View all case studies Three Rings Inc.

About Three Rings Inc.

After more than two decades in high-tech PR, marketing and communications with agencies, startups and large corporations, Doug Broad co-founded Three Rings Inc. in 2017. The integrated PR and marketing agency delivers senior-level strategy and modern, full-stack execution for ambitious B2B tech companies looking to break through the market noise and AI slop.

From positioning and narrative to paid media and performance, Three Rings helps startups, mid-market teams and Fortune 100 brands sharpen their story, scale demand and drive measurable growth.

The agency is headquartered in Boston with team members across the U.S. and partners in the UK, Europe and Asia.

Three Rings has used Muck Rack to support their clients’ PR and marketing efforts since 2021.

The challenge

Before Muck Rack, the Three Rings team relied on a manual, multi-step workflow that slowed down pitching and created unnecessary repetition.

Like many PR teams, their process involved researching journalists in a database, exporting contact information, then organizing it in spreadsheets. From there, team members would draft personalized pitches and send them one by one.

“It’s just what people were used to doing back then, but we knew there was a much better, more efficient way to do it and we just needed the right platform,” Doug says.

Plus, Three Rings’ senior-level team brought deep knowledge of their clients’ industries. Doug wanted them to use that knowledge and their time to identify trends, shape strategies and create campaigns—not manage spreadsheets.

The solution

So back in 2021, Three Rings began evaluating PR software to find a solution that could streamline their research, pitching and reporting—and ultimately selected Muck Rack.

The software allows the team to manage public relations for their clients in one place with:

• In-platform pitching and analytics to simplify their workflow, personalize outreach at the individual level and track pitch performance.
• A powerful database of verified journalists, vetted by humans and enhanced by AI.
• Real-time media monitoring alerts to track client and competitor coverage as well as the latest industry news and trends.

Through the past five years, Doug has been impressed that Muck Rack continually invests in new features and upgrades as the PR industry—and technology—evolves, including:

• Generative Pulse helps them understand how their clients show up in AI-generated answers.
• AI Visibility Badges highlight the outlets or journalists cited most frequently in AI-generated responses.
• Media List Agent uses AI to recommend relevant journalists and creators based on their pitch.

“We appreciate that our investment in Muck Rack is being used to create new features and capabilities that deliver better market insights, accelerate our workflows and help us deliver impactful results for our clients,” Doug says.

Using Muck Rack for Generative Engine Optimization and stronger PR results

Today, Muck Rack plays a central role in Three Rings’ workflow. Each day, team members rely on the platform to identify new targets, personalize outreach, monitor results across multiple client campaigns—and even gain insights into how their clients show up in AI-generated results.

Using Generative Pulse to inform AI-driven content strategies

AI-powered search is becoming more influential in how journalists, consumers and decision-makers find information. That’s why Three Rings uses Muck Rack’s Generative Pulse tool to help clients understand how their brand appears in AI-generated responses.

One of their clients in the data management space uses quarterly Generative Pulse reports for a competitive comparison across AI tools for its key industry prompts. By reviewing the queries and responses, the client can pinpoint content gaps and opportunities.

“They’re using it as a diagnostic tool as part of a broader GEO program,” Doug explains. “They look at what prospects are asking and create content that turns into authoritative, cited answers to those queries.”

Just recently, this client closed a six-figure deal with a major consulting firm that was directly linked to an inquiry generated through ChatGPT and attributed to its GEO program.

And Three Rings continues to find new ways to use the Generative Pulse reports. The agency uses the tool to analyze prospective clients against their competitors to inform pitch ideas and campaign plans in new business pitches. The team also recently used data from a Generative Pulse report as part of the quarterly business review KPIs for a major ad tech client.

Building highly targeted media lists across complex markets

Three Rings primarily works with clients in the B2B tech space, but campaigns can span multiple industries and audience segments.

For example, an ad-tech client produces data-driven reports relevant across multiple markets. Because the topics intersect multiple verticals, identifying the right reporters is essential.

