Key Takeaway
- Major media coverage can provide credibility, third-party verification and strong “As Featured In” proof.
- Most consumers do not actively search for a company’s press release unless the announcement affects them directly.
- Publication numbers and media logos should not be confused with customer reach or commercial results.
- A press release should support a larger campaign involving owned content, social media, search visibility and sales activity.
- Companies should decide whether they want credibility, media attention, investor assurance, search visibility or customer demand before choosing a distribution strategy.
Whenever a large company with a substantial marketing budget wants to announce a product launch, partnership or market expansion, one of the first steps is usually to approach prominent business and news publications.
In Malaysia, that may mean BERNAMA, Malaysiakini or even Lowyat, really take your pick.
For companies targeting international stakeholders, names such as Yahoo Finance and Business Insider may also enter the discussion, but the fee would probably be more than RM50,000.
For businesses, there are a lot of benefits being featured on a prominent/trusted third-party site.
- The company gets publication links.
- The corporate communications team shares them on LinkedIn.
- The sales deck is updated.
- The media logos appear on the website under an “As Featured In” heading.
The campaign report may show ten, twenty or even fifty placements. Management approves the report, and everyone moves on.
But six months later, a question remains:
Did any potential customer actually search for that press release?
In most cases, probably not.
And today, let’s talk about it.
Why Do Malaysian Companies Pay for Major Media Placements?
A publication on a recognised news platform gives a corporate announcement something the company cannot create on its own: third-party presence.
A business can publish any claim on its own website. It can say it is innovative, trusted, growing quickly or committed to sustainability. You can even say it’s endorsed by [insert very well known brand here].
Statement becomes more credible when an established external platform also carries the announcement, this is why AI and to some extent Google love citing third-party sites to back up claims.
These placements can help a company:
- Demonstrate that an announcement was made publicly
- Support investor or stakeholder communications
- Build trust during sales discussions
- Strengthen a corporate profile
- Create third-party references for awards and tenders
- Show that the company is active within its industry
For B2B and B2G companies, these signals and publications matter immensely.
A procurement manager evaluating a vendor may not discover the company through a press release. However, after receiving a proposal, the manager may search the company name and find evidence of partnerships, expansions, awards or public initiatives.
The press release becomes supporting proof that the business is legit and recognized.
And here is where the intent behind a press release becomes important.
Why Are Consumers Not Searching for Your Announcement?
General end consumers search according to their own needs, as such they don’t care if you plant 10,000 trees at Pahang or “empowering local communities with our CSR programme”.
They search for:
- Best cafes in Subang
- Affordable business insurance
- Solar panel installation prices
- HR outsourcing services
- Private hospital near me
- Housing prices near Kuantan
- Reviews of a newly launched product
They rarely search for:
- Company X announces strategic transformation initiative
- Company Y strengthens commitment to customer excellence
- Company Z celebrates milestone partnership
- Brand X launches innovative CSR programme
These corporate headlines may satisfy internal stakeholders, but they definitely do not reflect how customers search.
Does That Mean Major Press Coverage Is Worthless?
Not at all. If your intention is to launch a press release in hopes your customers see it on social media, then perhaps that RM50,000 should be better spent elsewhere.
On the other hand, when a company displays logos from recognizable publications on its homepage, it is borrowing credibility from those brands.
Visitors may not have read the original articles, but the logos can still reduce uncertainty and make you trusted, especially for first-timer browsers.
The logic is quite simple: This company has appeared somewhere legitimate = therefore more trustworthy
That reassurance can support conversions, especially in industries where customers worry about scams or product credibility.
Are You Buying Publicity or Buying Proof?
Before spending RM50,000 (rough estimate) on a press release campaign, management should decide what it is actually buying.
There are several possible outcomes.
1. Public Awareness
The company wants a large number of relevant people to know about the announcement.
This requires more than publication. It may also require journalist outreach, social distribution, paid promotion, influencer participation, executive interviews and supporting content.
The whole package which of course will inflate the price.
2. Corporate Credibility
The company wants recognised third-party references that support its brand image.
In this case, publication quality, relevance and recognisability may matter more than direct traffic.
3. Investor or Stakeholder Assurance
The company needs a clear public record of an expansion, partnership or leadership appointment.
The release should prioritise accuracy, disclosure consistency and stakeholder relevance.
4. Search Visibility
The company wants the announcement to rank when people search for the brand, its executives or a specific industry topic.
