Maximizing Media Relations 341

Maximizing Media Relations 341
send your news release as an attachment. You don’t know which platform
or word-processing program the reporter is using. You might be
using Microsoft Word 2004 on a PC, but the reporter could be using an
incompatible program on a Mac and will not be able to open the file.
There could also be problems downloading, which would prevent your
release from being read. The person on the receiving end of your e-mail
could be using an old computer with a slow dial-up connection, so what
might take you two minutes to transfer might take the recipient 20 minutes
or two hours to download. In addition, you may be using a PC
platform but the reporter may be using a MacOS-based computer. Someone
who spends 20 minutes or longer downloading your e-mail only to
find that it’s useless won’t be impressed—great start to getting the journalist
to do a positive story on you!
Make sure the subject line of your e-mail is compelling. Journalists
can easily delete e-mailed releases unopened, and quite often they do,
because journalists receive large volumes of these daily. Make sure your
e-mail is clear and concise. Get to the point with the first sentence. If
you don’t grab the reader’s attention at the beginning of the release, the
recipient might not keep reading to find out what your news is.
It’s important to be able to send news release information in digital
format (as a file rather than hard copy). With a quick copy-and-paste,
the journalist would then have the “first draft” of the story (Figure
21.7). You have made it easy for him or her to then edit the draft and
have a story quickly. Everybody loves to save time, and nearly all of
these journalists are under tight deadlines.
What Is Considered Newsworthy
Your news release has to contain newsworthy information for it to be
published. One of the main concerns for public relations representatives
is figuring out what is considered newsworthy and what isn’t. You
have to have a catch, and, if possible, it should appeal to some sort of
emotion. Here is a list of newsworthy items:
• A merger or partnership between your company and another
• A free service or resource offered by your company to the general
public
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• A survey or forum that your company is holding to discuss an
already hot news topic
• The appearance of a celebrity at a company event or upcoming
online promotions
• Your participation in a trade show
• The findings of a report your company has conducted
• A breakthrough in technology resulting in a significant new consumer
product
• The development of new strategic alliances or partnerships
• A charitable contribution by your company
• A milestone anniversary that your company is celebrating
• An award presented by your company
Figure 21.7. When a news release is provided in digital format, it can easily
be copied and pasted into another document.
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Maximizing Media Relations 343
• Holiday event tie-ins
• Tips, articles, or advice
• Stories with a human interest element.
What Isn’t Considered Newsworthy
Some things that aren’t news to the general public might be news to
targeted trade magazines and journals. Use your own judgment when
trying to determine if your news release is news or just an excuse to get
your company’s name in print. If your release focuses on any of the
following, it is probably not newsworthy enough to publish.
The launch of a new Web site has not been news for a number of
years now. Unless the site is based on a breakthrough in Internet technology
or serves the public interest in an innovative way, you won’t get
a mention in the news. Nor is a new feature or change to your Web site
newsworthy information. Even if your site has undergone a major overhaul,
this is not news to the general public.
Launching a new product is not newsworthy unless the product represents
a significant breakthrough in some area. The upgrade of an old
product simply won’t cut it.
Preparing Your News and Media Kits
Your press kit is an essential item at news conferences and interviews.
This kit can also be sent to reporters when they request more information
about a news release you have sent to them. Your press kit should
start with a folder displaying your company logo and basic contact information.
The folder should have pockets inside so that different sheets
of information can be inserted. The following items should be included
in your press kit:
• A news release outlining the newsworthy event
• A company history
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• Brochures
• Other articles written about your company
• Pictures
• Background information on key players
• FAQs and answers to anticipated questions
• Quotes from key individuals
• Contact information
• Business card.
Developing an Online Media Center for Public Relations
If publicity is a significant part of your public relations strategy, you
should consider developing an online media center as part of your site
(see Figure 21.8). The media center should be easily accessible from
your navigation bar. It would include all the components a journalist
needs when doing a story on your company. Journalists should be able
to find pictures to include in the story and all the information necessary
to do their due diligence. They should be able to send a question to the
appropriate media contact within the organization with one click. The
media center should include:
• A chronology of news releases distributed by the company.
• The company’s history and background information.
• An electronic brochure.
• Links to other articles written about your company.
• Links to story ideas for future articles.
• Links to pictures of a related product or products. Perhaps have
a gallery where journalists can choose the pictures they want to
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Maximizing Media Relations 345
include in their story. The TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is preferred
by journalists for crispness and clarity and works best for
desktop-publishing applications. The file will have a .tiff or .tif
extension. The .tif format is not supported by Web browsers, so
you can make it easy for journalists to acquire the photos by
placing thumbnails on your Web site and then having an
autoresponder send them the specific photos they request in the
preferred format. There are also great online media tools available
such as CleanPix (http://www.cleanpix.com).
• Background information on key company personnel, along with
their pictures, bios, and quotes.
• A link to your company’s media contact and contact information.
• FAQs and answers to anticipated questions.
By having a media center on your site, you are sending a clear message
to the journalist. You are saying, “You’re important to me! I want
to provide you with everything you need to quickly and easily complete
your story on our company.” With the media center you are providing
Figure 21.8. Squaw Valley provides a great media center on its site complete
with a Story Ideas section readily available to the press.
