Every press release for a client lives in Content → Press Releases, next to Content → Social. Each one shows where it is: Draft, Waiting for client, Approved, Out for distribution, Distributed or Skipped.
The status filter above the list starts on All. Pick To do to see only releases that still need something from you, or pick one status.
Write one
- Click New press release. The brief opens already filled in. Zeus does most of the work, and you can change anything.
- Pick What are you announcing? A new service, a new location or opening, an award or milestone, an event, a new hire, a partnership, community or charity work, or something else.
- Check what's filled in:
- Headline idea and Key facts: Zeus drafts these from the client record for the type you picked. Key facts are one fact per line, taken from the record: services, service areas, address, hours, year founded, the Google rating and review count (the exact numbers from the last review check), awards as written on the record, recent work done and the website. A short "Zeus is drafting…" shows while he works. If you change the type, he drafts them again, but never over a field you've already edited.
- Lines marked "(add it)": things the record can't know, for example "New address: (add it)" for a new location, or "Event" and "Event date" for an event. Key facts is highlighted and a yellow box lists each one with a box to type in. Type the answer and press Enter (or click away) and the line is filled in. You can also edit or delete the line in Key facts yourself.
- Date (optional).
- Dateline city: the client's city and state from the client record, with the state written out (for example "Santa Rosa, California").
- Quote (optional): From and Title are filled with the owner's name and title when the client record has them (Brand Author or About the owner). What they said, word for word is always empty: Zeus never writes quotes. Leave the words empty and there's no quote. If you add words, say who they're from.
- Link (optional): the client's website, or the matching page on their Mount Olympus site when there clearly is one (the services page for a new service, the events page for an event, the contact page for a new location). It changes with the type unless you've edited it.
- Direction for Zeus (optional): a short note, for example "Mention the ribbon cutting".
- Click Redo with Zeus any time to have him draft the headline and key facts again. This replaces what's in those two fields.
- Click Write with Zeus. The cost shows on the button. It stays grayed out until every "(add it)" line is filled in (or deleted), and the reason shows beside it, for example "Fill in the highlighted line in Key facts (or delete it) to write the release." He writes the release in a minute and it appears in the list.
If Zeus can't write it, the card says "Zeus couldn't write this release. No credits were used." with a Try again button.
Zeus writes it in press release format: a headline, a sub-headline, the dateline (for example "SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — October 11, 2026"), a lead paragraph that says who, what, when, where and why, the body, your quote, an About paragraph taken from the client record, the media contact, and the ### end mark. He uses the client's brand voice and your writing rules.
What Zeus will and won't write
- When he fills in the brief, every key fact is a line from the client record. He leaves "(add it)" lines for anything the record doesn't have instead of guessing, and his headline idea never states a number, place, person or award that isn't on the record.
- He only states facts from your brief or the client record. He never invents numbers, awards, partners, customers or results. If he wrote something the brief and record don't back, it's removed, and the release tells you what was left out.
- He never writes quotes and never names people. The only quote in a release is the one you typed, added exactly as you typed it and attributed exactly as you named the person. If you name a person, you must give their words.
Edit it
Click Edit to change the headline, sub-headline, dateline, the body (in a rich text editor), the About paragraph or the media contact. Rewrite with notes asks Zeus to rewrite it with your directions ("make the lead shorter", "mention the opening hours"). Saving changes to an approved release puts it back to Draft, because the approval was for the old text.
The word count is shown under the release. To use Distribute it needs 250 to 1,200 words, at most 5 links and at most 3 images.
Settings
Click Settings on the tab:
- Client approval: shows whether this client approves releases first, with a link to Client → Settings → Client approvals where you turn it on or off. See Client approvals.
- Media contact on releases: your agency, the client, or a named person. You can set a name, email and phone. Empty boxes use the agency's or the client's details.
Send it out
Distribute (paid by card)
Distribute only works when direct distribution is connected for your account. If it isn't, the button is grayed out with "Direct distribution isn't connected yet", and Settings says so too. Send it by hand instead (below).
When it's on, click Distribute on a draft or approved release:
- Pick one or more options (a base distribution and any premium outlets). Each shows its price.
- Pick 1 to 5 categories.
- Check the total and click Checkout. You pay once by card on a secure checkout page.
If the release breaks a distribution rule, the dialog lists the problems under Fix these first: (for example too many links). Edit the release, then try again. If no options can be offered, it says "No distribution options are available right now…" and you can send it by hand.
When you come back from checkout, a banner says the payment was received, or "Checkout canceled — nothing was charged." if you backed out.
Once the payment goes through, the release goes to an editorial review and then to the news sites in the options you picked. Its status shows on the release, and Check now reads it straight away. Timeline lists every step so far with its date and time (Hide timeline closes it). While it's still waiting for review you can Retract it for a full refund.
