Press releases or feature stories on your company and its products and activities promote your business free. You don’t have to woo or network with a reporter, editor or publisher. Many editors recognize a good story and would be eager publish it as long as it is not too self-serving.
Here are some things you can write about: a new product or service; a new take on an old product or service; your corporate social responsibility (social outreach) program; your human resource development program; special events like training programs, conventions, fun runs, contests, promotions, and other marketing gimmicks.
You can also write about an aspect of your company that is outstanding or unusual. Maybe half of your employees are able disabled? Maybe you source your supplies from marginal farmers? Maybe you make innovative products (e.g. custom-made toys) or provide a service that has never been made available before (e.g. rent-a-back, clutter management).
First of all, choose the media that is being read by your target readers. If your market is a small village or neighborhood, then write for the community newspaper. If it is limited to a province, identify a well-read provincial newspaper. And if your market is national, then you have to go for a newspaper or magazine circulated nationwide.
And to increase the chance your press releases get published, here are some practical tips from an experienced publicist.
- Give your story a human interest twist. Editors recognize that readers want to be moved and touched — to smile, laugh, cry or sigh. For example, if you are writing about a fun run your company organized for charity, you can write about some unique runners who participated: perhaps a teen-ager who is running for the first time, seniors who can give much younger runners a run for their money, a very able and energetic disabled, etc.
- Do not write unabashed propaganda about your company. A praise release has very little chance to be published unless you submit it as an advertorial and pay for it. If you have to sing your own praise, be subtle. Write objectively. Attribute the good things said about your products to someone else.
- Include information that the readers would find useful. For example, if you want to promote a training program you are conducting, include useful excerpts from the lectures which the readers can use or add to their stock of knowledge, even if they don’t attend the training.
- Deal with timely topics. Something in season and current but still exceptional will grab the readers. For example, you may have put up a giant Christmas tree made of all-native materials (your products) in December, a man-sized sculpture of lovers made of chocolate in February, etc.
- Focus on prominent people if you can. Celebrities who are using your products and VIPs who are frequenting your restaurant or shop will make for good publicity.
- Look for something out of the box. When a dog bites a man, that is ho-hum. When a man bites a dog, that is news. Remember how the Department of Health’s anti-firecracker campaign was promoted “Gangnam-style” and how it made it big in the media networks?
- Keep your story short and sweet – 500 to 800 words would be just about right for feature stories; 200-300 for press releases. Remember that most newspapers have limited space.
- Write your story in such a way that the most important elements are upfront and the least important are at the bottom. This way, if the editor needs to prune the manuscript due to space constraints, she can readily do so by deleting the last paragraph or paragraphs.
- Give your story a catchy and short title.
- Include appropriate images that are sharp, clear, and well-composed.
- At the end of your manuscript, write your name, address, telephone number and email address so that you can be contacted for questions and clarifications about your story.
Be sure to submit a manuscript that is grammatically written, simple, clear but very readable. Strive to make it letter-perfect, down to the punctuations. How can an editor resist publishing a piece that is interesting, timely, well-written, not too self-serving – and one she doesn’t have to edit in a major way?!
Now, you can email your press release to the editor of your target media. Remember to submit a feature story to one newspaper at a time. I suggest you indicate at the very top: Special to “name of newspaper” to assure the editor the story is exclusive to them. On the other hand, a press release can be distributed all at once to many media outlets.
You can also promote your company through online publicity. More about this in Part 2 of this article.
Photo: From www.publicityinsider.com
