News releases are useful tools to share company news with the media. Below are four tips to help you get the most out of your next news release.
1) Send the news release as an exclusive before you publish it live.
If you want to make your news more intriguing, send it to an editor as an exclusive prior to publishing it publicly. Let the editor know when the release will go live to the public. Keep in mind that if you offer an exclusive, that means you don’t send it to other publications until after the editor who has accepted the content has published the information.
2) Use the release as a “sneak peek” or “preview.”
Choose a few select editors to contact and send them your news release as a “sneak peek” or “preview” prior to publishing the release to the public. This works great for new product launches. It gives editors an opportunity to prepare content and write about a topic before the information is available to the public.
3) Turn your release into a pitch.
I often write a formal news release and then take the information in the release and turn it into a media pitch. Why do I do this? When editors receive a news release, they know it will be released to everyone. However, when editors receive custom pitches that are tailored directly for their media outlet, the content is more useful for them. So take the basic story in the news release and create unique, custom, exclusive pitches for select editors.
4) Pitch the release. Even though I publish news releases on newswires, I also pitch them directly to editors. Editors do not always see news releases published on newswires and may miss your release. It is important to be proactive and send editors the content directly. Also, many media outlets have specific submission forms to submit news items. Your news release may never get covered if you do not submit the news release through these forms.
Bottom line. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a good news release. Don’t just post a news release on a newswire and expect the media coverage to come pouring in. It is worth the extra effort to make sure your news release is covered by the media
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