Have you been in business for a while? Then it’s very possible that you’ve gotten some press about your brand. Where do you store all this info? Maybe it’s a folder on your computer or an online text document. Why not put it all in one place with an opportunity to filter by sentiment, product, or type?

This template is available in Airtable. Below is an interactive preview of it and here’s the direct link for you to copy into your own account. You don’t need an account to preview and navigate around it. If you’re unfamiliar with Airtable- welcome! Sign up for Airtable (referral link) if you like Excel but need it to be pretty. If you don’t like mine, explore the various templates that Airtable offers.

Who is this for?

  • Small business owners who don’t work with a PR agency
  • Brands who don’t do a lot of press outreach (you don’t constantly pitch journalists)
  • Freelancers or consultants who sometimes get press
  • Because this is a coffee marketing newsletter, I’ve put in some default selection options that are more related to coffee. You are free to amend to your own usage.

Press table

This is where you will be spending the most time. The first view is of all the articles that you’re featured in and their details. If you fill this out for an article, the Publication and Writer tables will automatically be edited. For each field, I’ve added descriptors to help you figure out what to put in there. Below are some highlights:

  • Sentiment: On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the most positive, how favorable is this article to your brand?
  • Mentions: List out all the products and services that your brand offers that get featured in the press. Some example mentions include: roasted coffee, company values, founders, cafe consulting.
  • Type: How is your brand featured in it? Are you a source? Is this a solo Q&A?
  • Attachments: Attach PDF versions of each article in case you lose track of them or the website disappears. Scan the printed ones.
Screenshot of the Press table in the template.

I have also added positive and negative views. If you want to assign this as a task to someone but don’t want them to edit past articles’ details, use the form view. You can create a public link to the form and they’ll enter info for each article they come across.

Publication table

Depending on how you work, you can either add publications as you get published in them or add all the ones you can think of that you want your brand to be in. As the list gets bigger, you’ll want to start adding details for each one. Are they online or print or both? Do they specialize in an industry?

Screenshot of the Publication table in the template.

I’ve added some extra views for you, too. One is a filter of publications that are active, another by the type, and another by pitch. If you only occasionally send out pitches or press releases, you can use the pitch Kanban board to track the status of each one.

Writer

A simple CRM for tracking writers. Like the publication table, these can either be added in as you fill in the Press table or add all the ones you can think of. Many journalists specialize in a few areas so putting those in here helps you identify which ones to pitch if you need it later on. If they write for multiple publications, the field gets automatically updated. I also added in a view for filtering for coffee (or any interest) writers.

Screenshot of the Writer table in the template.

Tips

You do not need to use all of the aspects of this table. For my personal press, I have a simpler version (sentiment doesn’t really matter in this case). If you are the one who pitches to journalists and writes the press releases, you can add on more tables.

All field options are editable. I pre-filled them with some common examples. And while I did use some of my press mentions, I also added some random ones.

I hope this template works out for you! If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know how much I love a good process. This is one of those tables that I use in my own work process.