334 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site

Headline
Your headline is critically important. If you get it right, it will attract
the attention you are looking for. Your headline should be powerful,
summarizing your message and making the reader want to continue
reading. Keep the headline short—less than ten words.
City and Date
Name the city you are reporting from and the date you wrote the news
release.
The Body
Your first sentence within the body of the news release should sum up
your headline and immediately inform the reader why this is newsworthy.
With the number of news releases reporters receive, if you don’t
grab their attention immediately they won’t read your release. Begin by
listing all of the most relevant information first, leaving the supporting
information last.
Ask yourself the five W’s (who, what, where, when, and why) and
answer them up front. Write the news release just as if you were writing
a newspaper article for publication. Include some quotes from key individuals
in your company and any other relevant outside sources that
are credible. If there are any statistics that support your main message,
include them as well, providing references.
Your last paragraph should be a short company description.
The Close
If your release is two pages long, center the word “more” at the bottom
of the first page. To end your release, center the word “end” at the end
of your message. A sample news release is shown in Figure 21.1.
Advantages of Interactive News Releases
Online news releases take the same standard format as offline news
releases, but the online news release can be interactive, with links to a
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Maximizing Media Relations 335
variety of interesting information that supports your message. When
your news release is provided by e-mail and you provide a hypertext
link in that e-mail, the journalist is just a click away from accessing all
the information he or she needs to complete the story. Helpful links to
include in your interactive news releases are:
• A link to the e-mail address of the media contact person in your
organization so that with the click of the mouse a journalist can
ask a question via e-mail.
• A link to the company Web site so that the journalist can quickly
and easily access additional information as part of his or her
due diligence or can find required information.
• Links to articles that have been written about the company and
related issues, both on the corporate Web site and on other sites.
• Links to graphics and pictures for illustration. If your story relates
to a product, have a link to a graphic that can be used.
Figure 21.1. This press release from Destination Hotels & Resorts contains
several hypertext links, enabling a journalist to quickly access additional
information and perform due diligence.
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336 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
• Links to key corporate players, their biographies, their photos,
and possibly some quotes. Journalists usually include quotes in
their stories.
• A link to a FAQ section where you can have frequently asked
questions and a few that you wish were frequently asked.
Figure 21.2 is an example of an online news release.
Sending News Releases on Your Own
versus Using a Distribution Service
When distributing news releases on your own, you save the money it
would cost to have a service do it. You can also be more targeted in
your efforts than a service would be. Some services’ lists could be outdated
or incomplete. Their lists of reporters and editors might not be
comprehensive and might not have been updated. On the other hand,
some services could get your news release taken more seriously. A re-
Figure 21.2. This news release from Apple.com contains textual URLs within
the release.
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Maximizing Media Relations 337
porter who recognizes the name of the service might be more receptive
than if the release were to come from an unknown company. Using a
service is bound to save you a lot of time.
If you decide to send your news releases on your own, you have to
build a list of journalists. When reading publications, look for the names
of reporters and find out their contact information. If you don’t know
whom to send a news release to at any publication, you can always call
and ask for the name of the appropriate editor. Subscribe to a personalized
news service to receive articles about your industry. This is a great
way to find the names of journalists who might be interested in what
you have to say.
There are a number of online resources to assist you in building
your news-distribution list, such as the one shown in Figure 21.3.
Mediafinder (http://www.mediafinder.com) is a Web site that might be
useful. It provides access to a database of thousands of media outlets
including magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, and catalogues.
MediaMap (http://www.mediamap.com) is a public relations resource
that has detailed profiles on more than 20,000 media contacts, including
their phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, and work pref-
Figure 21.3. Use Mediafinder.com to locate appropriate magazines, journals,
newspapers, newsletters, and catalogs.
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338 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
erences (Figure 21.4). They also have editorial calendars that tell you
who will be writing a scheduled story, what the topic of the story is, and
when it will be written.
There are a number of news release distribution services on-line
(Figures 21.5 and 21.6). Several of them are listed in the Internet Resources
section at the end of this chapter.
Golden Tips for News Release Distribution
When distributing your news releases, don’t send them to the news desk
unaddressed. Know which editor handles the type of news in your release,
and address the news release to that person. Don’t send the news
release to more than one editor in any organization unless there is more
than one angle to the information in the news release. Call ahead, if
possible, to discuss and solicit the editor’s interest in your news release
before sending it. Also, follow up with a phone call a few days later to
make sure that it was received and to answer any questions. Be sure to
review editorial calendars of publications in your industry to see if there
are upcoming articles where your story could make a contribution.
Figure 21.4. MediaMap is a software and media information company.
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Maximizing Media Relations 339
Figure 21.5. Internet News Bureau is an e-mail news release service company
that provides distribution and also the writing of e-mail news releases.
Figure 21.6. You can submit your news release to PRWeb.
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340 101 Ways To Promote Your Web Site
News Release Timing and Deadlines
One of the most important things to remember when sending a news
release or advisory is the deadline. Know how far in advance you should
send your information for each of the media. Here are some time guidelines
for your news release distribution.
Monthly Magazines
For monthly magazines, you should submit your news releases at least
two to three months before the issue you want it to appear in. Magazines
are planned far in advance, because it often takes a number of
weeks to have the magazine printed and in subscribers’ mailboxes.
Daily Newspapers
It is a good idea to have your news release arrive on the editor’s desk at
least several weeks in advance. If it concerns a special holiday, you should
send it even earlier.
TV and Radio
When submitting news releases to TV and radio, remember that you
might be asked to appear on a show as a guest. Be prepared for this
before you submit the release. TV and radio move very quickly; a story
that has been given to the news director in the morning might appear on
that evening’s news.
Formatting Your E-mail News Release
Your news releases can be e-mailed. Some reporters prefer e-mailed releases;
others say they prefer mailed or faxed releases. Check the
reporter’s preference before you send your news release. If you e-mail
your news releases, make sure that your e-mails are formatted properly.
Refer to Chapter 10 for guidelines on how to create effective e-mail
messages.
Keep your e-mailed news releases to one or two pages with short
paragraphs. It is best to insert the news release in the e-mail.