New Media Matters: How your business news reaches the media
With media now online, the landscape has changed. Company marketing and PR practitioners should adapt accordingly to get their business news in front of editors and broadcasters. Here is what you might need to know.
Most of the freebie PR distribution services online are free for a reason. These services will merely push a key or two and launch your news release online into a vast Internet newsfeed wilderness that editors and broadcasters will probably never see. With free services your news might also include advertisements for other companies within your industry, competitive or not. Newsrooms subscribe to wire services, so for distribution, use a paid service if possible. If your company is budgeted for it, target a specific news desk within the service such as entertainment, health and medicine, manufacturing or education. Sending news to targeted departments will increase your chances of being picked up.
In most cases, live news conferences for local businesses are no longer relevant because few journalists have the time to attend in person, notebook-in-hand or video camera in tow. If, however, your company’s news will impact the lives of many, you might want to invest in the time and added expense to stage a press event. For example, local business development that will create many new jobs in your area will likely make local headlines.
If you do hold a news conference, be sure to personally invite any group with a stake in the success of your business, such as boards of directors or shareholders or friends in your company’s database. Not doing this may result in a CEO or board director standing alone at the podium with no live audience, which may be every PR professional’s nightmare.
Less fanfare and fewer speakers is always the best practice. Keep the conference to one or two speakers who introduce others or make the newsworthy announcement. The total event should start precisely on time and should not take longer than 10-15 minutes.
At the news conference have available printed copies of one-page news releases or succinct white papers for any journalist to grab and use later. Include contact information and all the facts (who, what, where, when, how). Keep to the basics, be brief and be specific. Don’t embellish, making a news release read like an advertisement.
Company protocol or hierarchy aside, include contact information that will actually access a real human by cellphone or email quickly. News means now, not when the publicity chairperson returns from a weekend fishing trip.
In addition to holding a live conference, send your relevant news announcement directly to local editors, news desks, broadcast stations and include surrounding geographic areas. If you know specific personnel, send them your release and request they pass it along to the specific department or editor you want to reach.
Finally, if you take the time to think through and distribute what is readable, relevant news, your company or organization will enjoy increased credibility and greater awareness.
Paige Henson is a new media consultant for small businesses. She specializes in inbound marketing and content management. Her email address is paigechenson@gmail.com.
This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 10:44 PM with the headline "New Media Matters: How your business news reaches the media ."