“It can be a little daunting,” Doug says. “It’s a high-volume situation with intricate targeting.”

Using Muck Rack, the team can quickly build media lists tailored to specific industries and topics, allowing them to prioritize the most relevant contacts without spending hours researching various sources.

The Media List Agent makes their jobs even easier, allowing them to build targeted media lists in minutes. It recommends which journalists to add or remove based on their pitch, ensuring outreach is relevant.

Recently, Three Rings sent around 350 pitches for their ad-tech client on multiple data-backed story themes. Armed with Muck Rack’s intel, they tracked a 51% open rate, and of those opens, they saw a 61% click-through rate on the reports and assets in the pitch. In the span of two months, this resulted in more than 70 high-quality pieces of coverage in Marketing Week, EMarketer, The Agile Brand, Chain Store Age, The CPG Guys, and a key mention in a front-page Wall Street Journal story that was syndicated or mentioned in The Independent, The Daily Beast, the CBS Evening News and many more.

By the numbers:

• 350+ pitches sent
• 51% open rate
• 61% click-through rate
• 70+ placements

“This campaign demonstrates that when you combine well-researched targeting and highly-relevant content, it translates into higher open rates, click-throughs and coverage.”

Using engagement insights to refine personalized outreach

Finding the right contact is just one part of Three Rings’ pitching strategy. Personalization also is crucial.

Because the senior-level team has deep knowledge and connections within specific industries, they tailor their outreach based on their relationships with reporters as well as the reporters’ interests and coverage history.

Plus, each journalist profile within Muck Rack includes even more intel, including the reporter’s contact information, most recent bylines and even a word cloud, which displays the most common keywords from recently published articles.

“Being able to customize pitches to individual reporters based on relationships or trends is absolutely critical,” Doug says. “Having that capability within Muck Rack is a huge differentiator and really helps our team focus on the value we can bring—strategically and creatively.”

Muck Rack then makes it easy to send these personalized pitches in bulk, minimizing manual work and saving time. And because Three Rings sends pitches through Muck Rack, they have access to important data, including open rates and click-through rates.

“It’s very helpful to see that data and understand the interest level in a certain topic, idea or subject line and refine our strategy and how we follow-up or write pitches in the future,” Doug says. “It really empowers the PR team with A/B testing to try out different subject lines, supporting data or other pitch variables to see what resonates the most.”

Monitoring coverage to deliver ongoing client insights

Tracking coverage is another important part of Three Rings’ workflow. The team uses Muck Rack Alerts to monitor both client and competitor activity, keeping them informed about emerging trends and industry conversations.

Alerts are especially valuable for clients that request ongoing reporting or curated industry updates. In some cases, Three Rings uses Muck Rack to share a daily “newsfeed” with clients.

“I find Muck Rack Alerts easier to set up and use than Google Alerts,” Doug says.

And, unlike Google Alerts, which rely on web indexing, Muck Rack Alerts deliver real-time updates from media feeds and social platforms. They also include broadcast media and social channels.

As Muck Rack’s reporting capabilities have expanded, Three Rings has continued to adopt new dashboard features to provide increasingly valuable data-driven insights to their clients.

Final thoughts on Muck Rack from Three Rings Inc.

Three Rings has used Muck Rack for more than five years now, and it’s become a foundational part of the team’s workflow—from supporting day-to-day pitching to reporting that informs long-term client strategy.

If he had to choose three words to describe Muck Rack, Doug listed insights, intelligence and automation.

“I don’t think everyone realizes all the insights and intelligence you can get from Muck Rack,” he said, citing some of the latest AI-powered features, including the Visibility Badges and Media List Agent.

And as AI continues to shape PR and communications, Muck Rack continues to deliver with tools, like Generative Pulse.

“Muck Rack significantly accelerates our workflows. In fact, there are team members who, if I told them we’re getting rid of Muck Rack, would probably just quit,” Doug said.