Getting Your News Out There

The most time consuming part of press release marketing is to build a media list. This is why the companies that distribute press releases charge so much to do it. They have built extensive databases with every possible piece of information they might need. You are not paying for the service as much as you are for the use of their database.

Building your media list requires a lot of legwork on your part to find, classify, and target your contacts.

Start with the publications you already know. Your local media, the papers and magazines you already read, the channels you watch. Use the knowledge you already have to find your targets.

When you have completed the list of your known outlets, it’s time to broaden your horizons.
The internet is full of directories; it’s the perfect place to start to find media outlets that fit your idea of what you would like to spread yourself to.

Media Directories

US Newspapers - http://www.usnpl.com/
Yahoo Media Directory - http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/
News link - http://www.newslink.org/
Refdesk - http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html

Create a Database

As you identify the publications you want. Add them to a database of some sort. A basic Excel Spreadsheet or a simple Access Database works well for a job like this. Even your email address book can be used.

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You can download a Basic Spreadsheet here
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Target the Right Journalist

Once you have a publication, the most important step you can do to improve your chances is to target the right journalist. It’s far better to send a press release to a journalist that normally writes about your topic than to send it through the “catch all” emails and fax numbers.

Go to the publications website; see if they publish an online version. If you are lucky, this will also include the e-mail to the author of the article. This is the goldmine. You get the name of the author that has shown an interest in your topic area, and a direct channel to their inbox.

– Warning –

Try not to cause unnecessary work

If you intend to send the email to more than one writer at the same publication; Do NOT send separate emails. Send it to all of them in the CC Field. So that they can clearly see who else got it. You don’t want two people from the same publication working on the same story. That will happen once, and the next time they won’t touch it again since they wasted time before.

Fax

Some publications want you to fax them the release. If this is the case, find out what the fax is for the journalist you want to target. If that is not possible, Make sure that you attention it to the person you want. Faxes arrive by the truckload to a major publication. And if you don’t target someone, you risk getting lost in the shuffle of things.

Create a corporate list

Often overlooked, you can make a lot of progress if you build a list with companies you want to associate yourself with, potential advertisers, existing and prospect partners, Industry Leaders etc. It is never a bad idea to include these in your list.

Follow Up

Once you’ve sent your release. Try to follow up with those that you sent it to through a phone call, it does wonders to be picked up if you call them, and ask if they got it, if you can send them anything else. or answer any questions. Again, if you do a little of their work for them, they’ll reward you for it in the long run.

If you have a large list, Make sure that you follow up with the most important ones, as well as the ones that you already have a relationship with. Always nurture your press contacts, they are worth every ounce of effort.

Free Press Release Services

You should also consider news aggregate services like the free press release services, as well as posting your press release onto places like Digg, Reddit, Propeller etc.

Here are two free news release services that function as aggregates. and news people do read them. So you definately want to post your release here too since it does increase your chances with no cost and barely any effort.

Free-Press-Release – http://www.free-press-release.com/
Open PR - http://www.openpr.com/

Condition the Journalists

To maximize your chances, you need to condition the people that pick up your press release. If you follow the basic guidelines, you will give them max benefit for minimum work. This conditions them to look for you again when they need something to publish.

You want to become their "go-to" resource when they need something, you can only do that by providing the best possible release - with easy access followup and supporting information. Do that, and you’ll be rewarded.

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Press Release Marketing if done right, is one of the most powerful, low-cost marketing channels. Don’t miss out on the business you can generate from it.

Good Luck!

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Previous Articles on this topic

How to Create a Media Kit
How to Write a Press Release

Press Releases are extremely powerful marketing and branding tools. They are almost zero cost, and becoming a news item carries a credibility that paid advertising can never achieve.

But unless your press releases are actually picked up, they have very little effect, apart from being a useful resource for fleshing out your media kit like i mentioned in that article.

You need to write the press release in a way that will appeal to your target audience. The problem, is that your target audience now is the press, and they are not likely to succumb to sales pitches and hype.In fact, they are highly allergic to it.

It’s time to bring out the Journalist in you, and write news.

Mind your Format

A well written press release should follow a standard format, this is not the time to be creative. You will do better if you appeal to the familiar when a reporter picks up your release and looks at it. Don’t make them think and wonder about where you are.

