Over the summer period, the journalists who don’t take a break are tearing their hair out trying to find new stories to publish. Politicians are on holidays, organised criminals seem to lay low and cricket only appeals to a small sleepy percentage of the population. So we end up with car crashes and shark attacks on the front pages alternating day to day. Even the journalists are bored!
So – help them out by putting your business front and centre.
Summer is a great time to be sending info to journos. At this time, they have lots of trouble filling their pages so send them a short, well-crafted media release detailing something of public interest about your business or how you’ve helped customers in an unusual way.
When writing your media release, it’s best not to be in sales mode. Journos aren’t interested in printing an ad for you and your business. Sculpt it in a factual manner and answer the who, what, when, where and how questions. Leave the why until last.
The why may be extended to, why does this matter? Or, why did this happen? Or, why should people be concerned? And don’t forget to sprinkle a few of the regular journalists’ standbys in the release…
Fear, outrage, confusion and corruption are the standard bases for 90% of articles appearing in newspapers. Whether you believe it should be this way or not is immaterial – if you want to get published, play their game by their rules.
Another helpful tip is to keep your release to 300 words or less. Large slabs of print scare people these days. If you haven’t grabbed their attention in that time, perhaps a rewrite is required or maybe the story isn’t newsworthy in their eyes. If supportive information is available, tell them you have it and can send it through if required.
And finally, don’t forget the power of a great image. It’s worth a thousand words.
We hope you have enjoyed this blog, stay tuned for some more tips on how to make the most of this opportunity. If you would like to receive our weekly directly to your inbox then please follow this link
From those in Heels
