Ronjini Joshua is the CEO and Founder of The Silver Telegram, Host of The PR Playbook Podcast and founder of The Social Equity Council.
A press release is a great way to mark a business milestone. Think of it as a proof point for your business, serving as momentum for your customers, investors and the media, among other stakeholders. A press release should provide essential factual information to the media that a simple pitch cannot.
It’s important that you create a press release that helps journalists understand the story behind your story. We find that the sense of urgency in leveraging a press release is more effective than a quick email, and it generates SEO traction when you distribute in on a wire service like PR Newswire, Businesswire or the like. This is key to being discoverable or “visible” in today’s competitive digital market.
Five Best Practices For Issuing Press Releases
If you want to issue a press release the right way, there are five critical questions to address before making the decision to “release” your news. If you issue too many releases without thought and intention, you can very quickly become the brand that just puts out news to create noise. That doesn’t help in building relationships with journalists. If your news isn’t noteworthy or impactful, journalists will quickly see that you’re just in it for the SEO.
So, here are questions to ask before you put pen to paper.
1. Is your news … actually news? If you are releasing a new website or changing your logo, that’s not news. However, if you hit an industry or company milestone, filed a patent, are introducing a new executive team with clout—those are all things that are very well newsworthy and will draw some attention.
2. Why are you releasing this news now? Timing is a big component of getting media coverage and generating real “news.” Why is now the right time to release your news? Will you be at an event? Did you just close a round of funding? Are you preparing a time-sensitive deal?
3. Who is this news for? Press releases are written for the media to convey information to the public. That’s the first thing that companies should remember. It’s about conveying facts to the media so they can write stories or integrate your news into the “big picture” of things. When you’re writing a press release, you are not writing for the end audience. That said, you should include all the pertinent information that will make the reader take your specific call to action. (We’ll talk about that later.)
4. Where do you want the news to be picked up? For the most part, you’ll probably be issuing the press release on a newswire. However, you really want to have some media targets in mind when you are issuing a press release. What journalists do you expect will be interested, and what media outlets would you want to be featured in? Create these strategies beforehand so you have a solid release plan and not just a release that goes nowhere.
5. What key takeaways do you want the reader to have? Here’s the call to action part. Many press releases miss this critical aspect of a press release. You want the reader (and the journalist) to have a call to action to increase the readability and credibility of the press release. What exactly do you want them to do? Press releases can be educational, informational or in advance of a product launch. Make sure that your announcement has a next step for the reader.
Congratulations! Now that you’ve gone through the gambit of questions, you’re ready to move forward with your press release. Make sure you augment your press release with images and/or video and that you have a press kit ready to follow up with and pitch to the media.
Remember that your press release is just the beginning of the conversation; it will be your job to cultivate, nurture and develop the relationship so that you can get the media coverage you’re seeking.
So, all in all, say yes to the press release. It’s a classic vessel to disseminate news and gets a foot in the door for your larger media relations program.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Read the full article here