Here is an example of a standard format that works well.

Breakdown

1. Top - Logo or company name

Don’t forget to be clear about who you are. This is a great way to be noticed on an overcrowded desk for instance.

2. Contact Information

Make sure that the person you put here is the best one for answering questions. And that they will be available. I’ve seen far too many CEO’s demanding that they be put as the contact on Press Releases only to miss being picked up because they didn’t have time to answer their phones.

3. Date It

Make sure you put the date on it. News are perishable, so the release date is almost as important as the actual news.

5. For Immediate Release

Theoretically, you could put a future release date here, I don’t suggest it though because it will get lost in the shuffle before you get to that date. Better to write the text in the press release so that it includes an eventual future date instead. Don’t make it complicated on anyone by asking them to read it now, and publish it next week. Not to mention that your news might get “leaked” before you want them to.

Headline

This is your moment to shine, don’t give them a bad headline. If you normally write for the Web, be extra careful. Web headlines don’t normally work well in traditional media.

A good headline is clear, conversational, and attention getting. Don’t give away the lead in, or the ending of an article if you can avoid it. There are plenty of good resources for writing headlines, but the best you can find is the people around you. Write five or ten versions, and ask people what they like best.

Avoid trying to be sensational if the story isn’t. That’s just going to annoy both the reporter, and probably the reader if it gets picked up as is.

Don’t try to plug yourself in the headline. It’s cheap, cheesy and never flies. No matter how much you think it would be great to have your company in the headline, just remember that it’s better to be picked up at all. And chances are that if you try to sell yourself with cheesy copy. You’ll never get that far.Your best bet is to go and read as many news paper headlines as you can find and learn that way.

Headlines are normally written in all caps in press releases.

Subheading

The Subheading is where you get a chance to sell the story, you should give a little more flesh here, but still keep it so that you don’t give away everything, Clarify the background but keep the real story for the body.

Example

Here is an example using a post i wrote a while back.

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Bad Headline and Subheading

AMAZING BLOG ADVOCATES FOUR DAY WORKWEEK

The Weakest link, a fresh new marketing blog has determined that companies should let their employees work longer days and get three day weekends to save on transportation costs.

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No reporter worth his salt will pick this up, its clearly a promotional stunt, it’s self-promoting and cheesy and it doesn’t work. Ever!

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Better Headline and Subheading

GAS PRICES WARRANT THREE DAY WEEKEND

Employers are forced to consider new scheduling solutions to offset rising travel costs

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This is better because it has a headline that states the topic, and still raises why questions, the subheading is better because it answers the question, but still leaves a lot to be said.

Lead In Paragraph

The lead in paragraph is the most important part of writing you do here. It has to be interesting, informative, and well written if you are to have any chance at all. I can only suggest reading a lot of articles to get the feel for how this is normally done.

The capturing Lead is the difference between journalistic writing and a school report. It is the baited hook that will grab the readers attention.

It should answer most if not all of the who, what, when, where, why, how. Answer no less than three of those. If you don’t get that part right, you are leaving too many holes in the story, and it becomes hard for a publication to pick up without a lot of extra work.

Body

The body of the press release covers all the supporting facts. This is where you can mention your company more specifically. But do not fall to the temptation to push a sales pitch in here. The reporter has no interest whatsoever in helping you make money. And even less to paint you out to be better than you are. So as soon as they smell that particular rat on your press release. It normally goes into the circular archive.

Give the reasons and rationality. Include the supporting evidence and round off with a quote or two. The quotes are very important, most news stories will have at least one if you read through a paper. Get them one right away and you just took that hassle of their table. less work for them, equals more chances of getting picked up.

The Closing Paragraph

The closing paragraph is a place where you can make conclusions. Remember that in News writing, it is perfectly acceptable to end a story with a question. One thing i’ve noticed is that a pondorous statement works really well. A thought as to what this might be, or a prediction as to what may come because of this. A great place to learn this is to listen to the evening news. They almost always close with a cliffhanger of that kind.

Boilerplate

This is an old term meaning text that gets reused over and over. You can simply use the same text about your company in ever press release. Remember to write it in third person, and avoid the standard buzz words. Amazing, Unique, Pioneering, etc. Reporters are bad targets for hype.

