You probably don’t need to learn how to write a press release.
You just need to know when your business has a story worth telling.
Maybe you’ve just crossed an important customer milestone.
Maybe you’ve launched something new, entered a new market, won an award, signed a major partnership or reached a point in your company’s journey that feels worth sharing.
You know something important has happened.
Then the next meeting starts.
Another email arrives.
A client needs your attention.
And before you know it, that story has been sitting in your notes for three months.
That is the real problem with PR for many business owners. It isn’t a lack of stories. It’s a lack of time.
Knowing you have a good story and turning that story into a professional press release are two very different things.
This is where a virtual assistant company can help.
A good VA team can take the information sitting in your head, your emails, reports, customer data or company updates and turn it into a story that is ready for your approval.
And the work doesn’t necessarily stop with the writing.
They can research the right PR opportunities, find suitable distribution channels, prepare supporting assets, coordinate publication, support media outreach and track what happens after the release goes live.
Why Press Releases Still Matter
It’s easy to assume that press releases have lost their value.
Businesses now have LinkedIn, Instagram, newsletters, blogs, podcasts and an endless supply of AI tools.
Why bother with a formal press release?
Because a press release does something those channels don’t always do.
It gives your business a formal way to announce something important and create a clear, first-party record of what happened.
That matters even more in an internet increasingly filled with AI-generated content.
A 2024 Gartner consumer survey found that 80% of consumers agreed generative AI had made it harder to distinguish what is real online from what is not.
Gartner’s more recent research continues to point towards a more sceptical online environment, with consumers questioning the quality and reliability of the information they see.
For businesses, that makes credible first-party information increasingly important.
Your website, company newsroom and press releases give customers, journalists and other audiences somewhere they can go to understand what your company has actually announced.
So PR isn’t only about getting your name into a publication.
It can also help build visibility, credibility and trust.
But there is an important question that comes before writing anything.
What Makes Something Worth Announcing?
Not everything that happens inside a business deserves a press release.
And that’s okay.
A new hire probably isn’t news.
A routine internal change probably isn’t news either.
But reaching a major milestone can be.
So can launching something that solves a real customer problem, entering a new market, forming a meaningful partnership, receiving genuine industry recognition or helping a customer achieve an impressive result.
The difference is usually context.
A number on its own may not mean much to someone outside your company.
The story behind that number might.
That is exactly what happened with MyTasker.
A Real Example: How a VA Team Can Handle the PR Process
MyTasker recently reached a major milestone: 100,000 projects completed for more than 6,000 clients worldwide.
It was a significant moment for the company.
But if we had simply written:
“MyTasker has completed 100,000 projects for 6,000+ clients.”
we would have missed most of the story.
Those numbers represent years of work.
They represent thousands of customers, countless conversations, problems solved, lessons learned and a team that has continued to grow and adapt.
They also say something about how businesses and individuals have increasingly turned to virtual support to manage their workload and create a better balance between work and life.
That was the story worth telling.
But getting that story into the world involved much more than writing a few paragraphs.
Our virtual assistant first researched PR companies that could give us meaningful reach in our target markets.
The team compared their audience, distribution options, pricing, and the opportunities they offered to mention our company and include relevant links.
Once we had shortlisted suitable options, the VA communicated with the PR companies, understood their submission requirements and looked closely at the format they expected.
Then came the research.
Rather than simply filling in a template, the team studied successful press releases published through similar platforms.
They looked at headlines, topics, structure and other elements that appeared repeatedly in releases that performed well.
Tools such as Semrush helped us understand which releases were gaining visibility and identify common patterns.
That research gave the team something more useful than a blank document.
It gave them a direction.
The VA then used those insights to shape our milestone into a proper announcement.
The final press release was published through PRWeb, giving the story another channel through which people could discover the company.
But the work didn’t end when the release went live.
We kept watching.
The VA team tracked what happened after publication, including traffic, clicks, search activity and other signals through analytics platforms and Google Search Console.
The point wasn’t simply to say, “The PR has been published.”
We wanted to know whether it was actually doing anything.
Was it bringing visitors to the website?
Were people clicking through?
Did search visibility change?
Did the announcement create interest beyond the publication itself?
And this is where AI is making the process even more interesting.
Today, when tools such as Search Console, analytics platforms and Semrush are connected to an AI assistant such as Claude, a VA can ask questions in plain English and pull insights from several sources without manually opening every dashboard.
Instead of spending an hour jumping between reports, they can ask:
“Did traffic increase after the PR went live?”
“Which pages received the most visits?”
“Did we gain any meaningful search visibility?”
“What should we do differently with the next announcement?”
The technology makes the work faster.
But someone still needs to know what to ask, what the numbers mean and what to do with the answer.
That is where the human side of a virtual assistant company becomes valuable.
You aren’t simply hiring someone to type a press release.
You’re getting someone who can research the opportunity, find the right channel, understand the story, coordinate the moving parts and keep an eye on what happens afterwards.
For a busy business owner, that difference matters.
Other Stories Hiding Inside Your Business
The MyTasker example is only one type of PR opportunity.
Your next story could be sitting somewhere you aren’t looking.
A new product or service
A launch becomes more interesting when there is a genuine reason behind it.
What problem led you to create it?
What were customers struggling with?
Why did you build this particular solution?
The product is the announcement.
The reason behind it is what makes the announcement interesting.
A new partnership
A partnership can be worth announcing when it creates something meaningful for customers or the market.
Perhaps two companies are combining their expertise.
Perhaps the partnership opens a new market.
Perhaps customers can now access something they couldn’t before.
The partnership is the news.
Why it matters is the story.
Expansion and growth
Opening a new office, entering a new country, expanding your team or making a significant investment in the business can give you something worth communicating.
It also tells customers and potential customers where the company is heading.
