In this all-access digital world, companies of all sizes need to be sure they have an up-to-date online newsroom.
Just as corporate websites need to be current with product and company information, current, search-optimized online media newsrooms for journalists are also a must.
In a recent national survey by TEKGROUP International, 98% of journalists expect companies to have an online newsroom.
The most important item to have in the online newsroom? PR contact information. Journalists need quick access to PR contacts and the media team as these writers and Editors are always on a deadline. What type of information can your company provide? PR contact name, cell phone, Skype, Twitter handle and email address for starters. Any additional social network information like a blog address and Facebook page name is helpful for journalists to do additional research.
According to the survey, journalists expect organizations of all sizes to have the following:
an online newsroom available for media access
easy access to news releases in the online newsroom
PR or media team contacts’ information
offer a searchable news archive in the online newsroom so the media can gather detailed information right on your site
What kinds of materials should be in the online newsroom? A company fact sheet, Q&A sheet, executive biographies, subject matter experts, news releases, company blog, Twitter stream, high resolution images, video or audio files and more.
Email is the preferred method of news and pitch delivery. 95% of journalists prefer to receive news, information and story pitches from a company through e-mail. And in this mobile world, more than 60% of journalists value the ability to receive news on their mobile device.
Journalists also prefer to see a listing all of a company’s social networks on one page. A company should list their social networks on the website home page as well as the online newsroom. The link to the online newsroom also needs to be easy to find on the home page.
Have you searched your online newsroom in Google lately? Be sure it shows up when you search your company name + online newsroom. If it does not, update the title tag and page to be sure it is properly optimized for search.
Good luck and if you have a great example of an online newsroom, please share it with us!
By creating a social media press release, your company has a chance to visually show journalists and prospects what your brand is all about.
The social media press release takes a press release and makes it dimensional. By adding images, videos and links to your news, you are helping build brand awareness. By offering easy ways to share your news socially, you are helping others tell your story for you.
“As the consumer-generated media wave continues to crest, it will be incumbent on the PR industry to stay current, in order to remain a relevant source of story ideas for the media.” – Todd S. Defren, Shift Communications.
One company that helps you build and distribute your social media press release for free is PitchEngine. PitchEngine allows you to set up a one page “pitch” for your news in a social media press release format. You can track your pitch and see how many impressions that it receives. They offer paid subscriptions for building online newsrooms for your brand.
Publishing a social media press release won’t automatically get your release seen by the world, you will still have to pitch your media list and do the work. Find out from journalists how they prefer to receive your news and be sure to provide them with the format they specify.
If you have built up your social networks and share your news in a social media format, it will definitely be a valuable tool to add to your PR toolkit.
Believe it or not, most businesses have newsworthy information to share with the media on a regular basis.
The key is understanding what type of information local, regional, trade and national news outlets find of value and then providing the relevant information about your business.
75% of journalists find targeted, well-written news releases useful, according to a recent survey by Oriella PR Network, an alliance of 15 PR agencies from around the world.
Other than typical product or service announcements, here are a few additional press release ideas for your business:
Business
Community. Is your business participating in a community event?
Philanthropy. Does your company support a local or national charity?
Research. Have you conducted a study in your industry that you can share?
Promotions. Are you running any special promotions on your product or service?
Expansion. Is your business growing? Have you opened a new location?
News Trends. Are there any trends in the news that are relevant to your business?
Go Green. Are your business practices eco-friendly?
Milestone. Are you celebrating a milestone like an anniversary?
Technology. Have you implemented a new system and seen major improvements?
Marketing. Are you running a contest? Are you participating in an event or trade show?
Employees
Community Outreach. Are your employees contributing to the community in unique ways outside of work?
Rewards. Do you have an employee recognition program?
HR. Is your company culture different than other businesses in your industry?
Awards. Has an employee won an award in or out of the office?
Educational Outreach. Do you have an internship program with a local school or university?
Expert. Is an employee or executive published or speaking at an event? Do they write a blog?
Partners
New Partner. Have you partnered with other companies in the industry?
New Program. Have you launched a partner or affiliate program?
Award. Have you given a partner an award or certification? Have you received one from a partner?
Customers
New Use. Have you discovered a new use for your product from a customer?
New Customer Win. Showcase a new customer win (be sure to get permission from customer first.)
Customer Case Studies. These work well for industry publications. If you sell to different industries, try to create a case study for each industry and notify relevant industry publications.
Training. Do you offer webinars and other resources to help train and support customers?
Customer Support. Is your customer support program doing things differently in the industry?
Once you begin brainstorming, you’ll find that press release ideas will start flowing. Talk with employees, customers and partners regularly and keep lines of communication open and see what develops!
A wonderful resource for businesses looking to garner publicity while on a budget is Help A Reporter Out (HARO). HARO is a free PR newsletter that is sent out three times daily with journalist queries looking for expert sources in various industries.
HARO was created in 2008 by Peter Shankman, a Public Relations Expert and Entrepreneur. Shankman thought of the idea when journalists asked him regularly if he knew of any sources for an upcoming story.