Refunds are automatic. If an option can't be sent, if the editors turn the release down, or if an outlet declines it, that part is refunded to your card. The agency owner gets an email, you get a Press release order notification in the bell, and the release shows in Needs your attention on your dashboard. The payment and any refund are listed in Billing & credits → Payment history as "Press release distribution: …", and you get the receipt email.
By hand
You can always send it yourself:
- Copy (formatted, for email or a document) or Copy plain text.
- Download as a file that opens in Word and Google Docs, or as .txt.
- Then click Mark as distributed and add how it was sent, the date, and (optionally) the pickup links: the news sites that ran it. You can add or correct them later with Edit pickups.
Results
A release that's out shows Results on its card: the date it was distributed, the total pickups, each news site that ran it with its live link and the date it went live, and each option's state in plain words (Live, Pending or Refunded). Pickups appear as news sites run the release.
This is your own report: it never shows the distribution service's name or its report, so you can share it with your client as your work.
Your client sees the same results in their portal, in your branding: the release is added once to their work done ("Press release distributed: …") with a See the results link, and the monthly email links there too. They see it if they can see work done in the portal. For a release you marked as distributed yourself, they see the pickup links you entered.
Publish to the site newsroom
On an approved or distributed release, Publish to site newsroom adds it to the client's Mount Olympus site as a blog post tagged Press and publishes it. If the site isn't published yet, the post appears once it is. This can be done once per release.
Zeus and your AI tools
- In his monthly scan, Zeus suggests a press release only when there's real news in the data: the client passed a review milestone, added a service to their Google Business Profile, moved to a new address, or reached a round anniversary of the year they were founded. The suggestion comes with the steps.
- In Zeus chat you can ask him to write a release. He shows a card with the cost first, and the release lands as a draft.
- Over MCP, your AI app can list a client's releases and add one from its own copy as a draft (no Zeus, no credits).
Examples
- A second office: pick New location / opening. Zeus fills the headline idea and key facts (service areas, hours, services), the dateline city and the link to the contact page. Type "120 Main Street" in the New address box, add the owner's words if you have them, then Write with Zeus.
- An award: Award / milestone, Key facts with the award's real name and year, Direction for Zeus "Thank the customers who voted".
- A charity day: Community / charity, Date, Dateline city, then Publish to site newsroom once it's approved.
Limits and what it can't do
- To use Distribute, a release needs 250 to 1,200 words, at most 5 links, at most 3 images and 1 to 5 categories.
- Zeus never writes quotes or names people you didn't give him.
- Distribution is paid by card at checkout, not with credits.
- Publish to site newsroom works once per release, and only for a client with a Mount Olympus site.
- A release that's out for distribution or distributed can't be edited or rewritten.
Credits
- Zeus filling in the brief (when the dialog opens, when you change the type, and Redo with Zeus) is free.
- Writing a release with Write with Zeus costs one Press release (2 credits), charged once it's written. If Zeus can't write it, nothing is charged.
- Rewrite with notes costs one Content revision (1 credit).
- Editing by hand, copying, downloading, marking as distributed and publishing to the newsroom are free. Distribution is paid separately by card.
Who can use it
Agency members with the Clients tool who can see the client. Clients can approve releases in their portal when client approval is on (see Client approvals), and see the results if they can see work done.
Troubleshooting
- Write with Zeus is grayed out with "Fill in the highlighted line in Key facts": type the missing detail in the yellow box (or edit the "(add it)" line in Key facts), or delete the line if it doesn't apply.
- "Fill in "New address" in Key facts first": the brief still has an "(add it)" line. Fill it in or delete it.
- "Zeus couldn't draft this just now": fill in the headline and key facts yourself, or click Redo with Zeus. Nothing is charged.
- The dateline city or the quote's From is empty: the client record has no city, or no owner name. Add them in the client record, or type them in.
- "Give Zeus the news: a headline idea or a few key facts": fill in Headline idea or Key facts.
- "Say who the quote is from": you typed the words but From is empty. Add the person, or clear the words.
- "That link isn't a web address": use a full address starting with https://.
- "Zeus couldn't write this release. No credits were used.": click Try again. Adding more key facts helps.
- Distribute is grayed out: either distribution isn't connected ("Direct distribution isn't connected yet"), the client hasn't approved it yet ("Waiting for the client's approval" or "Needs the client's approval first"), or there's already an open order.
- "Fix these first:": edit the release to fix each listed problem.
- "The editors have started on it, so it can't be retracted any more.": it's past the point of retracting. If it's turned down, you're refunded automatically.
- "Checkout canceled — nothing was charged.": you left checkout before paying. Click Distribute again when ready.
- "This release changed in the meantime — refresh and try again": someone else edited it. Refresh the page.