How to sell to Procurement leads at Media & publishing companies
Procurement leads in media & publishing are primarily measured on cost savings achieved through vendor negotiations. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of the unique pressures in the industry, such as fluctuating content costs and the need for timely procurement to meet publishing deadlines. Tailoring your approach to address these challenges is key to getting 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
- budget constraints on content acquisition
- delays in vendor onboarding
- pressure to reduce costs quickly
- inconsistent quality from suppliers
The playbook
- 01
Identify cost pressures in content acquisition
Research current trends in content pricing within the media & publishing sector. Use platforms like IBISWorld or Statista to find reports detailing rising costs. This will help you understand the specific pressures your target is facing and tailor your messaging accordingly.
- 02
Spot recent vendor changes or consolidations
Look for news articles or press releases indicating recent mergers or vendor changes in the publishing space. Tools like Google Alerts can help you stay updated. Mentioning these changes in your outreach can demonstrate your awareness of their current procurement landscape.
- 03
Leverage seasonal procurement cycles
Understand the procurement cycles specific to media & publishing, such as budget planning at the end of Q4. Timing your outreach to coincide with their budget discussions can increase your chances of engagement. Reference the upcoming cycle in your communication to show you’re aligned with their schedule.
- 04
Address common objections about budget constraints
Anticipate objections related to tight budgets and highlight how your solution can lead to long-term savings or efficiency gains. Prepare case studies or examples that specifically relate to media & publishing to counter objections effectively.
- 05
Follow up with insights on market changes
After your initial outreach, follow up with insights on recent changes in the media landscape that might affect their procurement strategy. Use industry reports or whitepapers as references. This positions you as a knowledgeable partner rather than just a salesperson.
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
- Navigating content costs
- Optimizing your vendor strategy
- Recent changes in publishing procurement
Questions
- Why do procurement leads in media & publishing ignore cold outreach?
- Procurement leads often receive numerous cold outreach messages, making them selective about whom they engage with. If the outreach fails to demonstrate an understanding of industry-specific challenges, such as content cost fluctuations or tight deadlines, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What are the key challenges for procurement leads in media & publishing?
- Procurement leads in this sector face challenges such as managing fluctuating content costs, ensuring timely vendor onboarding to meet publication schedules, and maintaining quality while reducing expenses. These factors create a complex environment for procurement decisions.
- How can I make my outreach relevant to procurement leads?
- To make your outreach relevant, focus on industry-specific challenges like cost management in content acquisition and vendor reliability. Tailoring your message to reflect an understanding of their unique pressures and offering solutions can significantly increase engagement.
- What role does technology play in procurement for media & publishing?
- Technology plays a crucial role in enhancing procurement efficiency, from automating vendor management processes to providing analytics on spending patterns. Procurement leads often look for solutions that can streamline these processes while ensuring compliance with industry standards.
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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