Suffice to say - Never BS a BS artist.

Call to action

After the three hashes ### (which marks the end of the press release.) Insert a short paragraph with contact information and a call to action, you can invite them to schedule interviews, Get copies of research for verification etc. make this running text, give them a quick easy way to get what they need to publish it.

This is by far the best way to better your chances. A reporter on a time-crunch will look at a press release and consider what needs to be done before it can hit the press. If you have made those steps easy for them. Your press release will have a greater chance of making it.

Keep it Short

I’ve written and released well over 1000 press releases. And i have never seen one that was more than two pages get picked up. Single page releases get published almost five times as often as two page ones.

Long stories are written by reporters, they work on those for a long time. Press releases published “as is” are almost always fillers. So if you make it too long, there will be nowhere to fit it. If they want a long story on your company, they will do the work to flesh out the release you wrote on one page themselves.

Some thoughts to remember

- Read big reporters in big papers. These guys can write stories, its what they do. Unless you are a star reporter for the NY Times or Washington Post, don’t miss the opportunity to study those who are.

- Write from the journalists perspective - Third person only (unless you are quoting of course.)

- Put the sales pitch away - Reporters aren’t stupid, and they’ll be happy to give you the number to their advertising salesmen if that’s what you want printed.

- Is this interesting? important? most of all, is it newsworthy? Double check everything with the “So What” question. If it isn’t interesting enough to pass that simple point, don’t put it in there.

- Lose the ego, If you are too busy to answer the phone, you are not the person that should be listed as the contact person. You are dealing with people on tight deadlines. Don’t make them wait for information. It’s better to have the receptionist listed, - and get published- than to have your own name in the trashcan.

The Marketers Trick

- Add a little extra white space between paragraphs.

A long time ago, i worked in a news room. And i saw that the stories that got filed close to deadline often had handwritten notes in between paragraphs and in the margin.

It’s simple really when you think about it. When you are running out of time, you will grab what you can finish quickly. Not something where you have to go on an archaeological expedition for your notes. Work with them here and give them something to write on. You’ll see that it works to your advantage.

Good Luck with your writing. In the next article I’ll show you how to distribute your press releases.

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If you are intending to market your business to - or through - media channels, your best friend will be a well designed Media kit.

Media kits (also called Press Kits) help interested parties to find key information about you, your company and your products right when they need it. The easier this information is to obtain, and use, the better your chances are of getting it picked up.
Getting free publicity is never a bad thing.

A Media Kit is Useful For:

1. Spreading the word
Press kits act as a marketing tool to reporters of all kinds. Whether the person is producing materials for a blog or a major newspaper, a well designed press kit will get their attention. If you create a press kit that can get a reporters attention, you will be rewarded with increased exposure. Then it’s up to you to convert that exposure to whatever goal you are pursuing.

2. Attracting Advertisers
A press kit will give a potential advertiser access to the information they are looking for to make a decision. Having the right information in there tells them that you are the sign post they are looking for. Transparency, sells advertising. Don’t skimp on facts and figures.

3. Projecting Authority
Press kits are bragging posts. You can add things here that my may not want to publish in your own publication. How many are referencing you, what is being said about you. Things that might go against the normal rules of modesty can and SHOULD be in a press kit. Projecting authority is the key to bridging into new areas. If you write great blog posts, you might get asked to comment on a TV show. But you have to be able to show why you are the person they want.

Appeal to their Laziness

Remember, you are dealing with people looking for something. If they are looking for something to publish, chances are that they are on a deadline. Make it complete, interesting and do as much of their work for them as you can. You’ll see your press kit appear in places you never thought of. The stressed writer will gladly take well written text from press kits and republish it instead of missing a deadline.

People are inherently lazy; write text in third person that can be reused unaltered. if it gets republished, the sentence "We are a company who builds…" will have to be rewritten. Writing in third person appeals to the laziness inherent in most people. (And to the stressed journalist even more.)

What to Include

A press kit is comprised of three basic elements. (Static, Images, Dynamic)

1. Static Information
Facts about the company, things that don’t change or at least stays relatively fixed. This is where you can put all your background information.

