See what we did there? That’s a press release headline up there. Which tells you what this blog is about, with just the teensiest amount of hype (‘essential’).
As the world returns to its jobs, and its offices and businesses re-open, probably to a hybrid of digital and analogue delivery, the battle for market share will begin again in earnest and companies and organisations will vie for attention.
One of the ways to get that attention is to get someone else to talk about you - to get yourself mentioned in the press.
Now, you may have high hopes of a front page in the print edition of the Guardian, but let’s be realistic. Stories like that tend not to emerge from press releases. Often as not, they are stories that the principals involved did not want you to know.
So lower the expectations and think instead about who your audience is for your message. Who is it of interest to? Who is the target market? Are they consumers? Are they peers in your industry? Are they regulators of your industry? The answers to those questions will determine who you send the release to - and you can do some research about who in your market consumes what media, but much of it will be common sense. And common sense beats blanket bombing every news outlet you can think of, most of whom won’t care.
If your market is local, try the regional press. If it is an industry story, try the trade press. If it is a young audience, they will be online only so try the media that appeals to that demographic (if unsure, ask existing consumers - try not to randomly approach young people).
Once you’ve done that, then construct the press release, brick by brick:
The headline
All publications are short of staff and resources. The more you do their job for them, the more they like you, and the more they are likely to take what you and and reproduce it verbatim. The first step in that is to write the sort of headline you think they might use. So study the publication a little and get used to its house style and do your best to reproduce it, while trying to answer key questions in one short sentence:
Local digital marketing agency launches new sausage range
It’s just possible that you can do better, but remember that it needs to answer key questions: What’s new? (sausages); Why should we care (the local angle)?; And who’s doing it (the digital agency.
The story
In the body of the press release you need to answer a number of key questions
You need to step back from the project and work out why anyone should care. If you want to PR your new website, that's that’s most likely only of interest to your organisation. If it’s a new product or service, is it genuinely new or are you doing something everyone else has been doing for years? Or is it just a tiny twist on what you’ve already got?
In truth, around half of press releases should never have seen the light of day because too many companies mistake ‘of interest to us’ to be ‘of interest to everyone else’. But let’s assume you have something which will genuinely rock our world, it really helps if you Get to the point in the first paragraph. The first sentence, ideally. You’re not telling a complex story with a long narrative arc. You’ve launched something, appointed someone; changed something. Tell us. Quickly. But also tell us why it’s important. Why we should care. What problem it solves. Give us details. Tell us the name. How to buy or access it. Give us a quote. A couple of lines of enthusiasm from the CEO and/or a customer as to why this matters.
A press release should give information in descending levels of importance. Open with the key information. Support it with why we should care. Then how we can use this information (buy it, connect to it, etc). Then give us some endorsements.
Then leave us alone.
The notes
Always end your press release with Notes to Editors, which should contain a name, email address and phone number for a journalist to get more from you or your communications people. Always give them someone who is senior and available. Having an intern saying ‘I can get someone to call you’ will probably kill it.
The style
Many journalists are busy. Some are lazy. Either way try and make it easy for them. Study the publication you’re sending it to and try and mimic their style - as with the headline (as explained above), so with the body copy.
Yes, that does take time and does mean you are sending different press releases to different publications. But it is far more effective to send five crafted, bespoke releases to five publications that will probably use it than to send copy-and-pasted ones to 50 different ones. Most of whom have no interest in you.
As ever, it’s about targeting, not scale.
The assets
The news stories which grab the attention you want have pictures. Of the product or (representations of) the service. A headshot of the people you’re quoting. Or a YouTube video they can embed in the story. The more you can send as part of the package, the better. A journalist who has to ask, then wait for these extras may lose patience and may move on to other things. Give them all they need. Make it easy.
Add the link
Some journalists resist adding links to stories, recognising that back links give you your SEO boost. It’s worth persevering for that very reason. Your argument to them is that it’s of use to their readers. If the story is worth featuring, it’s worth telling the readers how to access what they are reading about. Politely fight that fight, if necessary.
Amplify
Do your best to make sure that people read the story. Send it out in newsletters and on social media. It’s useful to show the third party endorsement of what you do and it’s useful for the publication to get readership. In social media, tag the publication and the journalist. If they see you posting their work, they are more likely to re-tweet or share it too, enlarging the audience.
If you want help with PR and media relations, then get in touch.
