Long Beach entrepreneurs and small business owners often struggle to find time for consistent public relations outreach, but a new announcement from Featured, the AI co-pilot for PR, may change that. The company revealed that Featured Workflows, its always-on PR automations, are now available on every plan, including the Free tier. Previously limited to paid subscribers since July 14, 2026, Workflows monitor journalist requests, HARO queries, podcasts, bylined article opportunities, speaking events, awards, media mentions, competitor coverage, and AI visibility on a user-defined schedule, delivering matched results via email or Slack.
The implications for the local business community are significant. According to Featured's Workflows Usage Report, since Workflows launched on June 16, 2026, users have created 467 workflows that completed 26,239 runs and surfaced 93,012 matched opportunities, with 93% of runs finding at least one match. This demonstrates the tool's effectiveness at uncovering relevant media opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
For Long Beach-based PR agencies and freelancers, the expansion to the Free plan means they can now offer automated monitoring to clients with limited budgets. Small businesses that previously could not afford dedicated PR software can set up workflows in plain language, such as typing a single sentence into Featured Chat like, “Send me HARO requests about small business finance every morning in Slack.” The system then runs automatically, pausing when the daily usage allowance is reached on the Free plan and resuming the next day.
The 12 workflow types cover a wide range of PR needs, from monitoring HARO and Connectively to finding podcasts, journalists, creators, awards, and even tracking AI citations across platforms like ChatGPT and Claude. Unlike automated outreach tools, Featured Workflows stop at the opportunity, leaving the decision to respond to a human. As CEO Brett Farmiloe explained, “Automation stops at the opportunity. A person still decides whether it's relevant and what to say.”
Paid plans offer higher usage allowances, with Lite at $29 per month and Pro at $79 per month billed annually, but the Free option removes a major barrier to entry. For Long Beach's thriving small business ecosystem, this could mean more local stories getting picked up by media outlets, greater visibility for entrepreneurs, and a more competitive landscape for agencies that can now automate routine monitoring tasks. By democratizing access to always-on PR research, Featured is empowering even the smallest ventures to stay informed about opportunities that can amplify their brand.