Awards and recognition
An award can be worth sharing, particularly when it represents genuine recognition from an established organisation or industry body.
But don’t stop at announcing the award.
Explain what it means.
What did the team do to earn it?
Why is the recognition important?
What does it say about the work you are doing?
Customer stories
Sometimes your strongest PR story isn’t about your company at all.
It’s about what your company helped a customer achieve.
A meaningful customer story can bring context, emotion and proof to an announcement.
And because it focuses on a real outcome, it can often feel much more human than a company talking about itself.
The Problem Isn’t Usually the Story. It’s the Time.
A founder might have ten years of interesting company stories sitting in their head.
A marketing manager might have a folder full of announcements that never got written.
A business might achieve something significant on Monday and be completely focused on something else by Tuesday.
That’s normal.
Running a business means constantly moving to the next thing.
This is why a virtual assistant company can be useful.
You don’t necessarily need someone sitting in your office full-time waiting for the next announcement.
You can have a VA or PR support team step in when something worth communicating happens.
You provide the information.
They help turn it into a story.
How Virtual Assistant Companies Can Help With Press Releases
Writing is only one piece of the puzzle.
A good VA team can support the process from the first idea to the results after publication.
1. Finding the story
You might send your VA a message that says:
“We’ve just crossed 5,000 customers.”
That may be all they need to start asking questions.
When did the company start?
How long did it take to reach the milestone?
What changed along the way?
Are there interesting customer stories behind the number?
What challenges did the business overcome?
What does the milestone mean for the future?
Those questions can uncover the story hiding behind the announcement.
2. Researching the opportunity
A VA can gather the information needed to support the story.
That might include company data, industry statistics, previous announcements, customer information, relevant market developments and other supporting details.
They can also research where similar announcements have been published and which PR channels make sense for your audience.
This gives the writer something much more useful than a few bullet points from the founder.
3. Writing the press release
Once the story and supporting information are clear, the VA can prepare the first draft.
The goal isn’t to make your company sound bigger than it is.
It’s to make the announcement clear, interesting and credible.
The best press releases don’t feel like advertisements.
They tell people what happened, why it matters and what comes next.
4. Turning founder knowledge into a real story
This can be particularly valuable for busy business owners.
You may be able to explain the entire story during a 20-minute conversation.
The problem is that you don’t have another two hours to turn that conversation into a polished document.
A skilled VA can interview you, work from your rough notes or even use a voice recording as the starting point.
You provide the knowledge.
They do the heavy lifting.
5. Editing and fact-checking
A first draft is rarely the final draft.
A VA can check names, dates, figures, quotes and other important details.
They can remove repetition, tighten the language and cut unnecessary promotional claims.
Most importantly, they can make sure the interesting part of the story isn’t buried underneath five paragraphs of company history.
6. Preparing the supporting material
A press release may need more than words.
There could be photographs, logos, graphics, links, executive information, company descriptions and other assets required for publication or distribution.
A VA can organise these pieces so your marketing team isn’t chasing them one by one.
7. Publishing and distribution support
Once the release is approved, there is still work to do.
Depending on your PR strategy, a virtual assistant company can help publish the announcement to your company newsroom, prepare it for distribution platforms, research relevant publications and organise media outreach.
The exact support will depend on the VA company and the skills available within the team.
8. Tracking what happens next
Publishing the press release shouldn’t necessarily be the end.
Someone can monitor coverage, mentions, backlinks, journalist responses, referral traffic and other outcomes.
Over time, this creates something valuable.
A record of what actually works for your business.
You begin to see which stories attract attention, which channels perform well and which announcements are worth pursuing again.
You Don’t Have to Become a PR Expert
This may be the biggest advantage of all.
You don’t need to spend your afternoon learning how to structure a press release.
You don’t need to memorise PR terminology.
You don’t need to become an expert in media outreach.
You simply need to recognise when something important has happened.
Then tell your VA team.
A message as simple as:
“We just reached 5,000 customers. Is there a PR opportunity here?”
can be enough to start the process.
Your VA team can then help determine whether there is a story, what the angle could be and what needs to happen next.
That’s a much easier way to think about PR.
What Makes a Virtual Assistant Company Different?
Hiring a freelancer to write a single press release can certainly work.
But a virtual assistant company can offer something broader.
You may have access to people with different skills across writing, research, graphic design, marketing, social media and administration.
That means an announcement doesn’t have to become another project for you to manage.
The process starts with identifying a business milestone, then researching the story, finding the right angle, creating the press release and visual assets, publishing it on your website, distributing it, reaching out to relevant media, and finally tracking the results.
And you don’t have to personally coordinate every step.
That is the real value.
A Better Way to Think About PR
Don’t think of PR as something you do only when you have a massive announcement.
Think of it as a way of documenting the moments that matter in your business.
The new partnership.
The customer milestone.
The product launch.
The award.
The expansion.
The interesting customer story.
The people who helped you get there.
You may not recognise these moments as newsworthy because you’re living them every day.
Someone outside your business may see them differently.
And sometimes, all you need is another person to ask:
“What happened here, and why should anyone else care?”
That question can uncover an entire story.
Synopsis
The best press releases often start with something very simple:
“Something important happened in our business.”
From there, the work is about finding the story, gathering the facts and presenting it in a way that people outside the company can understand.
That is where a virtual assistant company can take a lot of pressure off a busy business owner.
The VA team can help identify potential stories, research the details, find the right PR opportunity, write and edit the release, prepare supporting assets, coordinate publication, support media outreach and track what happens afterwards.
You provide the experience.
You provide the facts.
You provide the story.
Your VA team helps bring it to life.
And when your business reaches its next milestone, you won’t have to wonder what to do with it.
You can simply ask:
“Is this worth a press release?”
