1) Infographic: USA Today was the first to own the infographic because snappy visuals help show the news instead of simply telling it. Research results work well in this format and stand out from the other news competing for column inches.
2) Advertising: Paid placement can be very useful if you want complete control of the message, including when it appears.
3) News Story: Your job is far from over after the first editorial placement. Sending a story you've placed to non-competitive media outlets can be very effective, assuming you have a unique follow-up angle. Your news has already been vetted at this point and in certain cases it can help create momentum.
4) Bullet Point: Can you get your news across in a sentence or two? You should. Concise, substantive writing goes a long way in the attention-deficit-driven world of social (SQUIRREL!) media.
5) Haiku: Creative writing might work, but what if you're announcing an acquisition? Procter and Gamble acquired Gillette to grow and be number one. Needless to say, you'll need background material to support news poetry.
6) Video File: We're all hitting YouTube for one reason or another. And surely there is some news that might be more effective pitched in video format. If everyone really looked at their news releases before sending them out, I suspect their quality would improve dramatically.
7) Phone/E-Mail: Phone and e-mail are sometimes used in tandem with news releases, but consider using them to simply continue the conversation you've created with your key news contacts to create bigger stories. How many news releases have landed you on the cover of a magazine?
8) Picture: Well, they are worth a thousand, but consider how a picture might be used as a teaser for your news. You can drop a unique URL into this engaging, visual clue that offers more information. This also allows you to track media interest. Oh and personnel releases? Send the photo with just the cutline and save everyone some time and energy of an accompanying release.
9) Mobile: If your reporters use text messaging, and they know you, you're probably using it to connect with them on important news. The Vatican began doing this in 2003. If your key reporters prefer quick, hand-written notes sent via carrier pigeon, invest in a rooftop coop.
10) Animation: Perhaps animating your next news story will give it more impact. I could send you a fact sheet about the latest internet stats or I could send you to this motion graphic animation.
11) Fact Sheet/Backgrounder/Media Kit: Some of these documents merely save you from one format and serve up the same painful, contrived quote rife with news release clichés that will compete with a metric ton of poorly-written content that chokes the wire services each day.
12) Well-Written News Release: The 11 ideas above might only work with specific types of news (Have you tapped into poetry to announce financial results?) A news release is versatile enough to announce just about anything. It isn't sexy or groundbreaking -- even if it's a shiny, social media news release. But it can be effective.
At the root of all the drama this little document creates is the fact that content quality, not content format, is the real issue.
:: Originally posted on Strategic Public Relations...in 2005. Could you tell?
Rich, informative piece. Thank you for reposting ... and no, I couldn't tell it was originally written in 2005. Kudos, nice work.
ReplyDeleteWritten in 2005 because the Twitter pitch wasn't there... Although social media release was.
ReplyDeleteI love graphics: charts, pictures, videos can often tell the story much better. Using shorter emails, bullets, fact sheets also works much better than a four-part white paper (like reporters have the time to read that?!).
ReplyDeleteQuality, having a solid story and real news to share, always works best. Great ideas, thanks.
Ditto! Though this business is constantly changing, the principles of quality content and thoughtful communications will remain fundamentally the same - we can't lose the forest for the trees, despite all the shiny stuff out there right now. Makes me want to pull my Full Frontal PR book off the shelf at skim through it again. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteGreat take on a tried-and-true tool. Especially like # 12. Don't forget, though, the great SEO benefits that news releases can also provide. Thanks for the thoughtful post.
ReplyDeleteThis is good stuff. FYI - your retweet button generates a broken link so I retweeted manually. Thought you might want to check that. Thanks again for great tips!
ReplyDeleteGreat reminders! I recently wrote a blog post on media relations entitled "The more things change the more they stay the same" and this just proves it :-).
ReplyDeleteThe greatest compliment I received for a news release was when I was accused of stealing the copy from a newspaper. In fact the newspaper had used my release word-for word.
ReplyDelete#4 (SQUIRREL!) Priceless. Love that movie, but the points you made were great. Thanks for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI don't consider advertising an alternative to a press release. A press release should only be written when you have something to share that's newsworthy.
ReplyDeleteSome excellent ideas. I still believe a well-written news release should be the first step in helping to generate publicity.
ReplyDeleteA news release is the one document where my client and I can mutually agree on the most important information, and then provide those key facts to all media outlets.
The infographic is definitely where its at. We're incorporating this format more and more into media analysis reports we deliver our PR and marketing clients at Dow Jones.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I would have love to seen it updated w/ more examples and links though. Especially interested in seeing examples of "infographics" and how companies are using that format vs. the traditional release...
ReplyDeleteAs the father of a two-year old who loves the move UP, I thank you for No. 4 (SQUIRREL!).
ReplyDeleteThanks for this,these are really helpful ideas! As a young, emerging PR professional, I am looking for new and creative ways to send out a release information without boring the reporters of flying under the radar!
ReplyDeleteThis blog is very helpful. We live in a world of information overload, and it is becoming more and more important to make yourself and your messages stand out. I think all PR practitioners should think about using more media relations tactics besides the traditional news release.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post! These tips are very helpful; therefore, I hope to employ them in my work in the near future. I think that it is important to mix up the routine in any form of work. However, it is important to know when the tired and true news release itself is the best option.
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