Are Press Releases Really Worth It in 2026?
Every couple of years, someone declares the press release dead, right alongside the fax machine and the away message. And yet here we are in 2026, still writing them, still sending them and still getting asked whether they're worth the effort.
In short, it depends entirely on why you're sending one and to whom.
As a 17-year-old marketing agency that has partnered with dozens of PR teams and sent a billion releases, we understand brands’ frustration with the traditional process. While its value is barely a fraction of what it used to be, a press release does still have some value.
The good news: journalists still want them
Despite the eulogies, reporters have not sworn off press releases. Muck Rack's 2026 State of Journalism report found 86% of journalists say at least some of their stories originate from PR pitches. So no, nobody's ignoring your inbox out of principle.
Here's the catch. The same report found 88% of journalists immediately ignore pitches that don't match their beat, and nearly half say they rarely receive pitches that are actually relevant to what they cover.
In other words, journalists aren't tired of press releases. They're tired of press releases that have nothing to do with them, sent by brands that clearly used a spray-and-pray media list instead of doing homework on who's on the other end. To make press release writing worth your while, just send the right release to the right person.
The bad news: it won't fix your SEO
If someone sold you on press releases as a backlink hack, we have bad news. Google has been explicit that links inside distributed press releases should carry a nofollow attribute, treating them more like paid placements than earned editorial endorsements, a stance the company reiterated in its own guidance on qualifying outbound links.
Blast your release across 200 syndication sites, and you'll get a stack of links that do nothing for your rankings.
The search engine optimization (SEO) value that does exist comes from somewhere else entirely: a real reporter at a real outlet finding your story genuinely newsworthy enough to write about and link to you on their own. That's earned media, not distribution volume, and no wire service can manufacture it for you.
So what are they actually good for?
A press release is a tool for stating something clearly and on the record, not a growth hack. It's most useful when you have real news: a funding round, a product launch, a location opening, a legal win, a hire that matters, a recall or a correction that needs to be handled straight. Used that way, it does its job well.
- For a tech startup, that might mean a release timed to a funding announcement that gives trade reporters a clean, quotable source instead of a scramble.
- For a law firm, it could be a notable case outcome or a new partner, sent to the legal trade press that actually covers your practice area.
- For a CPG or food and beverage brand, it's often the credibility boost that gets a retail buyer or local reporter to take a new product seriously.
- For a kids and/or toy brand, press releases get the most mileage by timing releases to trade shows and the holiday buying season, when retail press is actively looking for what's next.
The question to ask before you send one
Don’t ask, "Should we do a press release?" Instead, ask, "Would a specific reporter genuinely want to know this?" If the honest answer is no, save it for social media or your email list. If the answer is yes, write it for that one person, not for a database of 10,000 loosely related contacts.
Press releases aren't dead. They're just no longer a substitute for an actual strategy. And frankly, they never should have been.
Not sure whether your next announcement deserves a release or a different approach entirely? Let's figure it out together!
Written in collaboration with Claude