Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Understanding Public Relations and What it Can do for Your Business. (Part 2)

Writing a Press Release and Getting it in Front of Reporters
BY NOELLE BATES
Director of Corporate Communications, LogoWorks

In last month’s ‘Marketing Tips & Secrets’, I wrote about public relations – what public relations is, and specifically about the component of public relations called media relations (to view this article, click here). As a refresher, media relations is the arm of public relations that is concentrated on dealing with the media – working with the media to place stories, developing relationships with reporters and journalists, and making sure that the press understands and writes favorably about a company.

For a small business, putting together a media relations strategy that will help it get press coverage, and therefore third party credibility, it is crucial to understand how to write a press release. A press release is a statement prepared for distribution to the media. The purpose of a press release is to give journalists information that is useful, accurate and interesting.

But writing a press release is not the whole story – you must actually get it in front of the right people. This involves writing a press release that is interesting, and then knowing how to get a reporter to look at it.

Press releases are a fundamental of any small company’s media relations strategy. In this article, I will focus on how to write a press release, and how to get it in front of the right people based on the news you are trying to share.

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE WRITING YOUR PRESS RELEASE

Press releases follow the Who, What, Why, Where and How construct, but another element that is important for the press release is what I call the “So What?” component. Why should a reporter our journalist care about your news? Reporters at larger papers, on average, are sent anywhere from 25-100 press releases a day, so there has to be something about your news that makes it stand out enough to warrant coverage (be sure to also read the second article in this newsletter by Rhonda Abrams on ‘Getting Publicity for Your Business’ for more tips on writing an effective press release).

It helps to know what are newsworthy items, or when you should issue a press release. Here is a list of announcements that are appropriate:

• A new product or service
• Launching a brand-new company
• New hire in the executive ranks
• Winning a large contract or client
• Becoming involved in a sponsorship deal
• Expanding or opening a new outlet
• Winning an industry award
• Holding a speaking event, panel event, round-table discussion or debate
• Making a large donation to charity
• Conducting research in your arena that has produced interesting statistics

Once you’ve determined if your news item is warrants issuing a press release, it’s important to write your press release correctly since press releases conform to an established format.

However, before you embark on putting your fingers on the keyboard, know that your release needs to be concise and well-written. A good way to ensure your press release is tossed out is because it’s too long and includes poor spelling or grammar or illogical and unsubstantiated claims (like saying your company sells something cheaper than anyone else if you aren’t absolutely positive that it does).

WRITING YOUR PRESS RELEASE

First, at the top of every press release a media contact should be listed. The media contact is the person who will be sending and/or receiving emails and calls from the media and who would work with them to help develop any stories that might arise.

Second, the title of the press release should be listed in bolded and larger font. It should also be centered. The title needs to concisely state the main news of the press release, and if there is secondary information that is important for the release, listing a subhead right under the title is very common. Here is an example of a title and subhead and how they are displayed:

Next, before the first paragraph in the press release, you need to include a dateline. The dateline indicates the location from which the news is coming, as well as the date that the news is announced. For the fictional restaurant above, the dateline would be in bold and would look as follows:

Denver, CO – February 15, 2005 – [First paragraph of press release starts here] The first paragraph of a press release should contain in brief detail what the press release is about. The first paragraph usually consists of three or four sentences, where the editor or journalist can ascertain all of the important information about the announcement.

The second paragraph explains the ‘who cares’ aspect of a press release. The first couple of sentences in the second paragraph provide more details about the release. Then, the reason why the news is important or how it affects the company is usually best summed up through a quote from the president, CEO or spokesperson of the company. Oftentimes, the quote is taken verbatim from the press release and included in a story that might appear, and that’s the point – a good press release allows a journalist to get the details he or she needs to write a comprehensive story. Quotes should be short and enhance the news, and should be something you’d actually read in a newspaper, so steer clear of flowery or “hyped-up” wording.

The rest of the press release (and generally, it is best to keep the release to one page if possible) explains in greater detail the content of the news announcement. For instance, if you were to issue a press release about a new executive, you would want to include their previous history to illustrate why hiring them is going to be beneficial to the company. You might also include another quote from a different source. For example, in the fictional release about Murphy’s Restaurant, you might want to include what the organization giving the award said about why they won the award.

Under the closing paragraph, it is customary to include what is known as a boilerplate, which is a 100-200 word overall summary and description of the organization issuing the press release. For example, LogoWorks’s boilerplate reads as follows:

About LogoWorks
LogoWorks is the world’s largest and fastest-growing provider of logo design services to small businesses. The company solves a simple problem — small businesses don’t have good options for getting a well-designed logo or other graphic design services at an affordable price. The company pioneered a new model of design that leverages a team of designers on each project in order to create more variety and choice for the customer. To date, LogoWorks has empowered thousands of businesses with the same quality of design that used to be available only to larger businesses, at prices just a fraction of the cost: $265-$549. LogoWorks is located in Lindon, Utah. For more information about LogoWorks, please visit www.LogoWorks.com.
And for the finishing touch, the end of a press release is noted by three # symbols and is centered a few spaces from the closing sentence.

DISTRIBUTING YOUR RELEASE

News wires are the most trusted source of getting your press release posted. Most reporters, particularly newspaper reporters, scan the wires on a daily basis to find local news that warrants coverage.

Setting up an account with a reputable company like Business Wire (www.businesswire.com) is a good idea if you have national or statewide news to share. Business Wire account managers can help you determine how to post your release based on the news you’re delivering. You can target your release to different industries, markets, states, or segments of the country, and the different distributions differ in price. For instance, Business Wire’s 2004 rates listed putting a 400-word release out to just the state of California would cost $175, while distributing a 400-word release nationally will cost $595. (Contact Business Wire for 2005 rates).

If your news has a local bent to it, you may just want to email or fax the release to your local paper instead of incurring the cost of distributing a release on the wire. This is done by putting together a target list. A target list includes the names and contact information of the media personnel your news would most appeal to. Most newspapers and magazines list their masthead online, including contact information. If you can’t find it online, calling the main news number or editorial office for that information is a common practice. This advice also applies to TV newsrooms, however, for a story to appear on TV there must be a strong visual component to your news that would warrant coverage.

Target lists are vital to any ongoing media relations strategy. They allow you to develop relationships with specific reporters, and will help you get your news out to the right people every time. Even when I post a release to the wire, I will email the press release individually to each person on my target list. Note that I say ‘individually.’ Do not email the release to a mass group of reporters on the same list. Send out a personal email to each of them with a note at the top about the announcement, and cut and paste the release into the body of the email below (do not send an attachment).

Calling to follow-up on your release can be a touchy subject. Many reporters prefer email and will call you if they would like more information, while some reporters do not mind having you call to follow-up on the release. You will learn each reporter’s preference as you work with them, so it’s a good idea to keep notes about your interaction with certain reporters and what worked, what didn’t, and what they told you about how they prefer to receive your news.

Be sure to read the next article by Rhonda Abrams, a journalist who has received countless press releases, on writing effective press releases.

Good luck!

           

Posted on Thursday, February 17th, 2005 at 4:25 pm and is filed under PR, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.