The Perfect Press Release, 2014 Edition

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I have a New Year’s resolution for business owners: Embrace the changing role of the press release and how it affects your company’s bottom line. Gone are the days where press releases were a one-and-done pass to securing media coverage – with new channels popping up every day and more businesses competing to be heard amidst the noise of their respective industries, it’s rare that a journalist reads a release and writes a story as a direct result of a traditional wire distribution service alone. But despite their changing role, press releases can still be an important part of making sure your story gets the attention it deserves – they’re just evolving a bit. Here are five essential components any modern press release must have to make it through today’s media storm:

1. Keywords are key: I always tell clients that nowadays, the main benefit of sending a press release over the wires is for SEO ranking. However, that one benefit is crucial for businesses and makes the effort entirely worth it. It’s the right keywords that will set your brand’s page or news above the rest and lead customers to you instead of your competitors. Google and other search engines index new content based on the quality of keywords contained, so take the time to do some research on what people are searching for in relation to your press release. Google AdWords has a great keyword tool that is simple to use.

Note: Wire services can still be great and offer lots of benefits (including SEO help), but as they can get quite pricey, we recommend picking and choosing which releases you pay to distribute vs. which you do through free wires.

2. Make it newsworthy. Although search engine visibility is a paramount goal, it’s important to ensure your content is still interesting and truly newsworthy. We’re all biased toward our own businesses’ interests – it’s human nature – but take the time to think about what other people will care about outside of your office. Did you hire an experienced, Fortune 500-level CEO who will be implementing a whole new customer service program? Go for the press release and broad distribution. Did an associate vice-president get promoted? Post the press release to your website. 

3. Location, location, location: Even if they’re interested in your story, most journalists are extremely busy and will not take the time to read your entire press release, whether it’s included in a pitch or they stumble upon it through web search. That being said, think strategically about how you’re placing information. Have an important main point and CTA? Place it in the first or second paragraph – think a 30-second read at the most – and the last. This is where people are most likely to look for a summation of key content. That way, even a glance can catch a journalist’s eye and leave them wanting more.

4. The eyes have it: Photos, infographics, and video are increasingly important additions to any modern press release. New media in general is catering to a visually-driven consumer, and placing these aids in your release is basically guaranteed to amplify your views. According to PR Newswire, a press release with even one photo will get 14% more reads than a text-only release. A release with a video and no photos will get 20% more views than text-only, while a release with both a photo and a video will garner 48% higher consumption. If you really want to maximize the power of visuals, interactive components like infographics and charts will skyrocket you to 77% more views when combined with a photo and a video. If you really want to get creative, make your whole press release an infographic. These are hugely popular and very impactful, and a graphic designer can easily whip one up to stay on budget.

5. Check yourself: Even if your press release covers the most groundbreaking, compelling news of the decade, readers – especially journalists – won’t take you seriously if it’s not well-written. Keeping your punctuation, grammar, and clarity on point will help you better hold consumers’ interest and respect your brand; prompting them to want to learn more and, with any luck, further engage. A poorly written release will leave readers assuming you and your company are unprofessional and will take the same care with delivering a service or product as you did with your writing. At the very least, have a trusted coworker who understands editing proof your work. However, working with a PR firm will guarantee your press release is not only written well, but contains messaging primed for connectivity.

6. Make a connection: Another thing that a successful press release should have is well-thought anchor links. The words you choose to anchor link can make a definitive impact on your press release’s search engine ranking, as well as its general “clickability.” For example, say your release is discussing your coffee shop’s award-winning lattes. For your intents and purposes, you’d be much better off using “best lattes in San Diego” to link to the award site or your company website over something like “award.” When people search for “best lattes in San Diego” in Google, your site and release will be associated with that term.

Press releases aren’t the only thing that can make a business successful on the web and in the press, but when combined with a careful strategy and solid media relationships, they can be a fantastic tool when leveraged properly for today’s consumer. To learn more about how the perfect press release and other PR and communications services can help your business stand above the rest, visit www.wrightoncomm.com.