This focuses more on SEO and keyword alignment and strong supporting pages on the company’s own website.
5. AI Search Recognition
The new kid on the block. This is for companies that want platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to understand its relationship with a product, service, industry or location.
6. Lead Generation
The company expects enquiries or sales.
This requires an audience-focused offer, suitable calls to action, campaign tracking and a clear path from the article to a commercial landing page.
Note: One press release will rarely achieve all six outcomes equally well. Choose ONE angle and outcome and gun for it.
Corporate Press Releases Become Are Forgettable
Corporate releases are written by committees and not by individual departments. As a PR agency that deals with corporate bureaucracy and red tapes when it comes to press releases, we see it as in many chefs trying to cook the soup by throwing their own ingredients.
- Marketing prepares the first draft.
- Management adds a strategic message and adds the word “seamless” “commitment”.
- Legal removes risky claims.
- Regional headquarters changes the terminology to fit the framing.
- The chief executive contributes a formal quote that makes them far ahead for future thinking.
After several rounds of approval, the release may be accurate but almost unreadable due to the corporate jargon.
It becomes filled with phrases such as:
- Reaffirming our commitment
- Driving meaningful transformation
- Delivering customer-centric innovation
- Unlocking future-ready solutions
- Strengthening our market leadership
- Creating sustainable value for stakeholders
Now these aren’t inherently wrong but they provide little information. What do you mean by commitment? What customer centric innovation? It’s “a macam yes tapi bukan” type of scenario that frankly no one cares about.
They do not explain:
- What has materially changed
- Who benefits from the announcement
- What problem is being solved
- How the initiative works
- What measurable result is expected
- Why the announcement matters now
Search engines and AI systems need context, journalists need an angle and framing while Customers need to know why this is relevant to them while scrolling through their phones.
Corporate language often removes all three.
What Should Management Expect From a RM50,000 Campaign?
The figure in this title is illustrative, most press releases or campaigns cost less or considerably more depending on writing, translation, distribution, video, media events and publication arrangements.
There’s a lot of variables but regardless of budget, management should expect more than a folder of links.
A proper campaign report should explain:
- Which audiences the publications reach
- Why each platform was selected
- If the placement was editorial, sponsored or syndicated
- What messages appeared consistently
- Which links were included
- Whether referral traffic was generated
- Whether branded searches increased
- Whether the article ranked for relevant queries
- How the coverage was reused
- What should happen next
That’s a lot of metrics we threw at you, but it’s just to give you an idea that press releases are not a set it and forget it type of deal.
Once you see press releases through these marketing lenses, you will realize the true value of one.
Press Releases Are Not Waste, Just Match Them
Press releases should not be viewed as an announcement on prominent sites, these placements can provide credibility and proof that can be reused across corporate materials.
The usefulness should be judged by whether it helped the right people understand, verify and trust the company.
At Press.com.my, we helps Malaysian businesses plan and publish corporate stories that support both immediate credibility and longer-term digital authority. By combining strategic PR publishing with semantic SEO and GEO-focused positioning, companies can turn an announcement into an asset that continues working after launch day.
Frequently Asked Questions About Press Release Nobody Search
Is Paying for a Press Release a Waste of Money?
Not necessarily. A press release can provide corporate credibility, media references, backlinks and public proof of an announcement. It becomes wasteful when the company pays for distribution without defining the audience, objective or method of measuring success.
Will Publishing on a Major News Site Generate Sales?
It may support sales by strengthening trust, but publication alone rarely guarantees enquiries. Companies still need a relevant offer and a clear route from media coverage to the next customer action.
How Many Media Placements Does a Press Release Need?
There is no ideal number. A few relevant placements read by investors, buyers or industry stakeholders may create more value than dozens of copied articles on unrelated websites.
What Should Management Measure Besides Media Pickups?
Track referral traffic, branded searches, relevant backlinks, media enquiries, sales usage, stakeholder responses and whether the coverage continues appearing for important brand or industry searches.
Are “As Featured In” Logos Worth Paying For?
They can be valuable trust signals, especially for unfamiliar companies or high-consideration purchases. However, logos should link to genuine, accurately represented coverage and should not be presented as editorial endorsement.
How Can a Company Reduce the Risk of Wasting Its PR Budget?
Set one primary objective before distribution, choose publications based on audience relevance and agree on measurable outcomes with the PR provider before approving the campaign.
