PR: What Does the Media Want?

Proliferating a Press Release: What Does the Media Want?

When a company accomplishes something major- goes into business, launches a new product or service, hires a big name -that company will often issue a press release to provide information to the press. Traditionally, a press release is a prepackaged news article that could easily be plugged into a newspaper; more commonly, a reporter will analyze the press release and write a new article with the provided information…if they bother with it at all.

The holy grail for anyone working in public relations is the answer to this question: “How do I get the press to share my company’s information?” Press releases are one tool, along with networking, arranging interviews, public appearances etc. that are often launched in conjunction with other media strategies to create a more prominent, integrated communication vehicle. However, the distribution methods for press releases are changing dramatically along with the media itself, moving into a new, digital frontier.

Once upon a time, a press release only went out to newspapers, magazines, newswires and other legitimate publications. Now there is a never-ending, constantly-growing array of influential bloggers for every industry and every niche who must also be courted and this is alongside the traditional mainstream media.

There is no formula to writing a single press release that will appeal to all of the decision-makers in the crowd: some bloggers are cynical and suspicious of marketing and PR; others are thrilled to receive legitimate company communications. The mainstream media receives a constant flood of such releases, with dedicated employees digging through them for the nuggets they will sprinkle throughout their news coverage.

Ilfusion’s take on the press release is an organic one. We believe our clients offer products and services with great value, and we write press releases that demonstrate this in clear, effective language that appeals to media of all shapes and sizes. We write additional releases as needed to reach different media targets and send the releases out to a wide variety of the press, including personally cultivated networking contacts and newswires. These services, such as PRweb.com and PR.com, allow us to reach general, mainstream media as well as industry- and location-specific contacts who are interested in exactly the kind of news your company has to offer. And finally, we follow up with as much media as possible directly by phone, email or in person, to boost our clients’ chances of being covered.

Press releases can be an invaluable tool for getting your business the kind of media attention it deserves. However, too many PR services fling these releases onto the Internet with little or no strategy, resulting in minimal or no media pick-up. If you’re interested in Ilfusion’s public relations services, contact us today!

Categorized in: Articles, Marketing, Social Media