Answer the standard battery of questions:
Whom - What - When - Where - Why - How

Write this information in easy to read, friendly, third person voice. DON’T make it read like a vision statement. A mission or vision statement is almost only republished when someone is writing about mission or visions statements.

The Press Release Trick

The static section should include Press-Releases. You should make a press release or two every month. A steady flow of press releases shows activity, which makes you newsworthy on its own. If you have tree releases spanning the last 18 months, you are not looking very active. Appeal to a publisher by telling them you are a business that is worth taking notice of.

You are also telling them that they better move before someone else gets the all important scoop on the next one. News people HATE being scooped, which works to your advantage.

Awards, recognitions, and references

Show them that you are the authority. Any accolade you have received should be noted and if possible shown in the static section. This is a lemming syndrome. If others think you are noteworthy, the person reading your press kit will think so too. If it’s an ego boost to you, put in in there.

2. Images
Remember that images are often a requirement, Logos, as well as pictures of relevant people and events.

Cover the Bases
Remember the lazy aspect. Don’t make them work to publish your image.

Include several versions of logos, banners and images. It is better for you to have several sizes than have your logo cut and butchered or even worse, skipped, because it doesn’t fit. If they can pick one that fits their available space, you don’t risk losing information because they re-sized your full width banner to a thumbnail.

Several formats

Have Black and White images ready. Some images just don’t look good when converted to B/W so it’s better to have done your own work there as well.

Print quality - Which normally is 300 dpi (dots per inch)
Try to include at least two of the following formats: TIFF, GIF, EPS (PDF is becoming more acceptable to most).

Web quality - which normally is 72 dpi
Try to include both JPEG and GIF

List images with a thumbnail and a clear description, and list the file formats available under as download links.

3. Dynamic Information
This is information that appeals to advertisers looking for a website or blog to publish their ads on. Show them everything they want in a simple easy for follow format. And keep it up to date. If possible use things like widgets to show your data in real time.

Hits and visits
How many hits you get on your site per day/week/month. How many customers frequent your location. You can also be even more specific, and tell them Weekday vs. Weekend, Data, I’ve seen that this can swing a publisher that has a specific target audience.

Subscribers
If you have an RSS feed or a mailing list, tell them how many you are reaching. Easiest way to do this is to have a feed widget published that shows your current number of subscriptions. Do not publish that widget however if your readers are low (some say 50, i’d say 100.) It turns away future subscribers to see low RSS Counts. But more on that in another post.

Demographics
Demographics are a huge selling point to advertisers. Get as much info as possible. You can gather information in several ways. A quick sidebar poll for instance is easy to create and a powerful way to get this information. Having it ready for your potential advertiser will increase your sales dramatically.

Display demographic information in charts and numbers. The Visual is a great selling tool.

Previous Advertiser Click through rates
If you’ve had ads before, tell them how many hits they generated.. If you can justify the price you are asking, you’ll get less apprehension from future buyers.

Be specific if you can. Tell them the difference between separate sizes and positions etc

Tell them the Price
If you are selling advertising space, don’t make it a mystery to find out how much. Let them know what you offer, what locations, sizes and prices of each opportunity.

Here is a pricing policy tip, Give them several levels with the second to last made unattractive by the top level.
- Text ad in RSS feed - $79/month
- 120 by 120 Thumbnails in sidebar - $199/month
- Banner $ 299/month
- RSS Feed and Banner $300 per month.

This trick actually increases the sales of the top level. The third option will get no sales, but it makes the top offer look attractive. If you get rid of the "package" top level, less people will buy the $299 banner than would the $300 package. opting for one of the lower levels instead . Always have the "duh" price in there. It might seem silly, but it has proven very effective.

Actual Factual

Don’t subject a publisher to hype. If you make a claim, make it a truthful one. They will not be very pleased with you if they publish something that turns out to be false. These people are spreading your name and increasing your notoriety, don’t make them regret it.

If you sell advertising space based on inflated numbers, you are guilty of false advertising yourself. You sell advertising more if you already have advertising there. So losing advertisers because they didn’t get what they expected will slow down your future sales as well when your ad slots are sitting empty.

Give them everything they need

If you are looking to get noticed, try to have everything that a publisher might want in one easy to access location. This includes the text, images, facts and figures etc. Make this accessible in one single file. A .zip or .rar file is online publishing standard. Again, appeal to their laziness. Give them what they want prepackaged, and ready to go.

