Tag Archives: publications

How Many Press Releases Do You Send Out Per Month?

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Your pr marketing strategy should include a series of press releases each month. So what is the total number of press releases to send per month? We recommend at least three per month. You don’t want to issue the same release every other week, but rather find a new angle, or create new releases each week.

publicity press releasesWe do not recommend flooding the media with dozens of press releases, especially if they are not newsworthy. That will get you negative publicity and probably be recognized as a pest to the media.

Your pr marketing strategies should outline for your pr clients a series of releases to meet the objectives of your publicity campaign. For example, if a pr client is introducing a new product, that warrants a press release. When the product has an impact, or makes an improvement to something, this can be another press release. Basically, follow through with the first press release to see how you can continue to get media attention. Reporters and publishers need good content and stories for their readers, so when writing your pr clients press releases, give them solid information that will want readers to learn more.

Keep away from “sales writing”. Press releases need to be informative, give features as to why the product or service was developed. Tell how it will affect the market, or industry. That is what reporters are looking for in their publications.

If you need help in getting your pr marketing strategy, or publicity campaign in gear, give us a call. We have the contact and expertise to get you noticed. Make the call; it can be the step you take that advances you ahead of the competition.

How To Write A Press Release For Your Audience

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Writing a press release is much different than writing an article, or a script, or copy for an ad or brochure. A press release should be written to a specific audience, or market. If you are a PR Client, then make sure that your in-house pr department or your publicity agency understands the importance of targeting a specific audience for each press release.

PR Clients need to understand that publicity is an art. It doesn’t just happen in the media. To get a press release published,How to write a press release you need to follow a few points. Besides writing it in the correct format, which you can check out this site to help you understand how to write a press release. What you need to also do, make the press release fit your specific audience. Don’t try to be general and reach the entire market. No matter how generic your product or service might appear to be, you can target specific markets and revise the release to target other markets.

One way to get your press release published is to see what you are saying. If you are opening a new office, or moved to a new location, then the release should be targeted to local media. It is also good to mention how this move, or new office will impact the area. For example, will you be hiring new people, how will your company affect the new area? Think in this manner and you have a good chance of getting published.

If you are a medical company, then ask how it will affect that industry. Does your release explain how your company (or what the release is about) changes anything in the industry? Of course, this release should target medical publications, and local newspapers that have a Health section. A short article on “Reaching the Right Audience” explains more ways of identifying how to understand your market so that your press release targets the right audience in order to get published.

Follow these simple steps and you will have a better chance of the media running your next release. If you need professional pr help, give George Carson a call at 949-477-9400.

How To Get free Publicity

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Ask for help

If you have a unique product or a gimmick that needs to get publicity, think about asking for help. The kind of help in this case is not asking your publicity agency, or pr staff to do a lot, just have them send a press release to post that asks for publicity ideas to market the product.

Sounds like free ideas and publicity? It is. Just look at what a couple of attorneys did to market a new watch. The short article which was on Publicity Hound’s Blog this week had a posting of a watch that has the dials divided into six-minute-increments, that is how attorney’s bill you!

The frightening thing is a lot of people posted ideas telling them it was a great way to sell these to other industries.

Granted, it doesn’t take a lot of creativity to see the potential of the market.

What was interesting to me, that people were willing to offer suggestions. Plus, these people and many others reading the blogs  were probably telling their friends about this legal type of watch. That my friends is FREE publicity.

True, this will not work for all products or in most markets. But it shows you that with a little creative thought you can get publicity for most anything, even something as NOT unique as a watch.

Think about it, when was the last time a publication ran a press release on a common item as a watch? Remember, this watch isn’t a unique design, or runs on solar, or has special rings…it’s just an ordinary watch with the dials (the face) broken into six-minute segments. Incredible, but that’s publicity.

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Who Is Getting Your Press Kits?

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Do you know the right person?


Sending out press releases or press kits to editors, publishers take more than addressing a label. You need to make sure the person receiving your media kit, or article is the right person.

Depending on the industry you are in, it can be a guessing game. And if you are sending to the trade media, or consumer media make sure that person is still working at the publication or broadcast station.

Finding The Media
There are many sources to locate the right publication and get the name(s) of the individuals responsible to receive your information. You can go to the public library, buy an SRDS (the cost for the subscription is costly), or do some surfing on the web. Another source is Gebbie Press.

Once you find the right person, make sure you spell their name correctly, and then call to verify that reporter, or editor is still working there.

If you are interested in getting TV or radio exposure, you can call your local affiliates. Many times, they will direct you to the proper producer who is in charge of programming.

Again, be sure to write the name of the person, their phone number and email correctly.

After all that research, you need to contact these people and ask if the story is one that will fit their station. It is always a good idea to have someone in the company, or ask your pr client who would be best suited for an interview.

Follow Through
You can send the reporters or producer a letter, which is probably best in the beginning. Then follow-up in about a week to see if they received your request.

A good public relations service is having the media right people in your contact file. Otherwise, it is time wasted for you and your pr client. 

