Press releases and the trade press: Why editors don’t print yours

Contents

1. Why doesn’t the trade press print your press release?
2. How does a trade editor decide what goes into the magazine?
3. Which mistakes cost the most coverage?
4. Why is your competitor in every other issue?
5. What works better than a press release?
6. How do you get your story to the editors?
7. How can you tell that things are changing?
8. Frequently asked questions

The trade press won’t print a press release when the editors can’t find a story in it for their readers. That sounds harsh. But it’s the most honest answer to a question we often hear from marketing leads in machinery and intralogistics. And the next question usually follows right behind it: What do I tell management when they ask what all this is for?

Picture the desk of a trade editorial team. A small crew fills a magazine every month, plus the website. Often there’s a newsletter on top. Lots of press releases land there every day. Nobody reads them all to the end. The decision happens at the headline and the first paragraph. If that spot holds an anniversary or “another milestone,” your release is out before the second sentence.

Editors aren’t being dismissive. Trade media live on reader trust. Decision-makers in industry pick up a trade journal because they find expert information on their own problems there. They want to know how others rebuilt a warehouse. They want to know what matters in an investment decision. A release that only celebrates the sender doesn’t fit that promise. That promise is your way in. Give the editors something that fits it.

Then there’s the calendar. Trade journals work with editorial calendars that they often publish for the whole year in their media kits. An issue focused on order picking wants picking material in spring. Send a release on charging technology that month, and you’re fighting uphill. Even if your story is actually good.

And there’s one line many people underestimate. Editorial and advertising are separate. Section 7 of the German Press Code, issued by the German Press Council (Deutscher Presserat), requires publishers and editors to ensure a clear separation between editorial content and content published for advertising purposes. Booking an ad therefore doesn’t buy you editorial coverage. Reputable trade media stick to this rule.

The language is advertising. “Innovative,” “leading,” “holistic” and “unique” are claims without proof. Editors cut them. Or they set the release aside right away, because they would have to rewrite the whole thing.

The facts are missing. New conveyor technology without throughput, dimensions, application area and availability can’t be assessed. Trade media readers want numbers. So do the editors.

The benefit is buried at the bottom. Many releases start with the company and end with the result. Editors read it the other way around. The most important point belongs in the headline and the first sentence.

The material is unusable. A 72 dpi product shot, a cut-out rendering with no real environment, no caption, no credit line. No printed magazine can work with that.

The distribution list is too broad. A release that goes to the business press and twenty trade titles at the same time is written for none of them. A trade editor spots that instantly.

The schedule replaces the story. “We send something out every month” is a plan for the sender. In a month with no story, you get a release with no story. After the third of those, the editors stop reading the fourth closely.

Competitors who show up in the trade press all the time offer editors more than press releases. That stings when you dutifully send out your release every month and still come up empty. Look at what your competitor delivers instead:

• Case studies, in which a customer explains what has changed in their operation
• Bylined articles, in which an expert answers a question many in the industry are asking
• Experts as sources, whom editors can contact for market overviews and background pieces
• Topics that match the editorial calendar, pitched in good time

Behind this there’s usually a way of working that doesn’t need a big budget. Someone in the company or at the agency knows the editorial calendars and the people in the newsrooms. That person knows which issue is looking for which topic. The press release then becomes just one tool among several.

Two examples from our work show what this can achieve. For Wiferion, it generated 256 publications in 2025. For Safelog, the count came to more than 676 clippings over three reporting periods, including coverage in Handelsblatt and FAZ.

Finished content that editors don’t have to build themselves works better than a press release, such as a case study or a bylined article. The press release is still the right format for real news. Think of a new product, an acquisition, a major order or a figure the industry cares about. For almost everything else, there are better ways into the magazine.

• The case study tells the story of a real customer deployment, from the starting point to the result. Quotes and images come from the operation. Trade journals like to print it because readers recognize themselves in it.
• The bylined article answers a question that goes beyond your product. For example: What matters when planning an automated warehouse? It is often written exclusively for one publication.
• The editorial meeting brings an expert with a topic to the editors. You don’t need a finished text for it. Interviews and background pieces grow out of it. Often you’re left with a contact that lasts for years.

If you use these formats, you need fewer press releases. And the ones you still send get read more closely, because the editors know you by now.

You get your story to the editors with a personal pitch to the right person at the right time. Above all, that takes preparation. Here’s how to go about it:

1. Frame the topic from the reader’s point of view. One sentence: What will readers learn that they didn’t know before?
2. Choose the right media. Five titles whose readers fit exactly beat forty that fit somehow.
3. Check the editorial calendars. The media kit shows which issue has which focus and when the editorial deadline is.
4. Find the responsible editor. The masthead or the website lists who covers what. An email to the general newsroom address is the weakest route.
5. Keep the pitch short. Write three or four sentences on the topic, why it fits now, which format you offer and what material is available. Don’t attach a finished text on first contact.
6. Have material ready. You need print-quality images with captions and the data. Add a contact person who can be reached.

If the editors say yes, deliver on time and at the agreed length. If they say no, ask why. The answer will help your next pitch more than any checklist.

You can tell things are changing by the coverage you get. The number of releases you send tells you little. Three things are worth watching:

• How many articles appear and in which media. A case study in a leading industry title carries more weight than ten short items on online portals.
• What form they take. Do only shortened releases appear, or are full articles and interviews coming out?
• Whether editors approach you on their own. That is the clearest sign that your company is seen as a source.

And that gives you your answer for management, too. They are right to ask what press relations deliver. A list of publications in the right media answers that better than any mailing statistics.

If you’re looking for support: Our press relations for B2B companies start at exactly this point. For our work for the Open Logistics Foundation, we won the German Agency Award 2026 (Deutscher Agenturpreis) in the “B2B / PR” category.