They will want a quick fact sheet of information that includes:
- Name of Company and or Publication
- Contact information
- Exact URL
- Submission Deadlines
- Payment and Ordering information

Tell Them the Copyrights

Give clear instructions what they can publish, what they can change. And what they have to either keep as is, or request permission before changing. This is a common concern for someone looking to republish information, and if they can’t get it quick enough. They might skip you for someone that has it clearly listed.

Make it Easy to Find

Don’t hide your press kit in a link under "about" or "contact", give it its own link prominently displayed.
PRESS - PRESS KIT - MEDIA KIT work very well as link names. Whatever you choose, Just make sure that people don’t have to look around to find it. Although many hide it in the footer, if you want to sell ads, your better off putting it in the header.

Don’t Lose Out

A well designed media kit resolves the major problem of time. If it is available when needed, you don’t have to worry about missing an opportunity because you couldn’t take a call or answer an email in time.

Spring is in the air, summer is almost here and this is the time to start thinking about creating an event that a whole community will see and rally behind. There are hundreds of worthy ideas and causes that you can create a charity event for. And make no mistake about the impact that doing such a thing can have.

This is a tip that takes a little more time and energy than others, but can be a great branding tool for you and your company. It is best suited for small companies with a few employees. But you can also get together with other companies and co-host the event, which is also a great networking opportunity. If you are unable to create your own event, don’t miss an opportunity to sponsor one with either your special skills, or your products.

You will:

- Send a very powerful message of Civic engagement
- Get connected with new people that can function as a future network
- Build new business and strengthen your customer relationships
A few years back I helped a small company organize a soap box derby. The goal was to raise money for a children’s hospital. They had other companies donate necessary items like the safety barriers. They also sold the advertising space on these barriers to advertisers.

Community organizations stepped in and helped with manpower.

The positive community image that resulted was incredible. The company was featured on the front page of the local newspaper three times. State media picked the story up and broadcasted the name of the business and interviewed the owner.

The trick is to ensure that you really are focusing your efforts on the charity or cause that you are supporting. You can and should of course make sure that you use available space to place your logo, but by actually doing something for someone else, media will be much quicker in giving it coverage than they ever will if they assume that you are doing it for the publicity.

Make sure that you craft a strong press release and media package, having this ready for the initial announcement is crucial to make the most out of your coverage.

Event Ideas could include: Soap Box Derby, Outdoor concert, Flea Market, Chili Cook-off, BBQ competition, Movie night in a park, Rubber Duck Race, Raft Race, Golf or Tennis tournament, Bingo Night, Silent Auction. The list is endless.

Press Releases are becoming popular marketing tools to many businesses. Not only does it provide a chance to get some great and low cost coverage through news outlets. It also helps accomplish what most businesses are looking for right now - Search Engine Optimization.

The SEO Angle

A well written press release provides you with increased visibility for your Website. Once it gets posted, it will add a series of keywords to your listing on search engines. Do this enough times and you will be much more likely to end up on the front page of Google, Yahoo and the others. Because it is a relevant text, this is a perfect White Hat approach to SEO.

An Image of importance

When you release news, you are projecting an image of importance about your company to the public. News are by definition about something that people should know, the mere fact that it is a press release makes it appear more important than basic Ad Copy. It becomes a matter worth noting. Press releases are powerful because of just this tool. It is information that in itself isn’t trying to sell the reader anything. When you are not trying to sell, the reader will drop their guard and note the information much more readily.

Communicate and Motivate

Press releases are a form of communicating, if you post them on your own website, chances are that customers will read them and know more about your company and what you are accomplishing. By having a steady stream of Press Releases appearing, you are showing that your company is on the move. This creates an image of success that will not be lost on your customers.
You can also use press releases to communicate milestones, new hires etc. When this happens, you are sending a strong message to the employees. Showing employees that they are important and that their accomplishments are noteworthy is a great way to build moral.

Get going
Press Releases are powerful tools, well written and newsworthy releases can give you more bang for your buck than most other forms of marketing activities. You will build awareness, improve your brand and build your business without having to spend a fortune doing it.
There is little or no reason to miss an opportunity like the press release, the cost is low and the rewards potentially very high.