How to sell to Heads of Marketing at Media & publishing companies
Heads of Marketing in Media & Publishing are primarily measured on audience engagement metrics, such as unique visitors or time spent on site. They respond positively to outreach that clearly identifies how your solution can enhance content distribution or improve audience analytics. Demonstrating an understanding of their specific challenges in content strategy will get their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 563 media & publishing company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- declining audience engagement
- inefficient content distribution
- poor analytics insights
- high churn rates
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent content launches
Search for media companies that have recently launched new content initiatives, such as a new podcast series or digital magazine. Use platforms like Press Release databases or industry news sites to find relevant announcements. This shows you’re aware of their current focus and can tailor your outreach accordingly.
- 02
Pinpoint analytics challenges
Filter for companies that have mentioned struggles with audience retention or engagement in industry forums or social media discussions. This can be done using tools like BuzzSumo or LinkedIn. Highlighting solutions to these specific challenges can make your outreach more relevant.
- 03
Craft a message around content distribution
When drafting your email, emphasize how your solution can streamline their content distribution process. Refer to specific pain points such as slow content delivery or ineffective audience targeting. This shows that you understand their day-to-day struggles and are offering a solution.
- 04
Follow up after key industry events
Schedule follow-ups for a week after major media conferences or events where they might have participated. Reference insights or trends discussed at these events in your outreach. This timing can create a sense of relevance and urgency in your communication.
- 05
Address common objections about ROI
Anticipate objections related to the return on investment of new tools or services. Prepare case studies or examples of successful implementations in similar media companies. Addressing these concerns directly in your outreach will build credibility and trust.
Can media & publishing companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 563 media & publishing companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 24.2% of 1–10-person companies against 82.9% of the largest — 59 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Boost your audience engagement
- Streamline your content strategy
- Insights for your next launch
Questions
- Why do heads of marketing in media ignore cold outreach?
- Heads of Marketing often receive a high volume of outreach, making them selective about responses. If the outreach does not immediately demonstrate an understanding of their industry-specific challenges, such as audience retention or content distribution inefficiencies, it may be overlooked.
- What metrics do heads of marketing prioritize?
- They typically prioritize metrics such as unique visitors, time on site, and conversion rates from content. Understanding these key performance indicators is crucial for tailoring your outreach to demonstrate how your solution can impact these areas positively.
- How can I stand out in my outreach to media marketers?
- To stand out, focus on addressing their specific pain points with tailored solutions. Highlight recent industry trends or challenges they face and present your insights in a way that resonates with their current objectives, such as improving audience engagement.
- What common objections do media marketers have?
- Common objections include concerns about budget constraints, ROI on new tools, and the time required to implement changes. Addressing these objections proactively in your outreach can help build trust and facilitate a more open dialogue.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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