For a few years (or decades, depending on how you look at it), press releases felt like a relic.

Marketing teams continued producing them because they had always been part of the communications playbook, but their real-world impact seemed increasingly questionable. Distribution services promised hundreds of “pickups,” yet many of those placements appeared on low-visibility aggregator sites that almost no real people ever visited.

Clients often saw those pickup lists as proof of reach, but experienced PR practitioners knew the reality was more complicated.

For a while, it was reasonable to ask whether press releases still served a meaningful purpose.

Ironically, the shift toward AI-driven discovery has made them more valuable than ever.

The Original Purpose of Press Releases

Press releases were designed for a very different media environment.

Before the internet, and even into the early digital era, newsrooms actively monitored press wires such as PR Newswire and Business Wire. These feeds served as centralized sources of announcements, research findings, executive commentary, and corporate developments.

Journalists scanning those feeds could quickly identify story ideas, verify key facts, and reach out to organizations for additional information.

In that context, press releases were genuinely effective. They were a structured way to communicate news directly to reporters who were actively looking for it.

Why Their Influence Started to Fade

Over time, the way journalists discovered stories changed.

As media shifted online and newsroom resources tightened, reporters relied less on wire services as their primary discovery channel. Story ideas increasingly came from direct outreach, social media conversations, expert networks, and ongoing industry reporting rather than scanning press release feeds.

At the same time, distribution platforms expanded their syndication networks. A single release might be automatically republished across dozens or even hundreds of sites.

On paper, this looked like massive reach. In practice, most of those sites had minimal readership and little editorial oversight.

This created a disconnect. Organizations could point to long lists of placements while actual coverage or engagement remained limited. Press releases started to feel less like a meaningful communications tool and more like a legacy tactic that persisted largely because it had always been part of the PR toolkit.

AI Changed the Equation

Then the discovery landscape changed again.

Increasingly, buyers, analysts, and researchers begin their information searches with AI systems that summarize answers, compare vendors, and surface insights from across the web.

These systems rely on content that is clear, structured, and easily crawlable.

Press releases happen to be extremely well-suited for that environment.

They clearly identify the organization, the announcement, the relevant stakeholders, and the context surrounding an event. In other words, they function as structured summaries of important developments.

For search engines and AI systems, that structure matters.

A press release can become a clean source that algorithms reference when describing a company, a partnership, a product launch, or a research milestone.

Press Releases as Structured Source Material

In the AI era, press releases serve several important functions.

• They create indexable, authoritative information

Press releases follow a predictable structure that answers the core questions of any announcement: who, what, when, where, and why. That format makes them easy for search engines and AI systems to crawl, interpret, and surface.

When an AI system generates an answer about a company or event, it often pulls from sources that clearly define those facts. Press releases provide exactly that.

• They help generate third-party signals

Press releases can still spark coverage from journalists, bloggers, and industry publications. These mentions matter because search engines and AI systems weigh credible external references heavily when determining what information to trust.

• They establish a public record

Press releases often become the first formal documentation of a company milestone, whether that is a funding round, product launch, research result, or strategic partnership.

Once indexed, that information becomes part of the broader web of references that journalists, analysts, and AI systems draw upon when describing a company.

This kind of transformation is not unique to press releases. Language and technology are full of examples where older concepts survive even as their original mechanics disappear. We still “rewind” videos even though nothing is literally winding anymore. We still “hang up” the phone even though there is no receiver to place back on a hook. The word remains because the function still makes sense.

Press releases are evolving in a similar way.

Press Releases Are Part of a Larger Strategy

None of this means press releases are a standalone solution.

Simply drafting an announcement and distributing it through a wire service rarely produces meaningful results on its own. The real value comes from how a press release fits into a broader communications strategy.

This is where experienced publicists and communications strategists make a difference.

A strong PR program does far more than publish announcements. It helps ensure that important developments reach the right audiences, are framed in the right context, and reinforce a broader narrative about the company.

In practice, that often includes:

Strategic media outreach

Distribution services such as Business Wire ensure announcements are published in structured, indexable formats across the web. But distribution alone rarely drives meaningful coverage.

Experienced publicists maintain curated lists of journalists, editors, producers, and analysts who cover a specific sector. Those relationships allow announcements to reach reporters who are genuinely interested in the topic rather than relying solely on broad distribution networks.

Narrative framing and positioning

Not every announcement is inherently newsworthy. A communications strategist helps shape how an announcement is framed so that it fits into larger industry conversations.

That may involve highlighting the implications of new research, positioning a product launch within broader healthcare trends, or connecting a company milestone to a larger shift happening in the industry.

Creating multiple visibility assets

Press releases are often only one component of a broader communications effort.

A single announcement can generate multiple assets that reinforce visibility across different channels, including:

• blog posts explaining the context behind the news

• contributed articles or bylines expanding on the topic

• executive commentary for media interviews

• podcast appearances

• conference presentations

• social media commentary and industry discussion

Each of these assets creates additional opportunities for the announcement to surface across search engines, media coverage, and AI-generated answers.

Ensuring communications consistency

Strong communications strategies ensure that messaging is aligned across all channels. The narrative reflected in a press release should reinforce what appears on a company’s website, blog, conference presentations, and media interviews.

When those signals are consistent, they compound. Search engines, journalists, and AI systems all encounter the same core ideas across multiple sources.

The Part You Can't Google

The real value of a PR firm comes down to three things: knowledge, experience, and relationships.

Knowledge is easy. Experience takes time. But relationships take years to build.

Anyone can search Google or ask an AI system for advice on messaging, media outreach, or communications strategy. Experience still matters, but it could be learned over time through trial, error, and iteration. The hardest thing to replicate is relationships. Good publicists spend years building trust with journalists, editors, analysts, and producers across their industry. Those relationships are often what you’re paying to access and leverage.

A good PR firm is the difference between silence and coverage, obscurity and attention.

Focus on the work. Let experienced communicators make sure the right people hear about it.

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Systole Media helps healthcare companies turn expertise into visibility. Contact us.