Releasing the First Business Press Release
Column #itSAMarketingThing 8: How to publish and promote the first press communication.
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Compose a well-thought-out press release
It was on July 1, 2024, when all the deck chairs in the shade of the swimming pool were taken, that I decided, finally, to write this press release by returning to work in the air conditioning.
There are some news stories that are big announcements for a company. They’re slightly more important than other daily communications and promotional campaigns. That news who deserve a cake to celebrate with the colleges at work, and which everyone shares on their personal social with pride. It’s at this time that I immediately think of issuing a press release. Well, that’s why I’m the one who writes it, since I suggested it to the team. Ah, I didn’t know this rule yet ;).
It’s OK! If you’re in the same situation, don’t worry, I’m used to, or rather too used to, press releases. Simple, a piece of cake!
I’ll explain to you what I’m doing with news that I have to publish to the public. I’ll use the announcement event Meet the Cat from the music production company JM Musique becoming annual partner of W+M as an example.
The Benefits of Official and Precise Communication
I remember this lesson from school. I learned the results of poorly distributed miscommunication in a team during the first days of my January classes. A political scandal had broken out during my current actuality’s class in the first year; we learned how to sort information in order of importance for news reports. During the following days, we could study the importance of having an official communication to distribute to all members of the company and to public relations.
Of course, this example is extreme and relates to an unfortunate event, but the same goes for announcing good news, a new clothing season, a large-scale show or event, or even internally during a meeting of four people. A communication needs to be prepared and it must be well written to serve as a reference for everyone, both internally and externally of the company.
Press Release Example
Having read, written, translated and corrected this communication numerous times, I can guarantee there is mainly one way to write effective communication for a press release. And most of the models found on search tools respect this principle, which is the basic of a press redaction. It didn’t change for years and will probably still respect this: a PR doc contains the following elements and in order:
1- the announcement and the date of release. Always positioned at the top of your document in a font that is readable.
2- The title of your news, which includes the name of the company, the action or event name, and the date and time if it’s an event. Such as the title of the news that would appear in a newspaper.
3- A presentation text in the form of three sentences, or paragraphs, in order of importance. This text is the official communication of your announcement and ideally, if a journalist can’t cover the event, they will copy this text. You therefore understand that the writing and the vocabulary used here must be professional.
4- Two or three other and useful links to your information that could be used by readers wanting to share the news.
5- Mention of partnerships and other participants with their logo if needed. Don’t go out in public without a partner mention or logo. Just don’t. Never. I always send my communications for their approval before releasing.
6- The end of communication statement to be disclosed - 30 -
7- the communications contact details of the company issuing the communication, and if necessary, a description of the maximum two lines of the company featured in the news.
That’s all! We don’t provide more information than necessary and we direct the reader to your website event page, where all extra information is published. I don’t recommend heavy and difficult kind of vocabulary and wording in a PR.
Here are the PDF versions of the press release that I will publish. Since the target audience is bilingual in Quebec, I’m making two versions to simplify the task for members of the media.
Ways to Display Our Big News
I like to create a web page dedicated to the announcement, what we call a splash. I publish the press release in the text with a button to download the PDF version of the press release. This way, I can have visited statistics. Many will use event sales or ticket sales platforms and use the platform link to direct to the purchase, but it’s harder to have web stats.
Creating a media section on a site is another way to display official communications effectively to the public and members of the press. Most of the communication workers look for the media link when they arrive on a new website; often at the top or bottom of the page in headers and footers.
I suggest reading the Office News column about the programming of a media section on the websites for more details.
The method of distribution of communication and press release
To finish this simple column on the exciting world of media, I list the places where I usually display, promote and send official communications and press releases.
1- Website. I create a special event page and display the announcement on the website’s home page, blog posts and other displays, always with an information link to the special page of the event. If the event has partners, I ask them to post the event on their website using the link. Finally, all the following points still direct the reader to this same page.
2- Social media and social events. Still using the same visual and link as number 1, I publish the announcement on social networks by displaying the featured announcement above the regular publications. I also create events, for social networks that allow it, like Facebook. I use all publication formats, i.e., a publication with the visual, a story with a clip, and a YouTube video; creating a version per language for stories and video.
3- Setting up the media contact list. Yes, as you can imagine, I compose an invitation to discover the event and I send this message to the relevant media in the area. Unless you already know members of the media, don’t burn yourself by sending releases to journalists who aren’t identified with our event. It’s comparable to receiving a superb restaurant advert in the Publisac of a place that you can’t go to due to allergies. It’s certain that if the restaurant’s marketing team had known, they wouldn’t have sent an ad there.
4- Media that publish press releases. Although some services are expensive, it’s worth sending our releases to news sites. Some are paying and some are free. In some occasion, you may be offered a distribute for free or in exchange for a service. Think also writing to the directors of local media, newspapers from students and academics. When writing to the direction of the content team like this, it’s important to write to them personally. (Yes, when we reach members of the editorial team of a media, we do send a personal message, not a copy of a general message announcement we send to the general information News team, e.g., news @ lapresse.ca. When we contact the members and directors of a media, we move on to the stage of personalizing the communication).
Budget: $0. Writing an official communication, publishing a press release and spending time researching prospects and contacts in the media to help distribute information can be done at no cost, or by dealing with an agency of public relationship, which often already has a contact database and more defined methods of disclosing communications. Of course, doing it ourselves will bring us connections and opportunities to have visitor statistics on our website, whereas agencies can’t always reveal this information to us, but it’s longer.
Tip: We, media and publishing workers, love to receive press releases with links to press sections on websites and above all, that this section includes images if they aren’t provided in the press release.
Personally, I always choose to publish news that has visuals first, avoiding having to search in image banks. A press invitation with an image and with the image credits and names with titles of the people on the picture is the best. It can only take me two minutes to post this release. Publishers also remember companies that send well-organized news like this. Believe me, we immediately spot the emails of our favourites in the news lists and what we do, we publish them quickly ;).
Tools: All the applications necessary for writing and creating visuals. There is absolutely no additional technical cost in creating a press release than what we already have. I compose them on my cell during hockey games during commercials.
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Conclusion
I hope after reading this column you noticed a press release and the public relationship to distribute the news is something to be organized in advance. There is a lot to do. Better to dedicate a few hours to it daily and maintain these long-term relationships, even after an event.
Personally, my working relationships with members of the media are the best in my profession. I wish you success in announcing your event.
See you in the Blog!
Jeff
Cr Images and production: W+M Services
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I edit the content of existing sites via CMS in addition to creating sites with WordPress and Squarespace. I have been producing website content as a webmaster since 1998.
I help companies get their first website up and I improve the performance of existing sites.
Yes, I’m Mr. Analytics and my reaction time to new digital marketing is daily, which allows my clients to have optional and trend-cutting tools.
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