The whole concept of Public Relations revolves around sharing your story and your brand with the world. But to reach that audience, you have to first gain the interest of editors and journalists reporting to the different audiences around the globe. So, whether it’s commenting on breaking news, sharing company updates or simply demonstrating your…
By Ruby Edwards4 min read
The whole concept of Public Relations revolves around sharing your story and your brand with the world. But to reach that audience, you have to first gain the interest of editors and journalists reporting to the different audiences around the globe.
So, whether it’s commenting on breaking news, sharing company updates or simply demonstrating your industry know-how, you’ll have to channel your voice to the news gatekeepers.
However, with thousands of releases being sent out every day, very few are actually covered in the media. This causes many to ask; what makes a newsworthy story; and how can you make your content more attractive to the press?
PR: an ever-changing landscape
When it comes to coverage success, it’s essential first to understand how journalism is changing. Traditional forms of communication between businesses and the media, such as emailed press releases, are quickly going out of fashion as journalists are turning their attention to social media to find their latest story according to research by ON-Broadcast:
About four in five journalists (78 per cent) said found stories on social media, followed by personal contacts (68 per cent), press releases (60 per cent), other media (50 per cent) and ring-ins from the public (42 per cent).
Now, journalists prefer to use new digital forms such as Twitter and LinkedIn, to spot their latest piece. This signals that businesses need to be continuously adapting to these changing needs, especially when it comes to integrating social media fully into their PR strategy to help them engage with journalists and influencers.
What makes something newsworthy?
So, what should you consider sending to journalists? When your brand has an event coming up or is making some changes that could be worthy of a news story think about the timing of the content you want to share as only recent events will be of interest to journalists.
In addition to this, how important is your news? If you’re targeting industry outlets, you’ll be more likely to gain interest with a change in your managerial board compared to hiring a new assistant.
And finally, will appeal to your target audience? If your ideal customer is someone based in Worcestershire, then there’s no use writing a release for the Derby Telegraph. It won’t get picked up as it’s not relevant to the local area and it won’t appeal to the readers of the publication.
Creating the perfect press release
Despite these changes, press releases are still crucial to successfully sharing your story. According to ON-Broadcast’s research:
94% of journalists agree that the press release is still a recognised source for stories.
To gain interest, it’s evident that your release has to crafted perfectly for those journalists. Your release should be around 18 paragraphs long, featuring approximately 4 lines of text per paragraph. This makes the content as readable and accessible as possible while giving just the right amount of space to include all relevant information without going overboard.
Start your release with a hooking standfirst. This should summarise the angle and general gist of the release in one sentence and be an engaging start to your piece. Also, include a quote from a manager or top-level executive to add human interest and an opinion angle to the article.
Be sure to cover every aspect of the story in the press release’s body, so journalists have every piece of information at their disposal and include your company information at the end to provide perspective to your company news.
And finally, always distribute news with a relevant picture and/or video. Photos and moving image can be vital for engaging and hooking an audience. Without supporting visual content, journalists will quickly lose interest as will the publication’s audience.
Extensively research targeted media
The next step is to distribute your release to the relevant publications. It’s crucial at this stage to make sure you do your research as sending a release to an irrelevant outlet can not only waste your time but lead to bad relationships should you want to contact the reporter in the future.
Picture yourself as your ideal client and consider what you’d read. If you’re a B2B brand, trade magazines will likely be the perfect outlet. Or, if you’re targeting consumers, you’ll want to identify relevant consumer-focused magazines.
Streamline your strategy
Alternatively, you can leave the hard work up to a third party. By working with experienced PR professionals, you’ll be able to access media strategies with a proven success rate.
Here at You Do Better PR, we’ve worked with global brands, SMEs and sole traders to share their story and have been successful in repeatedly securing coverage in target publications. Want to hear more? Please do contact us.
As published in The Pershore Times.
