Create a List of Media Contacts

This is Step 1 in the Collection "Send Press Releases and Emails". If you already have a list of media contacts saved in your Agility account, you can move on to
Step 2: Send Your Press Releases Using Email Distributions
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Agility’s media database provides access to over 1.1 million media contacts and outlets, organized by location, industry, media type, and more. This extensive database is continually updated by Agility’s in-house research team, allowing you to build targeted lists of media contacts for your outreach campaigns.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to search for media contacts, create a targeted list, and save your searches for future use.

Step 1: Access Discover Contacts
Start by navigating to the Media Relations tab and selecting Discover Contacts. This will open the media search interface.

Step 2: Define Your Search Criteria
Agility allows you to refine your search to target individual journalists or the outlets they work for. You can filter by:

Additionally, you can use the Mentioned Keyword field to search for journalists covering specific topics, such as industry trends or emerging events. This means that you can identify who is writing about new or niche topics, specific industries or competitors, and also non-traditional journalists in our media list – like bloggers or influencers – who may not cover a traditional beat or subject.

If you want to target journalists covering fashion, you can type “fashion” into the Subjects field. This will return relevant subjects, such as beauty or lifestyle, which are related to your campaign.

🔹 Step 3: Refine Search with Location and Other Filters
Next, filter by location, such as targeting media contacts based in the United States. You can also refine the search based on outlet criteria, such as:

If you want to ensure you are getting one contact per outlet, select Top Contacts per Outlet Only. This will return one contact per outlet based on job role, prioritizing reporters or journalists.

🔹 Step 4: Run Your Search and View Results

Once you’ve selected your filters, click Search to run the query. Agility will display a list of contacts that match your criteria. From here, you can further refine the results or begin adding contacts to a targeted list.

Step 5: Review Contact Profiles
Click on any contact to view their profile on the right-hand panel. Here you can expand their profile to see:

🔹 Step 6: Save Contacts to a Targeted List, and Save your Search

To save contacts to a list, select one or more. You can select all contacts returned by the search. Then:

Your contacts are now saved to your targeted list and can be used for media outreach.

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It’s a good idea to save your search too so you can easily return to it later. Agility will return updated results whenever you check the search again, ensuring you always have access to the most current list of contacts.

To save your search:

🔹 Step 7: Using Your Saved Lists

Once you’ve saved a list, you can use it for distributing press releases or any other outreach campaigns. Saved searches and lists are accessible under Media Relations, where you can find all of your lists available for selection when creating an email distribution.

Every time you return to a saved search, Agility will show you any new contacts that have matched the criteria since your last search, allowing you to keep your list fresh and up to date.

🔹 Tips for Effective Media Outreach

Step 1: Create a List of Media Contacts
Step 2: Send Your Press Releases Using Email Distributions
Step 3: Formatting your Email Content
Step 4: Personalize Your Email Distributions

Step 5: Analyze Your Email Distribution Report