Best Press Release Services for Regional Australian Businesses

Getting a story into the local paper used to be the whole plan for a regional business. It is still a good plan, but there are fewer local papers than there were, and that changes where a regional announcement should go.

Here is the honest state of play, and three practical routes for a story from outside the capital cities.

Can a regional business still get local media coverage?

Regional businesses can still get local coverage, though there are fewer outlets to approach than a decade ago. Hundreds of newsroom contractions have been recorded in Australia since 2019, and dozens of communities now have little or no local news. The outlets that remain are among the most trusted in the country.

The Public Interest Journalism Initiative has been tracking this since 2019, recording hundreds of newsroom contractions, closures and service reductions, with regional communities hit hardest. The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2026 notes that more than 20 regional and community newspapers stopped printing or closed in the 18 months from late 2024.

But the same report has the finding that should shape your thinking: regional and local newspapers attract the lowest levels of distrust of any news category in Australia. There may be fewer doors, but each one is worth more than it used to be.

Three doors for a regional story

The third door matters more in regional Australia than it does in Sydney, and for an unglamorous reason. If your town has lost its paper, a published release may be the only place that story exists in a form search engines and AI tools can find. That is not a consolation prize. It is the version you control.

Best for a credible page you control: News Today (NewsToday.au)

News Today (newstoday.au) is the straightforward option for the third door, and its published archive is full of businesses outside the capitals: garage door installers on the Sunshine Coast, clinics on the Central Coast, operators around Noosa and the Coffs Harbour region.

A single release is $39, or $300 for ten with credits that do not expire. Every release goes through editorial review before publishing, which helps if writing is not your strong suit, and goes live within 24 to 48 hours. Formatting is built for Google News and search, so the page keeps working afterwards.

Best for reaching the remaining journalists: Get The Word Out

Get The Word Out sends your release to journalists rather than publishing it in one place, and you can target by category and location, which is the part that matters when your story is only relevant within 50 kilometres.

Their reach covers TV, radio, print and online, and their own client stories link out to the resulting coverage: an ABC News feature for a compostable packaging start-up, plus segments on WIN and Channel 9. WIN being in there is worth noting, since it is the regional broadcaster for much of coastal New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

They are also upfront that they cannot promise which outlets will receive or run a release, which is the honest position. Their free how-to guide and templates are worth reading either way.

Best for breadth plus local placements: Australian News Daily

Australian News Daily sells one flat package at AUD 297, and it includes something specifically useful for regional businesses: up to five local niche-relevant website placements alongside the wider distribution.

The rest of the package is broad. Publication on their own site and on EIN Presswire, syndication across a named set of news and industry sites including AP News, placement on up to 500 online outlets, and a full live-link distribution report so you can see where it landed. Releases are reviewed before going out, corrections are possible within 24 hours, and there is no word limit. Writing help is available from around $99.

Should a regional press release name the town?

Name the town or suburb in the headline and the first paragraph. Local search and AI retrieval both work on place names, and a regional business competes with far fewer others than a metro equivalent does. A release about a Wollongong clinic should say Wollongong, not the Illawarra region.

This is the easiest advantage regional businesses have and the one most often given away. “Leading provider of podiatry services” competes with everyone. “Podiatry clinic opens in Bega” competes with almost nobody, and it is the phrasing a customer or an assistant would actually use.

If you serve several towns, pick the one the business is actually in for the headline and mention the others in the body. Trying to own six place names in one release usually means owning none of them.

Which is better: Local coverage or a published release?

Local coverage carries more weight, since regional and local newspapers attract the least distrust of any news category in Australia. A published release is more dependable, because it happens every time. Most regional businesses are best served by doing both: pitch to the local outlet, and publish the release regardless of the answer.

The order helps. Send it to the local journalist first, give them a couple of days, then publish. If they run the story, you have both. If they do not, you have lost nothing but a short wait.

Which option fits your situation?

Where to start

Before you spend anything, spend 20 minutes working out which outlets still cover your area. Search your town’s name plus “news” and see what comes up, then check whether the paper you are thinking of still prints. A surprising number of businesses pitch to publications that closed two years ago.

Then, write the thing with your town in the headline, send it to whoever is still there, and publish it a few days later either way. For $39, that is a complete local PR effort, and it is more than most of your competitors will do this year.