Creative Ways to Make Your Press Release Work: Email Strategies to Get Thousands in Free Media Publicity

by Kevin Nunley
http://DrNunley.com

 

Never before has there been so MUCH media. Internet, cable,
satellite, and new low-power TV add to the already staggering
number of radio stations, newspapers, and magazines.

Competition is intense. Each year there is more pressure on
editors and producers to find fresh stories and interesting
information to satisfy their audiences. This is good news for
you.

If you have expert tips to share, an interesting new product or
service to announce, or even a controversial opinion, many in the
media will spread your news to their listeners, readers, and
viewers. You get free publicity money can't buy when you help
media folks get the fresh content they constantly need.

Editors are often swamped with press releases--bag loads arrive
by mail, spill out of the fax machine, and fill up their email.
Use these five strategies to get noticed and get your press
release used.

1. Email is instantaneous. Constantly scan the headlines for a
popular story or topic that you can relate your business to. Get
your release to editors ASAP while the topic is still hot. Right
after an important story breaks, media looks for related stories
to keep the topic in front of their audiences.

You can email press releases to media inexpensively using a good
media contact guide or database. We've had luck using the fine
media guide at gebbie.com and the press release program available
from media-magnet.com. Most guides divide media into a number of
categories: radio, TV, daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, and
magazines.

2. Target general interest media. It's important to send your
release to the kind of media that will be interested in it. It's
safe to send just about any release to the general interest
media: radio, TV, newspapers, and general business and news
magazines.

Sending your release to everyone on the list will fill your mail
box with angry replies from editors. Once we got a stern reply
from the editor of "Soil and Conservation Monthly" after we
accidentally sent him a release on 900 numbers.

3. Write your release to appeal to radio. The vast majority of
major media outlets in North America are radio stations. Most
cities have one or two major newspapers and a handful of TV
stations, but they often have 15 to 30 radio stations.

Radio overwhelmingly uses locally produced programming that has
to be produced daily every day of the year. Since most radio
stations are designed to entertain, they gobble up any story that
is funny, sad, thought provoking, or pertains to a fashionable
topic.

Be sure to include your telephone number and offer to be
available to do a live on-air interview.

4. Write a press release filled with your expert tips. It's ok
for it to be a bit of a how-to article. Editors will use it if
the information is helpful to people in their audience.

If you are an accountant, announce a free checklist available to
small businesses. Include your free tips in the press release. A
web designer can provide ideas on how to make a businesses' site
sell. A daycare provider can lend some ideas on how to keep
children entertained.

5. You will also want to choose some addresses from a list of
magazines and newsletters that relate closely to your industry.

Often these industry publications are easiest to get into and
will give your business a greater amount of publicity. Things
that seem like no big deal to a daily newspaper can be big news
to a magazine or newsletter in your industry.

Watch for the same email addresses to show up multiple times on
directory lists. If you're not careful, you can end up sending
two, four, even eight copies of your release to the same media
person.

Media companies often have one person who collects press releases
for several stations or publications that operate within the same
company or building. A single person can be listed as the contact
for two to eight media outlets.

You can avoid the multiple-copies problem by alphabetizing your
email list. It's easy to spot duplicates of the same address.

Occasionally you will hear from a media representative that
thinks small businesses shouldn't send them a release. In a media
world that is increasingly dominated by mega-corporations, some
media people start thinking of one and two-persons businesses as
insignificant.

I would argue that America's rich selection of media is only
possible because of the First Amendment which allows a free press
and freedom of speech. It is your freedom to express ideas to
media that guarantees the existence of media. It's also important
not to abuse this freedom. Use your access to media wisely.

Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing for
businesses and organizations. See his full-service press release
package at http://DrNunley.com/. Reach him at kev-@drnunley.com