Using News Releases to Get Free Publicity
News reporters can’t know everything. In fact, they can’t know anything newsworthy unless someone tells them.
They have many sources for news. To name a few, there are news services in other countries, government agencies, civic groups, and—yes, businesses that have recently come up with a new product and want people to know about it.
That’s where you come in. Before you call the local newspaper or television station and tell them, “I have news for you. Will you please come and report it?” you have to understand two things:
1. What is news?
2. How can you make it convenient for the news media to report your news item?
Step One: What is news?
All news has three things in common:
1. It’s current (That is, it’s new information and it relates to the readers’ or viewers’ lives today.) It’s even better for it to be immediate (That is, breaking news), but new products don’t usually have immediacy.
2. It’s local (That is, the people who read that particular newspaper or watch that particular news program will think that it relates to them.)
3. It’s visually striking (That is, you’re showing the reader or viewer something that’s interesting to see.)
Step Two: Getting the news media to cover your story.
Okay, you’ve found the right angle; your publicity item is local and current; and you’ve figured out a way to really catch people’s eye (visually striking.)
In most cases, editors and news stations still won’t send a reporter to cover your story. Why not?
You may have heard of the New York Times’s slogan, “All the news that’s fit to print.” Actually, that’s not true.
In fact, the amount of news going on in the world each day is far more than any newspaper can cover. Locally, there aren’t enough reporters to cover more than a small fraction of all news items on any given day. Editors have to decide which ones are the most important, based on three things:
1. The kind of information that the editor thinks is important,
2. How much space the editor has in his newspaper (or how much time he has on his news program), and
3. Whether the newspaper (or news station) has the manpower (reporters, copy editors, etc.) to cover the story.
Let’s say, you know that you have something the editor will want to use. Then what? There are three ways to go about getting publicity:
1. Have someone excitedly call the television station or newspaper and say something like, “Hey! What’s going on at such-and-such a place?” Give just enough detail to indicate that people are all excited over it, and add, “Since you work for the newspaper, I thought you’d know.” Of course, pretend that you’re just a person who’s curious about it and that don’t really know what’s going on. This works only when you have something that’s visually exciting and different.
2. Write a news release and send it to all of the local news media. Don’t leave out any of the news media; if you do, they’ll resent you for it.
3. Present your information at some event that the news media already will cover, such as a trade show or an electronics exhibition. Of course, you still should be prepared with a news release. Don’t expect a reporter to go to the trouble of writing a news story based on a brochure you’ve given him. He’s too busy to go to the trouble of doing that.
From the author’s personal experience:
Many years ago, I read a piece of advice that was given to a diplomat: “If you attend an international event, sit next to someone who is wearing a turban.” Since photographers want their pictures to be interesting, they’re more likely to include something like that in their photographs.
After I learned of this, I attended a week-long event that would be nationally televised. I knew that no one would be wearing a turban, but I got an idea: At events of that nature, television cameramen often wanted to show the reactions of the crowd. How could I make sure that the cameramen would want to show my part of the crowd? On the day that the most people would be watching the event on television, I wore a very, very bright green shirt. One of my father’s friends who had watched the event on television said that the television camera kept turning to focus on my part of the crowd. Since I was in the center of the television screen, I knew that my idea had worked.
Getting noticed at trade shows
With all those displays, how are you going to get the attention of the news media and your target consumers?
Question: Which of the exhibits you see below is more likely to get you the publicity that you can turn into sales?
You don’t want to do what others have done so many times that it’s no longer new. Which exhibits most catch your interest? Chances are, you were more drawn to the photo on the right because the person in the photo is showing interest in the product. An attractive, scantily clad young woman is no longer new. Do you see what we mean?
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have an attractive young woman manning your exhibit at a trade show, but you need more than that because many others are doing the same thing. Think about these or some other combinations:
1. A friendly, attractive woman at an interactive display
2. A fun interactive display
3. A friendly, attractive woman wearing an interesting costume, such as an Indian sari.
How to write a news release
At the top of the news release, you give certain information about the release itself:
1. The words, “News Release”
2. Name and telephone number of the contact person. If they want further information, they’ll want to know whom to call.
3. The name and contact information for your company
4. When you would like the story published or broadcast (To give two examples, “For release on or about March 23, 2010,” or “For immediate release.”
5. Suggested headline for the news release.
Find out which editor is responsible for editing stories like yours. Send it to that editor, by name, and write a cover letter.
Do not call it a press release. Since the word press applies only to print media, this may offend members of the broadcast media. Call it a news release.
How long should your news release be? One page (typed, double spaced) or a page and a half should be enough. If, however, the editor has room for only a half a page, he’ll cut from the latter half of the news release. If he needs only a quarter of a page, he’ll cut off the latter three quarters of the news release.
For that reason, when you write your news release, use inverted pyramid style. That means that, in your news release, you should write the information in order of importance. Put the most important information in the first paragraph. Put the next most important information in the second paragraph, and so on. The least important information goes in the last paragraph.
That way, even if the editor uses only one paragraph of your news release, he’ll still have a story that makes sense to the reader.
The first paragraph should tell the readers WHO is doing WHAT, WHEN, and Where. You may also include the information HOW and WHY.
Question: Someone from the Mamahuhu Hotel chain probably wrote the article, but Judy Chen took credit for writing it. Is that fair to your company?
Answer: Of course, it is! If the Mamahuhu Hotel took credit for writing it, readers would think of it as just another advertisement. Then they’d be less likely to read it. Since it’s presented as a news story, they’re more likely to read it and accept it as fact.
Question: The news release says that the new hotels will be built in China. Why would the Mamahuhu Hotel want this information published in a Taiwanese newspaper?
Answer: Locals residents don’t stay in hotels; tourists stay in hotels. The target readers of the news release are rich Taiwanese who are likely to visit one of those eight cities in China. It’s a hidden advertisement for the Mamahuhu Hotel. They probably sent similar news releases to Japanese and Korean newspapers, as well as Chinese language newspapers in Taiwan.
Now it’s your turn!
Get together with your team and write a news release promoting your product or service.
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