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all the information, in a format journalists can use, to enable them to do
the story no matter what time they choose to do it.
You will want to encourage permission marketing by offering
visitors the opportunity to be notified to receive your news releases
“hot off the press.” Place a “Click here to receive notification of our
news releases” link on your Web site. In addition, make it easy for
visitors to send a copy of your news release to a friend. Sometimes
journalists work on stories together, so give the journalist the option
to send the news release to a colleague or even to her editor through
viral marketing.
Internet Resources for Chapter 21
I have included a few resources for you to check out regarding news
releases. For additional resources on a variety of topics, visit the Resources
section of my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/
resources.html. There you will find additional tips, tools, and techniques.
News Releases
Care & Feeding of the Press
http://www.netpress.org/careandfeeding.html
Journalists’ manifesto for how PR people should work with the media.
Xpress Press—E-mail News Release Information
http://www.xpresspress.com/PRnotes.html
Information on how to write and format a news release to be distributed
by e-mail.
Where to Submit Your News Releases
Businesswire
http://www.businesswire.com
This news release distribution service provides a wide range of services
and has several showcases.
Click Press Direct
http://www.ideasiteforbusiness.com/clickpressfree.cfm
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Maximizing Media Relations 347
News release contact list of the nation’s top business-related newspapers
and magazines. It has a subscription service that allows access to a
list of 8,176 publications you can e-mail your press releases to.
Emailwire.com
http://www.emailwire.com
Submit your news releases to more than 300,000 business owners, business
executives, individual investors, and consumers and to 27,000 journalists,
editors, publishers, and syndicators.
Internet Media Fax
http://www.imediafax.com
Custom online news-distribution service that creates targeted media lists
“on the fly.”
Internet News Bureau Press Release Service
http://www.newsbureau.com
For a fee, you can distribute your news release to thousands of online
media outlets here. It also links to a number of good PR resources.
Market Wire
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/home http://www1.internetwire.com
The Market Wire offers online news release distribution via e-mail.
Partyline
http://www.partylinepublishing.com
The standard media placement newsletter for the public relations trade.
PR Newswire Home Page
http://www.prnewswire.com
A leading source for worldwide corporate media, business, the financial
community, and the individual investor.
PR Web
http://www.prweb.com
A dynamite site that distributes news releases but provides an extensive
list of PR resources as well.
WebWire.com
http://www.webwire.com
WebWire is a community of PR professionals, corporate communicators,
and individuals who deliver qualified and professional press re-
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leases to Web-based emerging and conventional media. Full access to
WebWire is provided to the media at no cost, and many aspects of
WebWire are free of charge for PR professionals, corporate communicators,
and individuals. There is a nominal charge for press release submissions
and associated distribution.
Xpress Press News Release Distribution Service
http://www.xpresspress.com
News releases delivered electronically by e-mail to 10,000 journalists
and media members in more than 73 countries.
Canada News Wire
http://www.newswire.ca
Canada NewsWire is Canada’s number one resource for time-critical
news and information from more than 10,000 sources coast to coast
and around the world. Public companies, associations, unions,
nonprofits, municipal, provincial and federal governments all rely on
CNW’s services and networks to effectively send their messages to newsrooms,
the financial community, and the public.
CMP Media LLC
http://www.cmp.com
CMP Media is a leading integrated media company providing essential
information and marketing services to the technology and healthcare
industries.
E.Release
http://www.ereleases.com/index.html
E.Release specializes in press release writing and distribution services,
distributing press releases on-line to subscribing journalists. Unlike other
press release services, they will post all press releases to PR Newswire
and to targeted media in your industry.
News Release Distribution Software
PRWizard
http://www.prwizard.com
PRWizard is a powerful, automated news release submission software
package that lets you effortlessly broadcast your news release to almost
28,000 targeted media contacts.
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Increasing Traffic through Online Publications 349
349
22
Increasing Traffic through
Online Publications
More than 60 percent of Internet users frequently read
online publications, or e-zines. You can identify marketing
opportunities by searching for and reading e-zines
that are relevant to your business. In this chapter, we
cover:
• What electronic magazines are
• Finding online sites on which to advertise or arrange links
• How to find appropriate e-zines for marketing purposes
• Submitting articles to e-zines
• Advertising in e-zines
• E-zine resources on-line.
e-zines
Electronic
magazines.
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Appealing to Magazine Subscribers on the Net
Many Web users frequently read e-zines. This is one of the reasons they
are among the most popular marketing tools on the Internet. Five years
ago there were a few hundred e-zines in publication. Now there are thousands
of e-zines dedicated to a wide variety of topics such as travel, business
opportunities, food, child care—you name it. For any topic you are
interested in, there quite likely are several e-zines dedicated to it.
What Exactly Are E-zines?
E-zines, or electronic magazines, are the online version of magazines.
They are content-rich and contain information regarding a certain topic
in the form of magazine articles and features. Many e-zines display ads
as well. Some e-zines are Web-site-based and others are e-mail-based.
Many offline magazines provide a version on-line as well.