A very important part of any PR plan is gaining press coverage. The first step in getting media attention is to establish and build a database of press contacts and editors of industry journals, magazines, and trade publications. Maintaining relationships with these press contacts is very important. Often these press contacts will let you know about upcoming features within their publications and ask you to submit materials such as press releases and articles. This type of working relationship is important because it can often lead to press coverage that money can't buy. For the cost of a piece of letterhead, photo, envelope, and stamp you may be able to get exposure greater than what you could get from thousands of dollars worth of advertising.
It is equally important to write effective press releases and send them out to media contacts on a regular basis. As with advertising or any other type of marketing communication, creating an attention-grabbing headline that crystallizes the information in one sentence usually makes the difference between a press release that gets read and one that gets tossed into the waste paper basket. Once you've captured attention with an effective headline, you need to get to the main point immediately (describe the "who", "what", "when", "where", "why", and "how") and then provide more detail deeper down in the press release. Once you've established the fact that the information is relevant to the reader (usually an editor or producer), then they will read the details to learn more and determine whether or not your release is worthy of them covering.
Although editors will usually edit the information to fit their needs, writing effective news releases is a very important step in gaining publicity. These days, video news releases are also becoming popular, but there is no substitute yet for tried-and-true written news releases.
No comments:
Post a Comment