Press releases aren’t the only way to secure earned media wins anymore— now thousands of publisher-ready, editorially-sound articles get distributed every month, not as paid placements, not from spammy pitches, but as a genuinely earned win.
Now, I’m not saying that the press release is dead because that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, press releases have been revived, much like earned media, with the rise of AI search.
Though they bring different things to the table.
Branded editorial differs in terms of credibility, narrative ownership, and shelf-life. Here’s how to crack the code to get the best qualities from each.
Whether you distribute a press release or issue your own story via the Stacker wire, some of the rationale overlaps. These earned media methods are both:
On paper, the shared part of the Venn diagram may seem larger than it actually is. There are far more differences, enabling brands to cover more ground by using both methods.
Press releases and earned distribution stories are produced and distributed differently. For a refresher, here’s the basic ins and outs of the two.
With press releases, brands announce or broadcast their company news with written releases by PR professionals that aren’t required to be vetted before distribution — unless an internal law team requires it. This means that it’s exactly what the brand wants to say, in their own words, as promotional or exaggerated as their latest release would permit.
Stories center on topics that brands are required to broadcast by law (ie. stock updates), want to tout, like new board members or groundbreaking initiatives, or want to get ahead of, like statements on news events or public apologies. These are sent to the media by email or a press release wire.
These releases often include stats, key details, and direct quotes like a story. Press releases offer a single perspective or starting foundation for a journalist to pick up and run with. Press releases don’t guarantee results; sometimes, brands that push out the story become just a passing mention in a much larger industry story. They’re like pieces of fabric provided by companies that are part of larger stories woven together by journalists.
Essentially, it’s like letting go of a balloon.
You put it into the world, and hope someone might grab it– but there are not guarantees that that story (or balloon in this case) will be picked up by anyone).
Rarely are press releases republished in the news word-for-word, and if they are, they are labeled as such. They communicate the news once and may temporarily boost SEO rankings by redirecting to organizational websites for more information.
Press releases have fed the news media for decades with stories, but with syndicated brand editorial, news outlets can still get important and captivating stories without expending effort or resources.
With syndicated brand articles, brands tell stories written by in-house journalists.
These stories aren’t promotional and tend to center on topics tangential to the company, like this furniture brand that takes readers on a history of the United States through the lens of chair design. They are sent to thousands of publisher newsfeeds with subscriptions to Stacker’s platform, who can choose to republish the stories for free. These stories aren’t labeled sponsored or promotional, because they aren’t. They earn their place in the publications they get picked up by.
They’re published as native articles, just like the other stories in a media outlet.
Brand syndicated stories are inherently data-driven — sometimes including first-party data and direct quotes from impartial spokespeople, such as researchers. These stories often take a broader perspective on an industry than press releases with a single brand narrative, and are fact-checked, written by humans, follow strict editorial guidelines, and are reviewed. Generally, these stories are republished as-is, only featuring the brand's name in their byline, and don’t redirect to a company website.
Therefore, brand syndicated stories compound credibility, authority, and trust with news outlets and AI-powered search engines alike over time.
🔎For a more apples-to-apples approach, this page shares a full side-by-side comparison of earned media distribution methods.
Yes! Like most things in your marketing and PR mix, it’s not a one-and-done solution. In fact, they work really well together. This is something that Stacker knows quite well.
Recently, Stacker has teamed up with PR Newswire to power their Feature Story Amplification platform and Notified to launch GlobeNewswire Syndicated Articles. This allows brands who are customers of Notified or PR Newswire to leverage those respective wires for press releases while also maximizing their discoverability by running their brand editorial articles through the Stacker wire.
Winning teams have always been multichannel, and we’re thrilled to meet customers where they already are.
These new partnerships mean bigger audiences for brands with ambitious distribution goals, while preserving editorial integrity.
Whether it’s directly with us or leveraging one of our partners, let’s chat about how we can amplify the eyes on your content and scale your brand authority while we do it.
Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock / Canva