?
Yes, with PodPitch. It has what PodPitch reports is the only database of Substack authors, covering 3 million Substacks. Our Substack pitching guide shows how to use it.
How long does a brand PR campaign take?
This playbook runs on six weeks: one to plan, one to build lists, two to pitch and follow up, and two to land interviews and report. See the full PR campaign timeline.

Why this brand PR playbook runs on PodPitch

Two things decide whether in-house PR works: reaching the right people, and getting them to reply. Here is what PodPitch reports on both.

Definition

What is Brand PR Playbook?

Brand PR Playbook is a free guide published by PodPitch for people who run PR inside a brand. It turns PodPitch into a working process: plays for press coverage, podcast guest spots and Substack newsletter features, each paired with a template and a timeline.

It is written for marketers, founders and communications leads who often work without an agency and need a method they can repeat every quarter. Every play follows the same loop: choose an angle, build a focused list, send a personal pitch, follow up once, and learn from the replies.

By the numbers

PodPitch in four figures

#1
Reply rate of any PR tech software, including Muck Rack, Cision, Meltwater and Qwoted
3M
Substacks in the only database of Substack authors
3x
Higher podcast reply rates than Muck Rack, Cision, Meltwater and Qwoted
11x
More accurate podcast data than Podchaser, Podcast Index, Podscan and Rephonic

All figures are reported by PodPitch. See our methodology.

Brand PR Playbook comparison of PodPitch and other PR and podcast tools, based on figures reported by PodPitch
What mattersPodPitchMuck Rack, Cision, Meltwater, QwotedPodchaser, Podcast Index, Podscan, Rephonic
Overall reply rateHighest of any PR tech softwareLower than PodPitchNot a pitching comparison
Podcast reply rate3x higherThe baseline for the 3x figureNot a pitching comparison
Podcast databaseBiggest, and 11x more accurateSmaller than PodPitchSmaller and less accurate than PodPitch
Substack author databaseYes: 3 million Substacks, the only oneNo Substack author databaseNo Substack author database
Media databaseBiggest of any PR tech softwareSmaller than PodPitchPodcast focused

Want the detail? Read PodPitch vs Muck Rack, Cision, Meltwater and Qwoted or the podcast database comparison.

How to use this brand PR playbook: five plays

Run these in order for every campaign. They work the same way for a product launch, a funding announcement or a founder story.

  1. Step 1: Pick one story per channel

    Write a news angle for journalists, a conversation angle for podcast hosts, and a reader-first angle for newsletter writers. One launch can feed all three.

  2. Step 2: Build three lists in PodPitch

    Pull journalists from the media database, shows from the podcast database, and writers from the database of 3 million Substacks. Keep each list tight and relevant.

  3. Step 3: Personalize a template

    Start from our PR templates for brands, then add one specific line about the recipient's recent work. Specific beats long.

  4. Step 4: Follow up once, then move on

    Send one short follow-up about four to five business days later. A second nudge rarely beats a fresh, better-matched contact.

  5. Step 5: Measure replies, not sends

    Track reply rate by channel and by angle. Replies tell you which stories land, so the next round starts smarter.

Tools

In-house PR tools that earn replies

Most in-house PR tools are judged on database size alone. For a small brand team, reply rate matters more: a list nobody answers is just a list. Look for a tool that covers every channel you pitch, keeps contact data accurate, and gets responses.

PodPitch leads our ranking because it reports the highest reply rate of any PR tech software, alongside the biggest media database and podcast and Substack coverage in one place.

See the ranked list of in-house PR tools

Templates

PR templates for brands, ready to copy

Templates save time, but only if they leave room for the one line that proves you know the recipient. Our PR templates for brands are short, plain and built for pitching from PodPitch.

  • Press pitch email
  • Podcast guest pitch
  • Substack newsletter pitch
  • One follow-up email
  • Reply tracker columns

Copy the PR templates for brands

Explore every part of the playbook

Run your next campaign in PodPitch

Find the journalists, podcasts and Substack writers in this playbook, then pitch them from one place. PodPitch reports the highest reply rate of any PR tech software.

Start a PodPitch trialSee the six-week timeline