That was the question I asked at the Corporate Affairs Summit in Sydney last month. The Media Session on the first day was titled Influencing External Narratives: Rewriting What’s In-Between the Lines and had an impressive panel composed of:
I was looking for expert opinion on whether producing a media release – aka press release – was still worth the effort in an era when media is shrinking and social media is firmly entrenched in every size company. The answers surprised me, mostly because none of these top execs even remotely agreed, as you can see from the diversity of their answers:
I don’t think there’s any content more beleaguered than the press release right now. Online distribution services are closing. Journalists brag about binning thousands of press releases every year without reading them.
Perhaps the most insightful bit of advice came from one panellist – a former journalist – who observed that it requires real skill to write media releases. That was the one thing the panel agreed on and plenty of heads in the audience nodded in agreement.
So what does a good media release look like? I’m glad you asked.
The biggest mistake people make is to view the press release as a PR exercise. While publicity might be the end goal, the release must be written to attract the attention of a journalist, either in industry or traditional media. They’re most interested in delivering news of interest to their audience, so a media release needs to be written to appeal to their readers, not to trumpet your business.
How do you do that?
First, write the release so that it matches the stories of the publication or channel where you’re trying to get coverage. Check their website for editorial guidelines and follow them when preparing your release. Journalists are under immense pressure to write stories with fewer resources than ever before. Think of how you would write a short feature or article in the publication where you want coverage. If you can do that, your chances are a lot better they’ll run your piece without changes.
Make the information relevant to their readers, viewers or listeners. Put the information in the context of how it will impact them, not what you’ve accomplished. For example, journalists probably won’t care that you’ve won an award, closed a big deal or been granted a patent – that’s not the lede. They will be interested in knowing what it means for their audience directly or indirectly. Are you saving people time or money? Are you impacting health or wellbeing? Are you advancing science or business practices or making the world a better place to live?
News cycles are brutal. No-one will cover something that happened last month, last year or maybe even last week. If you have a big story coming up, put an embargo on your release and get in touch with the media early so they have time to write a story before it’s old news.
Get the release on a single page. If you’ve done a good job, they’ll come back to you for more information. Plan on 400-500 words at most.
Start with two or three sentences that give the gist of the entire release. Treat it like an executive summary.
Adding quotes makes for a more interesting and authoritative story. Get the CEO or someone from the executive team on record, especially if they’re hard people for journalists to reach.
Photos are always welcome. If you work in a restricted industry like mining, having good images of your workplace or a big project can help sweeten the package for an editor. Photos with people in it are best. Avoid boring corporate photos like glamour shots of the company headquarters.
Short, sharp titles work best. Try to make them less than 60 characters. Use a subtitle to add more depth.
Plain language wins the day for press releases. Cision’s 2024 Global State of the Media Report, a survey of more than 3,100 journalist in 17 markets, revealed journalists especially hate these five words
The same report in 2022 identified these 10 words as most likely to capture a journalist’s attention. Put them in your title.
If you want media coverage, include names, phone numbers, email addresses and websites. Don’t try to control how a journalist will contact you. Make sure you’re covering all bases to meet their preference.
Journalists are sticklers for things like punctuation, spelling and grammar. Don’t assume they know what acronyms mean – spell them out. Get your media release proofread before you send it out.
Decide where you want your news to appear and make sure it gets to the right person – and only that person. Do your legwork and find out who is covering the beat for your news. Sending business news to a lifestyle editor, and vice versa, is a waste of time.
Once you know who the right person is, phone them. Have your pitch ready and ask if you can send them the release. Or, follow-up an email with a phone call. Making a personal connection with a journalist will improve your chances of getting your story covered.
Don’t expect the journalist to read a press release if the accompanying email is weak. Write one paragraph outlining why their audience would be interested in your news.
The editor who is assigning stories has probably filled all the news slots by 10:00 am, at the latest. Sending the release out between 6:00 and 7:30 is more likely to get it considered. Releases sent in the afternoon, especially Friday afternoons, the day before public holidays, or on weekends are unlikely to result in media coverage.
Don’t expect every press release you write to get picked up, even if you meet all the criteria for a skilled submission. The news cycle is unpredictable, and your story will rank against all kinds of other variables you can’t control. Michael Jackson and ’70s icon Farrah Fawcett died on the same day, but his story totally eclipsed hers.
Stay in touch with the journalists covering your industry. Treat them like any other important business relationship and you’ll be in a much better spot to get your stories to the front of the queue. Organise a quick coffee catch-up from time to time and be generous with your information when they need help. Good sources are more likely to at least get consideration when they have something they want published.
Want to squeeze even more value out of your press release? Here’s how to do it.
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