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E-ZINES 601: Marketing and Promoting |
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Publicity STARTS
with a Press Release
by Kate Schultz
How can you use your press release as an effective tool to increase your E-Zine subscriber
base? Remember, the purpose of a press release is to get your company information in front
of the media. But distributing a press release is no guarantee that the media will use
your release.
What can you do to increase the chances of your press release being picked up?
A successful trend in press releases is to include tips or information about your E-Zine
topic that the media audience will appreciate. Editors are always looking for content
worthy of notice and everybody loves tips! But let's focus here on how to use your press
release to your best advantage and how to make it EASY for the media to pick up, and
publish, your release.
ARE YOU READY TO SEND THAT PRESS RELEASE?
Before you send your press release, make sure that you are properly prepared to deal with
the media. Complete this checklist before you send off your press release.
1. Did you publish the press release on your Website? If your press release is not
important enough for you to publish on your Website, why would anybody else be interested?
2. Do you have a plan to make sure the PR phone is answered by the appropriate PR contacts
to answer press questions regarding your press release?
If a reporter calls, do you know what to do? Or say? Do you have a trained staff PR person
or a professional publicist to answer those calls? Knowing and understanding the media is
key to your success. Do you know what to expect when being interviewed? You might need to
prepare and rehearse answering questions so that you can handle interviews with expertise.
3. What's the purpose of your press release? Sales, visits to your Website, visibility?
Your response to the media should reflect your goals for this press release.
4. Do you have an Electronic Press Center on your Website? Imagine that someone in the
media reads your press release and is actually interested enough to visit your Website. Do
you have enough information about your company to provide the media with background
information to complete a story? To further enhance your relationship with the press,
develop an online press room. Create online copies of your print press kit materials so
that journalists interested in you or your company can access your press kit immediately.
A press release is generally focused on one event and, if your company is small, the
additional information in an online press kit will allow the reporter to the press release
into context.
WHAT DO I INCLUDE IN AN ELECTRONIC PRESS CENTER?
A good Electronic Press Center is simple to use and convenient to access. Remember that
the purpose of your online press kit is to provide immediate answers to reporters and the
media who wish to learn more about your business so they can share the news with their
audiences.
Create a link on your navigation bar called "About Us." Then create a web page
with links to the following information in your online press center.
1. PRESS RELEASES
Publish your press releases in reverse chronological order.
2. CONTACT INFORMATION
Make sure the Contact Information section has all of the contact information for your
company, including a physical address, and fax number.
3. A SHORT WELCOME LETTER
Include basic contact information: name, address and
phone number of the contact person.
4. CORPORATE BACKGROUNDER
Write this page in an executive summary style using
bulleted lists. Your goal is to make the page easy to
skim through. Company backgrounders include information
about the company, history and profiles of key personnel.
5. WHITE PAPERS, TECHNICAL
PAPERS AND CASE HISTORIES
In the case histories, include a specific customer's
problem, how your company's product or service helped
to solve the problem, and a quote showing how your
products or services can help anyone else with a
similar problem.
6. REPRINTS
Include reprints or reviews about your products. When possible, include links to online
news stories about your company.
To make it easier for reporters to use your material, make your press releases and company
backgrounders available via email autoresponders or downloadable Microsoft Word or PDF
documents. These are much easier to edit than to cut and paste text from Websites.
More mainstream media are looking at Web sites for story ideas. Reporters get hundreds of
press releases each day. If a press release catches the eye of a reporter who is
unfamiliar with your company, having additional information available in the form of an
online press kit will make it easier for the reporter to work on a story idea, which can
make it more likely your release will be picked up and generate the extra promotion for
which it was designed.
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