Public relations (PR) has long been considered a valuable way to increase a businesses’ publicity, while maintaining a positive brand reputation. High quality media coverage can increase awareness, strengthen stakeholder relationships and even promote your products and services. Unfortunately, it is estimated that 97 per cent of press releases go straight into the bin.
It takes an extremely well–written, relevant and targeted press release to make the news. With the rise of social media, and an increasing number of firms waking up to the SEO benefits of creating engaging content, journalists have more avenues to source their stories than ever before. Editors have increased choice and less time, meaning businesses need to work harder to capture their attention.
So, how can you ensure that your news makes it into the editorial pages rather than a journalist’s deleted items?
Is your news really newsworthy?
Before you start writing, ask yourself whether your story is newsworthy. Does your information demonstrate something new, exciting or controversial? Will people outside of your company find it interesting to read?
If you answer ‘no’ to any of the above, you need to find a suitable angle or discard your idea. Could you link your information to some interesting survey results or new findings from a report you have undertaken? You need to convince a publication that your story deserves to grace its pages, so corporate overtures and superfluous descriptions should be avoided at all times. Your news should show how good your company is without recourse to making a separate point; otherwise your press release will simply be disregarded as shameless self-promotion.
Measure your angle
Once you have made certain that your story is newsworthy, you need to find an appropriate angle for each media outlet you are targeting. This can only be achieved by knowing the magazines or websites well enough to appreciate what they are likely to print. Spend time finding out about each of the publications that you would like your news to appear in. Download its media pack, identify its audience, and look at its editorial calendar. Have a good look around the website or blog to get an idea of the types of content it features. This will help you make an informed choice about what angle to take.
If you are approaching national newspapers and magazines, you need to identify a hook to make your story appeal to non-specialist readers. If you are selling-in to trade publications, they will be more open to specialist releases, but they will still need more than just technical jargon. Human interest is fundamental to every story – writing two or three versions of a release and changing the angle to suit different audiences will be worth its weight in gold.
The five Ws
An effective press release should answer five basic questions – who, what, why, when and where?
For example, if your company wanted to release news about a revolutionary new energy-saving car, the press release should include the following:
- Who is it aimed at? (young, old or both? Is it for the family or business?)
- What type of car is it? (size, specification, cost, design)
- Why should you buy this car? How is it different from all the others?
- When is it available?
- Where is it available from?
It is also important to appreciate that journalists are busy people. You need to ensure that, if they only read the first few lines of your press release, they know exactly what the story is. Use no more than two sides of A4 and adopt double-spacing to make it easy to read.
Hit your target
Drafting a well written and interesting news piece is only half of the story. You must ensure that your press release arrives in the right inbox to stand a chance of making it into the news, so make the extra effort to establish the right point of contact. If you cannot stretch to a PR company armed with a contact database containing up-to-date journalist details, you will need to carry out this research yourself. Look at newspaper websites and e-zines for contact details and take note of the journalists currently covering similar issues to your story.
Timing is everything
National newspapers employ some of the busiest journalists in the country, so you need to get your timing right to make an impact. Early mornings are best because editorial meetings – where journalists discuss the stories they are preparing – take place mid-morning.
Weekly publications will have a ‘dead day’. Find out when this is and use this day to run your story past an editor to give them time to reflect on your ideas.
Monthly publications can require up to three months to print a story, so knowing the editorial submission dates for relevant features is worthwhile. Create an electronic calendar and use it to record any copy deadlines to ensure you do not miss opportunities.
Although online publications publish news around the clock, this does not mean that websites have an infinite number of journalists to write about every story they receive. Blogs and online magazines still have to select the most appropriate and time sensitive stories to publish, so keep an eye on the news and pick your timing sensibly. If a major national event, such as a royal wedding or sporting contest, is on the cards, it might be sensible to hold back your press release to ensure it is not rejected in favour of more timely coverage.