What are the Qualities of a Good Reporter Today?

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By Julie Wright, President

Reading GigaOm's post to recruit a new Bay Area startup reporter paints a good picture of the skill sets needed and pressures put upon reporters today.

The volume of press releases crossing the newswires are about as welcome by journalists as a swarm of locusts. Getting a good story published requires valuable information and relevant story angles that are pitched and developed one-to-one with a good reporter. If this is not yet clear to you or your clients, then read this job description closely and try to see your communications from the reporter's perspective. If you can help him or her do their job well, everyone wins:

"We want a reporter who can look at a startup and see compelling storylines, rather than just a bunch of names and numbers. We want a reporter who doesn’t just regurgitate press releases, but who can conceive of and then report out their own fresh ideas. We want a reporter who is a great networker and who has a knack for picking up nuggets of news along the way. The best candidates will be both fast on their feet and creative: able to blast out a piece of news quickly but equally capable of producing an original analysis piece."

Don’t Block Your Own Shot

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With newsrooms downsizing and the subsequent workload being shouldered by journalists lucky enough to retain their job, knowing a reporter's pet peeve could mean the difference between your news being covered or disregarded.

Here are a few journo pet peeves that you’ll want to be conscious of.

Sending a press release as an email attachment

As a PR professional, you have to assume every pitch you send is just one of over 250 emails a reporter receives per day. With this volume of emails, the two seconds it takes to open the attachment is two seconds too long and you can bet the house your email will be deleted. What’s more, attachments are known vehicles for viruses and phishing scams. They pose a real threat to everyone, but especially journalists. To increase the odds that your press release will get read, take the minute and a half to copy the text of your press release into the body of an email and format the accompanying image; it’s the golden rule when pitching.

Typos

Typos happen. However, make sure they don’t happen when initiating dialogue with literary professionals. These people spent countless hours, and big bucks, studying and perfecting their use of the English language. Overlooking simple rules – using “then” instead of “than” or mixing up “there” and “they’re,” for example – can be interpreted as careless. If you don’t care enough to get your press release right, why should a journo care to read it? Try thinking of all journalists as the fictional author Hank Moody from Californication, an individual whose personal mission it is to protect the written word. Proofread after you proofread.

Lengthy subject lines

Crafting your subject line can be a real balancing act. The key is to grab a reporter’s attention without your subject line getting cut off in their inbox by their email server. Typically, subject lines should be about 40 characters, including spaces. Write subject lines using the inverted pyramid model, placing less meaningful words, which may be cut off, toward the end. Emphasize the most important information, the attention-grabber, at the beginning of the subject line.

Late Friday pitching

Some argue that there is no best day to pitch journalists. With that said, journalists are people, too, and unless they’re weekend assignment editors for a news station, their weekend starts Friday at 5:01 p.m. It’s easy for journalists to disregard information over the weekend and when they’re cleaning up their inbox Monday morning, including your pitch in the list of highlighted emails destined for the trash folder is even easier. Unless you’re sending your news to a weekend assignment editor or a nightclub’s VIP manager, pitching on a late Friday afternoon should be reserved for breaking news necessitating an immediate release. Do yourself and your client a favor: get the news out earlier in the week and in the morning whenever possible.

Acknowledging these pet peeves won’t guarantee your press releases will get read, but ignoring them pretty much guarantees they won’t.

5 Reasons it Pays to Pitch the Competition

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When I suggest pitching your competitors, you might think I'm talking about pitching them overboard.

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but including information on your competitors when you pitch your company/client to the media can be a best practice.

Here are at least five reasons:

1. They will look at your competitors anyhow
Any journalist worth his or her salt is going to dig around to see what other company, venue or event is similar to yours. Save them the time while also putting your competition in context. [TIP: Never say anything distasteful or disparaging about your competition.]