To date, HARO brings nearly 30,000 reporters and bloggers, over 100,000 news sources and thousands of small businesses together to tell their stories, promote their brands and sell their products and services.
Once you subscribe to the newsletter, it is easy to scan the table of contents to see if there is anything relevant to your business or industry. If there is a request for an expert that applies to you, be sure to pitch on topic.
Answer promptly and include the query in the subject line with HARO listed. There are Five Rules of HARO that Shankman points out to always follow.
Other tips? Keep your pitch short and sweet. Offer contact information and links to more details if necessary, but no attachments. PR Web wrote How to Pitch HARO Successfully and it is chock full of tips from PR experts.
We have shared tips on pitching, building a media list, and follow up which are all elements, when done correctly, of a successful PR campaign. Hopefully Help A Reporter Out can enhance your PR campaign and help your business reach the right journalists at the right moment.
I believe that follow-up (well-done, targeted, slightly aggressive follow-up) is crucial to turn a well-planned public relations campaign into a success story. I have seen many a promotion bomb because the team did not:
Do Any follow-up calls (Do not be afraid to call! The Media are people too) or
Do Enough follow- up calls (It takes several tries – do not give up!) or
Do Effective follow-up calls (Be a clever and quick communicator and don’t give up until you speak to a human being)
Many public relations professionals are expert writers and creative thinkers, yet they are afraid to follow-up out of fear of bothering, angering or upsetting a member of the media. Forget the worry and charge ahead because the truth is PR people and the media can have a mutually beneficial relationship and often do need to rely on each other.
Here are four tips for following up on your perfectly crafted press release or pitch email:
Reporters receive thousands of emails and phone calls per day so remember that they may not have seen your press release. Always present yourself as if your call is the first time they’re hearing about you and your company or product.
Make it snappy: write down the three points you must get across to them and refer to it so you do not get flustered or lose your focus.
Be respectful of their time and know when their newscast is or deadline, and do not call at that time. If you aren’t sure, ask “Is this a good time?”
Even if you find yourself speaking with a grumpy person, just stay positive and give a big “thank you so much” before signing off.
We all hear a lot of “nos” on the road to a golden “yes” but note that rarely does a reporter become irate and slam the phone down simply for following up on a release. So go ahead and follow the tips above and let us know how much more successful your next campaign is because you found the courage to follow up and connect with the media.
Every PR person has to create media lists during their career. From building a list from scratch to accessing your own personal database of names and publications, either way – most clients and their products call for the creation of a media list tailored to their specific news and target audience.
Evan Carmichael has some of the best tips for creating a targeted and effective media list. With so much accessible information on-line, as well as the new media category of “bloggers,” building an effective list is still time-consuming but is also easier than ever.
Here are three more points I would like to add to Evan’s list:
Because we are often given small budgets for PR, online newswires and database directories should be used as a last resort. While they often offer up-to-date factual information, more times than not, the information about the particular journalist or producer is not always accurate which wastes time and money.
One of the most important aspects of your media list spreadsheet is a section labeled “notes.” Every media contact should have a few words next to his or her name on the list. What stories do they like? What are their pet peeves? Do they accept products? This kind of attention to detail will pay off, and perhaps make your next list a breeze to create!
When you have down time, update. Look over your lists, do some research, ensure the contact is still there, or that the phone numbers or addresses are correct. Maintaining the lists are often more important than creating them!
So good luck in building your list and let us know if you have any other hints and tips we can use for the next time we build our own list!
This link is a great example of every PR person’s worst nightmare: a journalist (or blogger in this case) makes fun of your pitch, shoots you back a snarky response, and it doesn’t end there as you continue to make more mistakes and they continue to broadcast it to their followers! Have you had this happen to you? Do you never want to be on the receiving end of being called out online? Below are a few very easy ways to avoid this situation – even for the greenest PR person out there.
Do not send out your client news to anyone and everyone – really know your media outlet, know what it reports on, know its tone, know its past stories. This sounds really simple but I know so many PR People who pitch a good story to the wrong place – wasting everyone’s time and energy (and their reputation for the future).
Listen for media-feedback, and then incorporate that into your pitch moving forward—or perhaps even your current pitch. The writers, bloggers, and producers out there know what they want to write about –and know what their bosses what to see printed or on air.
Determine if no means not now – or no means “NEVER” This is subtle—but a PR person who actually speaks with his or her intended target will get a sense of whether he or she should stop sending this person pitches forever—or keep them on a list.
If No means never, don’t keep trying them with different angles of the same story. They could just be a media person who does not want any noise (or news even) from PR people. That’s THEIR problem. Leave them alone!
This brings me to my last but also very important point. Person to person contact is very important in communicating news. That, I hope, will never change. Really good, actually NEW information is difficult to obtain by Editors and Bloggers. Public relations can help get the word out about a little brand that is trying to break into a bigger category or a company that is sharing industry news which can ultimately generate new ideas and then stories for the media. Clever, well-thought out Public Relations campaigns are designed to inform and deliver news so please do follow the above points and make yourself (and the PR industry) an invaluable part of the news cycle!
In this all-access digital world, companies of all sizes need to be sure they have an up-to-date online newsroom.
