Smart Tips for Sending Out Your Press Release

The big day is coming: you’re finally ready for your grand opening! Or the founder of your company who’s lasted 44 years is retiring. Or you’re holding the biggest blow-out sale in your company’s history. Or you’re hosting a gala in support of a local charity.

All newsworthy, you think. So you knock out a press release — or hire professionals like Ray Access to write it for you — and send it to all the local media. You find the main fax and emails numbers and shoot it off, clearing your calendar for the interviews that are sure to follow when you get your press release noticed. After all, this is a big deal, big news.

In Whose World?

While the news you have to share is super important, it’s really only newsworthy to you, your employees and maybe a handful of customers. It’s really not eye-popping for everyone else. Most news that business owners think is worth at least a few inches on the local news blog or in the daily or weekly paper actually isn’t.

You probably won’t get your press release noticed if all you do is put out information about sales or good works that you do. That’s what advertising is for. And most media outlets, even small hometown blogs and publications, have a diverse audience — what’s hot for one reader is a big yawn for another. Finally, to get your press released noticed, you first must impress your primary target: the reporters and editors on whose desk your press release lands.

Tips to Get Your Press Release Noticed (and Written About)

If all you’re promoting is an event or close-out, send a notice to the calendar section of the paper or website. Save yourself the time and money of preparing and sending out a press release. Spend your resources on an ad if you think your sale is big enough. Place the news on your own blog or post it on your social media for your followers to find. Put the announcement in your next newsletter to let those on your email list know of the upcoming special event.

If you’d really like to get wider coverage and maybe even an article or interview out of the event, follow these tips to get your press release noticed:

• Send it to a real person. Remember what you do when you get mail addressed to Occupant or letters aimed at To Whom It May Concern. Like many of us, you likely stick it, unopened, in the circular file. Take the time to find out which reporter covers your industry. Build relationships with these journalists so you have a contact when you want to get your press release noticed.
• Tie your news into current events. Reporters are always looking for a local angle to a national story. For example, if you’re opening a new treatment center or holding an event to support a drug rehab, lead off with the fact that this event is tied into the opioid crisis, a huge story that’s been ongoing and probably won’t go away for a while.
• Find a hook. Much like tying your announcement into national or local news, create a scenario that puts a different or quirky spin on a trend or ongoing controversy in your area. Have you given raises to your staff so that they now make living wages? That may tie into efforts to raise the minimum wage in your state.
• Drop names. Do your best to get a celebrity to endorse your business. Better yet, ask that well-known person to attend your event as the guest of honor, main speaker or entertainment. TV news and radio personalities are always looking for a way to get their names and faces in front of the public. And their bosses appreciate the opportunities.
• Pull a stunt. This trick is as old as the media industry and involves going big to draw attention to your business and your event. Get your press release noticed by announcing you will jump out of a plane, throwing a bag of money to the crowd gathered below. To honor your founder, let it be known that a diamond is hidden in one of the cupcakes you’ll be handing out to customers all day. What? Now that’s some fodder for water-cooler talk, and a pretty good bet that some creative journalist will either write about the event in advance or at least show up to put you and your company on the six o’clock news!

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.