- It’s not about You! It’s about Them – the readers, viewers, listeners etc of the newspaper, radio or TV station, website or other online platform that you are targeting with your press release. First question to ask – what impact will my news have on Them? For example, if you’ve just won a major client(s) – congratulations – but does this mean you will be employing more people (direct employment), building bigger premises and/or require more suppliers(indirect employment) and/or opening up new export markets? Winning a new client may get you coverage in your trade/industry publications – but new jobs, markets etc will help get you coverage in local, national or even international media!
- Can you tap into a trend? Take a macro view? Can you link your news to what’s current e.g. growth of food/tourism industries? Get statistics on a relevant trend in the wider economy – and contextualise your story within that?
- Comparisons are also good. Can you compare what’s happening in your sector to what’s happening in the same sector across the EU, in emerging markets? Again, get the stats and use them!
- Have you any celebrity fans?! If you have – shout about it! It certainly increases your chances of coverage in the ‘red tops’ (tabloid newspapers), certain women’s and lifestyle magazines, websites and so on – but make sure the celebrity’s image and values match those of your company/product!
- Customer Testimonials – if you don’t have celebrity customer but do have one or more high profile, respected companies or business people as customers and they are willing to be quoted, this is very beneficial for press releases targeting business and trade media. Make sure also to use these testimonials on your website, social media, blogs – wherever u can! It’s much better to get your customers to talk about your company/brand/product/ service as it’s far more credible than you talking about it!
- Are the 5x W’s and 1xH answered in the first two paragraphs?
- What?
- Where?
- When?
- Why? and
- How?
- Where?
- When?
- Why? and
- How?
7 Use
a tone that’s right for the media you are targeting. Become familiar with the publications, radio
and TV programmes, websites you are targeting – and match your tone
accordingly. For example, press releases
targeting business media should be factual and not feature superlatives while
those targeting the red tops can be more humorous and informal. You may have to
write a number of different versions of the same press release – if it
increases your chance of media coverage, it’s worth the time investment!
8 Keep
it short! No-one has time for waffle – so the shorter the
better! Particularly for broadcast and
online media – if they want more detail, they’ll ask for it.
9 Write
in the 3rd Person – try
not to use the word ‘you’ in a press release unless it’s in a quote – otherwise
it’s an ad. The idea is that you write the
press release in the style that a journalist would
10. Don’t
forget to include your contact details! At a minimum, include your mobile phone
number and email address.
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