Q: I send news releases to my local paper all the time and they never respond to them. I have a wonderful floral business and I want to attract the attention of the editor so that he might write a feature article on my company. How do I get the attention of the news media to write about my company?
A: A news release or press release is used to notify the media of news. If the media is not contacting you for more information most likely your release doesn’t contain news. Most news releases contain a lot of information but no news. That is not to say that you don’t have a great story.
If you are designing an after-school program to teach kids from disadvantaged communities floral design and you want parents and teachers to send kids to apply, that’s news.
In other words, you need an angle that will make a good media story. Look at the information in your release and ask yourself if the information in your press release was someone else’s story would it hold your interest. Most likely if you find the contents uninteresting, so will others.
Another thing to consider when sending press releases is being certain that you are sending your information to the right people. Both the print and electronic media are divided into departments. Look at your information and decide which news department it belongs in: local, lifestyle, business, sports, etc.
Photo by MSDesigns.
annalaura on July 10th, 2007 at 5:32 am
thanks for the tips. I know this is a constant problem with small businesses wanting to do press releases.
FranchiseBrief.com on July 11th, 2007 at 8:50 am
The problem is small businesses always think of a press release as a promotional tool. This is NOT. A press release must be newsworthy and avoid gimmicks such as “great discount is offered for the 50 first people calling” or something similar