Outreach

Outlet tier

tier 1 media · publication tier

Definition

Outlet tier is how a team ranks publications: usually Tier 1 national / category-defining, Tier 2 trades and strong regionals, Tier 3 niche and local. It is a planning tool. It is not a law of journalism.

Define tiers by audience overlap with your buyers, not by DA alone. A Tier-3 shipping newsletter can close a deal that a Tier-1 lifestyle mention never will.

How it works

Write the rules once: who is T1 for this account, this year. Score campaigns by mix, not by “we only count T1.” Digital PR should still log T2/T3 links that move search.

Worked example

A cybersecurity firm’s T1 is three national desks plus two trades every CISO reads. A campus paper hit is T3 for brand and T2 for recruiting. The report shows both, labeled.

How it differs

Domain authority is a vendor score. Impression counts are outputs. Tier is a house ranking. They should not be silently substituted for each other.

Common errors

Calling every guest-post site T1. Moving the goalposts after a quiet month. Ignoring the only newsletter the buyer reads because it is “too small.”

Sources