The art of the media release

When someone complains to me that the media releases they’re writing never get published, it doesn’t usually take long to establish why that might be.

The secret? Knowing your audience: journalists. They can see right through your liberal use of superlatives. They thrive on identifying misused apostrophes. They relish discovering someone less skilled in their dark arts.

Before you flick out that next media release, take the time to check a couple of things before delighting them with your grammatical hiccups.

Ask “So what”?

Put the pen down and ask yourself why anyone outside your office would even remotely care that Joe from accounts just qualified for his CPA.

Google “news values”. There are seven of them that most journos learn in day one at university, including “conflict”, “impact” and “timeliness”. If your story doesn’t satisfy one of these you’re doomed from the outset.

Pick your target

Excellent: your story about Joe the CPA is newsworthy because he’s still in high school.

No offence, but your story about little Joe may not rate a mention on National Nine News, but local media will probably love it. So don’t just flick the details to your entire media list – make sure each and every recipient is receiving something you genuinely think will interest them.

Also, be ready to supply them with whatever they need. A picture of Joe in nappies holding his first Excel spreadsheet? No problems!

Do it properly

If you haven’t studied the art of writing a media release, consider paying a professional to prepare one for you. Most will knock out a release on a fairly straightforward topic within an hour or less, providing you have all the details at hand.

If you do engage a professional, remember that they send media releases regularly, so must uphold their reputation with journalists for fear of reprisal.

Don’t expect them to ‘just send it out as it is’ or to regurgitate vast tracts of your wonderful brochure. It’s actually in both of your interests that your release is well-written and newsworthy.

Make it easy for them

If you’re going it alone, the chance of your story running is inversely proportional to how much leg work is required on the other end. The hard-working folk at The Newsport excepted, of course!

By leg-work I mean:

• Write your headline in the subject line of your email.
• Supply your media release as text in the body of email. Don’t make them double-click to open attachments.
• Cover the basics:  who, what, when, where, why and how.
• Write your quotes like an actual person spoke them, rather than a character from a Jane Austen novel.
• Check your spelling and grammar.

Follow up?

In my opinion, it’s best to leave journos to it, unless you’re holding an announcement or event at which you’ll wait for TV / print media to arrive before commencing. Then a quick call that morning to see if anyone’s coming along is usually fine.

Be grateful

Media organisations don’t owe you anything. Not even a proof of their final article. Even if you advertise regularly with that publication, it has nothing to do with the journalist.

All you can do is supply the most relevant, targeted and well-written content possible, then hope for the best and thank them for any coverage. If you want a guarantee that something will run at a certain time and deliver a certain message, you have to pay for it. It’s called advertising.

Back out while you can

If you’ve drafted a media release and can’t tick any of the above boxes, save yourself and our journalist friends some time by either binning it or finding another angle. If you persist with a poorly written release, your next one may not even get opened.

To recap:

• Ask “So What”? Do you even care about this story?
• Pick your Target. Avoid simply blasting to all and sundry.
• Do it properly. It’s an art. Respect that art.
• Make it easy for them. If they copy-paste your story: mission accomplished.
• Follow up? Watch out for the fine line between “following up” and “serial pest”.
• Be grateful. Journalists are people too. Thank them once in a while.
• Back out while you can. Journalists: once bitten; twice shy.

Duncan Watts is a business consultant for the 20/20 Group in Cairns.

Need an employee or looking for a job. See our Employment page.