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Public Relations With The Media

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Get Better Relations With The Media


I’ve written about this subject a couple of times, but in different viewpoints. One of the articles was titled: Working with the press", the other was titled "Know the media". Each identifies specific issues that will help you produce better releases to get them published. Re-read these; you may find something you missed the first time.

Today I will focus more on having good media relations with the press. When possible, I like to use other pr pros that think the same to help illustrate another writer’s viewpoint. That way you can read theirs and possibly pick up more knowledge. One particular blogsite that has this similar viewpoint is PowerPR weblog. Check out his perspective.

As you plan your publicity campaign and finalizing the press releases to send to the media, make sure you have identified who will be receiving these releases and articles. Although it takes more effort, you should make revisions in the releases that meet the criteria of that specific media. Here are a few helpful tips:

  • Identify a specific person, or a couple of the reporters and send the releases to the one person most suited for your release
  •  Modify the release to fit that publications audience. If the media release is being sent to a few trade or consumer media in the foods industry, then adapt the release accordingly
  •  Know the deadlines of the media. Plan to send releases at least 2 weeks before the next issue is due, or a few days after it is published
  •  Check the media calendars. You might see in their editorial calendar that your product or press release is best suited at another time

This one-on-one submission of releases is more time consuming and does require a targeted approach. The results will be rewarding when you treat the media as you do your clients.

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Use All The Internet Tools

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Publicity is everywhere


It’s time to continue the discussion about publicity being everywhere. The most active and productive place is the Internet.

Before we dive into this, keep in mind that traditional pr, such as publications (both newspaper, magazines), and broadcast media should be an on-going mix with your overall pr activities.

Clients tend to either keep the traditional methods and don’t explore the new media, or they drop all the reporters and publishers and only concentrate on the Internet news for press release distribution.

As I began saying earlier, you need to work within the powerful media of the Internet. One good suggestion is the RSS with a blog site.

I’ve mentioned this before, but pr clients tend to not fully appreciate the advantage of this new media. Because we use the Internet as a means of gathering information "quickly", clients feel that their blogsite should have "instant" success.

Remember that Kevin Costner movie…well, just because you build a blog site, not everyone will read it.

You need to market the site. When done correctly and with the right company, professional bloggers (yes they do exist) can make the site become highly ranked. And the company doing the work for you, if they are into RSS and Blogging can get your main web site listed high with the popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Alta Vista.

There are lessons to be learned when building a blogsite. More importantly you need to have daily blogs. I cannot go into all the needed essentials to building a good business blogsite in this short blog lesson. So keep in mind to be successful in any industry, use all the marketing tools that exist. That may even mean a direct mail program if that’s what is needed to gain favorable publicity. When was the last time you had an open discussion with your pr director, or met with the publicity firm to review a plan? If it’s been over three months, then it’s time to call a meeting.

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PR Template and Finding The Media

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Searching for the right publications

I have been asked several times to explain how to write a press release and where to find the media.

PR WRITING TEMPLATE
It is difficult to draw a template about writing a release in these short blogs. If you feel that you have the talent to write the release than hiring a copywriter, I suggest visiting webwire who will give you a template, or format to follow. Once this is learned, you can make some modifications that suit your specific needs. But be aware; don’t wonder off creating a unique format, because this will only get your release tossed out.

Reporters do not like trying to understand your release by digging through a lot of colorful words, or hiding the "important" stuff somewhere in the body of the release. So check out this site, it might save you a lot of time.

WHERE’S THE MEDIA?
Good question. First you need to identify the market that you want to reach. If it is in the business industry, or more specific in the financial or accounting, or is your business in the entertainment industry…you need to target your market first.

Once this is established, you can locate sources of publications to reach. You can visit the library, or search the web for a company that provides a media list. There are several to choose from.

Now you can collect the information you need from each publication, such as editors name, publisher’s name, press release editor (some media have specific departments for releases), etc. Be sure you have a phone number as well to follow up after sending the releases.

Ok, hope this clears up some of those questions. If you still need help, contact me directly. I’ll be happy to get you going in the right direction.

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Working with the Media

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Developing a relationship with any person of the media requires time. The best way to begin this time process is to first create a media list of those publications, or broadcast editors, writers that you want to reach.

Then start providing newsworthy press releases about your company to them.

This may seem very basic, but this is the method most accepted by the press. Once you have sent the releases, follow up with a phone call. The call should be to ask if they received the release. Mention what the subject or content is about, but don’t try to tell the entire story.

If it is interesting to them, the editor or writer will ask to re-send it via email, or traditional mail. Sometimes you will be asked to contact a different person in the media department. This gives you another name to add to your media list.

Many times it is accepted to send these contacts an email telling them that you are sending a press release. Just mention the subject matter with a brief (one or two sentence) description.

Be considerate of their time and appreciate their position. The media people receive many releases per day and are approached by pr firms and companies to write a story on their specific topic.

So if your release doesn’t make it through the clutter, be patient. As I said earlier, relationships with the press takes time.