How to create a press or media inquiry form with routing rules

Manage press inquiries efficiently and professionally

In this guide, you’ll create a Press or Media Inquiry Form that journalists, bloggers, and media partners can use to contact your organization.
You’ll set up routing logic to send each submission to the right spokesperson — whether it’s for corporate news, partnerships, or product launches — and automate personalized replies to every request.

📘 Learn more: Create your first form, app, or portal in a flash

Step 1: Create your media inquiry form

From your workspace, click + New → Form, or select Contact us template from the gallery.
You can also use Magic Create — try this prompt:

“Press or media inquiry form that routes requests to relevant departments automatically.”

Add core fields such as:

• Full name
  
  
• Email address
  
  
• Publication or media outlet
  
  
• Inquiry category (General press / Product launch / Executive interview / Partnership / Crisis statement)
  
  
• Deadline or publication date
  
  
• Message or inquiry details (Long text field)
  
  
• File upload (optional, for media kits or press questions)
  
  

💡 Tip: Add your logo and brand colors to make it look like part of your corporate website.

📘 Learn more: How to create a form
📘 Learn more: Customize your form app layout and design

Step 2: Set up routing rules by inquiry category

Go to Settings → Logic → On submit, and create routing rules that automatically send inquiries to the relevant contact.

Examples:

• If @inquiry_category = “Product launch” → send to pr.product@company.com
  
  
• If @inquiry_category = “Executive interview” → send to communications@company.com
  
  
• If @inquiry_category = “Crisis statement” → send to legal@company.com and cc head.of.pr@company.com
  
  

💡 You can add multiple recipients or departments for high-priority topics.

📘 Learn more: How to add advanced logic to your form

Step 3: Send personalized confirmation emails to journalists

Under Settings → Notifications, create a custom email template confirming that their inquiry was received.

Example:

Subject: We’ve received your media inquiry

Hi @name,
Thanks for reaching out to @organization_name. Our communications team has received your message regarding @inquiry_category, and we’ll respond as soon as possible.

— The PR & Communications Team

💡 Use dynamic variables like @name and @inquiry_category to personalize each email automatically.

📘 Learn more: How to create and send custom email templates

SCtep 4: Add internal notifications for PR and comms staff

Set up Conditional Email Notifications so your internal PR or communications team is notified instantly when new inquiries come in.

Example logic:

• If @inquiry_category = “Partnership” → send to partnerships@company.com
  
  
• If @inquiry_category = “General press” → send to pr@company.com
  
  

Include all key details in the email:

Media outlet: @publication
Deadline: @deadline
Message: @message

📘 Learn more: How to send and receive conditional email notifications

Step 5: create a PR response tracking form

Build a second internal form titled PR response tracker for your communications team.
Use Lookup fields to import data from the main inquiry form such as:

• Journalist name
  
  
• Publication
  
  
• Inquiry category
  
  
• Message summary
  
  

Then add internal-only fields for:

• Assigned staff member
  
  
• Response date
  
  
• Priority (Low / Medium / High)
  
  
• Status (Received / Responded / Closed)
  
  
• Notes or comments
  
  

📘 Learn more: How to lookup the submitted data of another form

Step 6: Connect both forms for seamless workflow

Link your Media inquiry form and PR response tracker via Automatic data transfer so each inquiry automatically generates a corresponding tracking record.

📘 Learn more: How to connect forms with automatic data transfer

Step 7: Automate updates and status changes

Use On update logic in your response tracker form to notify journalists when their inquiry is answered.

Examples:

• If @status = “Responded” → send “Your inquiry has been answered” email.
  
  
• If @status = “Closed” → send “Your media request has been closed” message.
  
  

📘 Learn more: What is on update logic and how it works

Step 8: Visualize all press inquiries in a dashboard

Go to Results → Dashboard to create a real-time view of incoming media requests and their status.
Add:

• Table view: All submissions with outlet, category, and status
  
  
• Kanban board: Group inquiries by stage (New / Responded / Closed)
  
  
• Bar chart: Inquiries by department or topic
  
  
• Pie chart: Status overview for PR reports
  
  

📘 Learn more: How to create a Kanban board
📘 Learn more: How to showcase charts based on form responses

Step 9: Build a communications portal for your PR team

Turn your setup into a PR & Communications Portal App that centralizes all media activity.
Add pages for:

• Submit a media inquiry — your main public form
  
  
• PR tracker — internal form for managing responses
  
  
• Press dashboard — analytics view for communications leads
  
  
• Media resources — embedded brand kit or downloadable materials
  
  

Enable Login/Sign-up for internal team access and assign roles (e.g., Public user, PR manager, Comms assistant).

📘 Learn more: How to create a portal and manage users access
📘 Learn more: How to add videos and images to your app

Pro tips

• Add AI Smart Content: Automatically summarize press inquiries for faster internal triage.
  📘 Learn more: Create dynamic ending pages with AI Smart Content
  
  
• Integrate Slack or Google Sheets: Notify your PR team instantly when new media requests arrive.
  📘 Learn more: How to add integrations on Formaloo
  
  
• Enable autosave: Let journalists save draft inquiries before submitting.
  📘 Learn more: How to auto save incomplete responses and let users resume later
  
  

Example scenario

A journalist selects “Executive interview” on your media inquiry form.
Formaloo automatically routes the message to the communications lead and legal team for review.
The PR coordinator updates the linked record in the Response Tracker and marks it as Responded.
The journalist receives a confirmation email, while your PR dashboard updates to show the inquiry as Closed.

📘 Learn more: Build personalized and time-saving flows with logic, automations, and AI

FAQ

1. Can I make the form public on my website?
Yes, embed the form directly on your “Press” or “Media” page, or share a custom URL.

2. Can multiple team members collaborate on the same request?
Absolutely, share your workspace or use portals with team roles for secure collaboration.

3. Can I attach media kits or press contacts?
Yes, add a “Media Resources” page to your portal with downloadable files or links.

Your media workflow is ready

You’ve built a professional press inquiry system that routes requests intelligently, keeps your PR team organized, and ensures journalists always get a timely response.
Next, expand it into a Media Relations Portal with automated reports, downloadable brand assets, and custom press access.

📘 Learn more: How to customize your portal with your brand identity

Last updated November 2025

‍