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Getting your company’s name to appear in a newspaper or broadcast news is not easy. It takes the right reporter, the right timing, and most importantly, a well-written news release. As you consider your paid and your non-paid marketing strategies, producing informative news releases can be one of the most effective form of promotional media because of the way consumers perceive the information.
Consider for a moment the way you react to a direct advertisement on a website’s sidebar or, perhaps worst of all, a popup ad. Do you pay attention to it? Statistically speaking, you don’t. In fact, some studies demonstrate that up to 93% of ads are never seen by web page visitors.
Now, consider third party information provided by a news organization or online customer reviews. This information feels much more credible than an advertisement because of who owns the words. As customers shop for new items, checking reviews and asking advice from personal friends are among the top ways they make final purchases. The trick is having the right story and distributing it to the right people so they can promote it for you.
Before you begin to write, you should know what your story will be about and why it is important to reporters. Once you know what the newsworthy element of your story is, be sure to include that information in the headline. For example, if your company earned a national service award, your local media may jump at the chance to hear about how “Local Company Earns National Service Award.”
Of course you would replace the word “local” with your city’s name and “company” with the type of company you run, not the name. Each of those elements make your story relevant to the readers of the media organization you will pitch to. However, that same headline may not sell well to a bigger media outlet. So, consider your audience, and write what is important to them and their readers.
When writing a subhead, consider what the benefit to the readers is. What will they gain when they learn about your company’s news? Are you rolling out special offers or adding new jobs to an area? Whatever your benefit may be, it belongs in the subhead. The subhead also is where you can introduce your company’s name. This is where the meat begins and readers begin to feel engaged with your content.
If you are having a hard time imagining what a good headline looks like, study your local newspaper or visit prnewswire.com for examples.
There are 7 elements of newsworthiness that, if used correctly, can help you know whether or not your story is worth pitching to the media. And, what parts of your story deserve to be in the headline.
How does your story affect readers? If your headline isn’t designed to relate directly to readers, it won’t get picked up.
Readers care more about something down the street than across the world.
Is it actually news? Or a story from a month ago?
People love to read stories that exemplify the human condition. Give them a rags to riches, emotional, funny, meaningful story and you will get more people to read it.
Readers always want to know who comes out on top of a fight. That’s why reality tv exists.
Humans are fascinated with the bizarre and unusual. When you demonstrate shock value, that clickbait magic will work for you. BUT, and a very big but, only use shock value if it is real. There is no better way to lose your readers trust than by lying
This may not apply to your business, but people care way too much about celebrities. But, if you are a local town hero, then what happens to you will matter to them.
The final tip we have to help you write the best news release possible is to write in a way that matches the inverted pyramid model. This particular writing model argues that the most important aspect of a story should be told within the first paragraph. From there, the importance of information should become less and less dense.
Writing stories in this manner will allow less-serious readers to get the gist of your story without having to read all the way through it. That way, they can read the headline, or even up to the end of the first two paragraphs and know exactly what the news was all about.