2. You need other examples to show a trend
Trends are newsworthy--they're current and topical, but one company's experience is not evidence of a trend. Go ahead and share data in your pitch like market growth statistics or scientific research to substantiate a trend, but also share examples of other companies or events that prove out your point. If the reporter does the story, typically he or she will lead with your client/company as the primary example. [TIP: It takes three exampeles to support a trend.]

3. Profiles are the exception, not the rule
Journalists occasionally profile companies and leaders, but typically that is a once per publication opportunity, and even in a profile of a successful company or CEO, you'll see the reporter cite examples of similar companies or the experiences of similar executives. If you don't have a stand-out product, service, event or leader to submit for a profile, try positioning your story in terms of trends in your industry (see #2) and seek to be the lead example. [TIP: This is particularly effective in more mature industries or with products or services that are viewed as commodities like financial services.]

4. It enhances your credibility
When journalists see that you've included competitor information in a pitch, the very fact that you acknowledged other companies builds your credibility and shows you understand the information they need to do their job.

5. It works
When I have used this technique, I've had journalists respond telling me how much they appreciated it. Plus, it has produced coverage, and each time, the coverage focused on my client, and the effort and extra work paid off.

It's not always the answer but can be an effective technique when needed.

A Taste of PR and Guitar

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Why is SDSU senior and classical guitarist Pauline France serenading the (W)right On team? Call it a quid pro quo.

I spent the morning of Oct. 29 sharing my passion for PR with Pauline through the "Taste of PR" program organized by the local PRSA New Pros committee. The program matched seasoned professionals as mentors with young, promising professionals just starting their careers. In exchange, after lunch, she rocked our world with a taste of her passion for music.

Pauline was an excellent candidate for this kind of program. She shared in advance what she hoped to get out of the experience so that we could do our best to deliver. And she asked terrific questions. Best of all, she captured the experience in a great blog post of her own. She seems to have taken away some of the key principles of agency life and, possibly even more impressive to this agency president, knows how to use the plural possessive (*swoon*):

"Some of the things I learned at the firm include time management, managing conflicting priorities, managing clients’ expectations and developing PR proposals. A topic that was often brought up was keeping a healthy balance between your personal and professional life, something that Julie does admirably well!"

Not sure where she got the idea I've figured out how to balance the agency with having a life. Let's just say I try...

Having her job shadow me and lunch with Chance Shay, Heather Hinman and I was a pleasure. Kudos to the New Pros committee for this program, and I encourage other agency executives to consider supporting it next year. You'll get as much as you give!

P.S. Shout out to Sandy Young for the push I needed to participate.

Email Tip That Will Save Your Bacon

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Have you hit 'reply all' by mistake? Sent a nasty response and then regretted it? Or simply sent a message and then remembered some piece of information or a question you left out?

(The last one happens to me several times a day!)

How do I avoid sending multiple emails on the same topic when that happens? Easy: I've configured my email to send and receive every five minutes.

That's five minutes to realize I might have hit 'reply all.' Or a five-minute cooling down period. (Some folks might need 10 minute intervals!) And it's five minutes for 'oh yeah, I needed to ask about XYZ too.'

How many of your emails need to be sent immediately? I'll bet they're the exception and not the rule. Therefore, it's no big deal to manually hit 'Send/Receive' in Microsoft Outlook from time to time when you need to send a message right away.

Change your email options in Outlook by clicking the 'Tools' menu. Select 'Options' and then click the 'Mail Setup' tab. You'll have to unclick the 'Send immediately when connected' button--that's actually the default setting for Outlook. Then click the 'Send/Receive' button to the right to specify how frequently you want your email sent.

I've been doing this for years and just told a few of my colleagues who loved the idea. I thought I'd share it here, because in my opinion, it's a 'best practice' when it comes to email. Do you have any tips for email communication to share?