Too often, most pitches die before a journalist even finishes the subject line. Why? Because they all sound the same: “we launched,” “we partnered,” “we raised.” None of that stands out in an inbox flooded with similar messages.
What journalists – and communities – really respond to are stories that cut through the noise by connecting products to bigger conversations. This article, shaped with insights from Danijela Tomić, organic content team lead at Outset PR, explores how to turn raw product updates into narratives that win journalists’ attention and earn community trust.
What makes a story resonate with journalists in crypto and Web3 today
Journalists are drowning in pitches. Most look and feel identical: a feature release, a fundraising update, a new partnership. What actually gets noticed is when a story feels bigger than the company itself. In crypto, that usually means tying a product update to a broader tension in the industry: regulation battles, adoption spikes, or whatever narrative dominates the cycle that week.
Equally important is freshness. Journalists want to break stories, not echo ones that are already circulating on X or Discord. That’s why timing and exclusivity matter just as much as the message. If you can frame your pitch as both relevant and ahead of the curve, you’ve already cleared the first hurdle.
How to identify what’s newsworthy, and what’s promotional
The simplest filter is to ask: does this matter outside the company walls? Teams naturally fall in love with their own features – they’ve lived inside the code for months. But most audiences don’t care that a dashboard got redesigned.
Newsworthiness comes from impact. If gas fees are crushing activity and your protocol cuts them by 70%, that’s not just a feature – it’s a development in one of the space’s biggest debates.
If the story shapes how the market thinks about adoption, risk, or utility, then it’s worth a journalist’s attention. If it only validates the pride of your internal team, then it’s better suited for a community announcement.
The difference is simple: weak pitches try to sell the journalist; strong pitches equip them with a reason to write.
From features to narratives
Features are temporary. A staking pool today, a wallet upgrade tomorrow, a new bridge next week – the stream never ends. On their own, these updates blur together and vanish from memory as soon as the next project ships something faster.
Narratives, on the other hand, are what give features meaning. They connect each release to a bigger promise that people can remember and rally around. Tesla doesn’t make headlines because of a dashboard button but because every tweak is framed as part of a mission to shift the world to clean energy.
Crypto projects need the same clarity. If your north star is “making DeFi safe enough for anyone to use without losing sleep,” then every minor update becomes part of that story. Narratives turn incremental steps into visible progress toward a long-term vision.
Aligning with market trends without forcing it
Not every story belongs in every trend. One of the fastest ways to lose credibility is to bend your message to whatever buzzword is dominating the week. That’s how when it’s all about AI, an NFT project suddenly becomes “AI-powered” – and most of those claims didn’t survive a single news cycle.
Real alignment happens when the overlap is natural. If your product already touches a hot conversation or new use cases, then leaning into that trend makes sense. By respecting the difference between authentic relevance and opportunistic noise, projects build trust and earn staying power, even when the trend shifts.
Speaking to journalists and communities without losing authenticity
Media and communities don’t consume stories the same way. Journalists want independence, clarity, and facts they can verify. Communities want belonging – to feel like they’re part of the journey. Both groups care about the same story, but how you tell it makes the difference.
Take the example of gas fees once again. For the media, the pitch is data-driven: “Our protocol now offers the lowest fees in the industry, backed by these numbers.” For the community, it’s relational: “We heard your feedback, and together we fixed one of the biggest pain points.” Both are true, and both strengthen credibility, but each speaks to a different audience need.
The key is not to force a single voice across all channels. Instead, adapt the framing while keeping the underlying narrative consistent. That’s what builds trust externally with journalists and internally with loyal users.
Biggest mistake projects make when pitching themselves
You may think that the biggest mistake is tone or even lack of relevance, but in fact it’s timing. In crypto, narrative cycles move at breakneck speed: one week everyone is talking about restaking, the next it’s stablecoins, then regulation. If a project sends its pitch even a few days too late, the window closes.
This is why so many otherwise strong stories disappear without a trace. Teams assume that because their update is big for them, it will naturally matter to the media. But if the timing doesn’t sync with the wider conversation, even a well-framed pitch won’t land.
To avoid this, projects need to track the rhythm of the industry and align their outreach with active discussions. When you ride the wave at the right moment, journalists are more likely to pay attention.
How a shift in framing changes the coverage
Crucially, the right framing can completely change how the media sees a project. Take meme coins. Traditionally, they’ve been covered as hype-driven assets – fun to trade, risky to hold, and rarely taken seriously. But when one of our clients, Choise.ai, launched Meme Bank, the narrative shifted.
Instead of pitching “another token in the bull run,” the story became about meme coins crossing into utility. Payments, cards, staking, even banking functions suddenly gave them a role beyond speculation. Media coverage flipped from dismissive to serious, positioning meme coins as test cases for whether community-driven assets could evolve into something practical.
Another example comes from Graphite Network. On the surface, it was just another blockchain with reputation features. But when we tied its story to Tesla’s $150 billion wipeout, caused by political drama between Musk and Trump, it hit differently. Framed as “capital is nothing without trust,” the project connected a mainstream event with a structural problem in finance. That angle gave journalists a fresh lens, and the coverage reached far beyond the crypto bubble.
Narratives that need a reset
Some of the most important stories in crypto today are still being told the wrong way. A prime example is stablecoins. Too often, they’re written off as “boring” infrastructure or background liquidity – reliable, yes, but unexciting. In reality, stablecoins are fast becoming the Trojan horse of adoption: the form of crypto that governments, banks, merchants, and everyday users can integrate without even realizing they’ve stepped into Web3.
This disconnect shows why reframing matters. If a project presents stablecoins as little more than “safe money,” the story dies quickly. But if it positions them as the bridge between traditional finance and crypto-native systems, suddenly they become central to the industry’s long-term growth.
The same logic applies to many overlooked or miscast narratives in Web3. When you reframe the story to highlight real-world impact, alignment with macro trends, and cultural resonance, you shift perception from background noise to front-page relevance.
Conclusion: Building stories that last
In the end, stories that win are built on narratives that resonate with the realities of the market. Journalists and communities alike want more than updates; they want context, clarity, and a sense of where things are heading.
The role of PR is to help projects surface what truly matters, while respecting both the independence of the media and the authenticity of their communities. When storytelling is consistent and anchored in trust, it becomes a compounding asset.
At Outset PR, that’s the standard we work toward: making sure the stories we shape with our partners don’t just fill headlines, but build credibility that lasts. Our team brings together content professionals with backgrounds in editing and journalism who know exactly how newsrooms tick – and how to frame stories so they break through and get published. If your project is ready to present its vision in a way that resonates with both media and communities, we’d be glad to help.
