10 Tips on How to Get Your Story Covered

How do you get your business or event covered in the news?

I get this question all the time by folks looking for a little free publicity. They are hoping to get some coverage to launch their event or business and be newsworthy.

The answer is a good press release.

Make It Easy

The first thing a business owner needs to realize is that news writers are busy people. They aren't just waiting around to write a story about you. You need to cut through the noise so that your story is enticing but most of all, you need to make it EASY for them to write about you. If you want to be covered, you need to do a little work and remove barriers to getting covered.

And that leads me to "What Makes A Good Press Release"?

How do you respond when you are busy and someone is asking you to do them one more favor? If it looks like a lot of work, are you likely to tackle that ask? No. If it is relatively simple and seems like you can accomplish the task quickly, you are more likely to say yes. The same tactics apply to getting a story written about you. Make it easy.

#1 Include All the Details

Journalists are time-pressured, so you need to spoon-feed them the information in a way that can easily be processed. Include all the pertinent details. The Who, What, Where, and also the WHY? As in, why should readers care?

In my experience, I have had people get their own date wrong, or forget important details like the location. If the reporter has to struggle to get this information they are less likely to take you seriously and will move on to another story that is easier to cover.

#2 A Good Headline

Make sure that your press release has a good headline. It may answer the Who, What, and Where, but mostly is should focus on the "Why should readers care" question. It should be short, and punchy. Spend some time thinking about it. What would YOU want to read?

#3 Link For More

If you have a website with more details, always include a link to that particular url. Don't make people have to search for this, again because the more they have to dig, the easier they will drop the story.

#4 Photos

If you have photos to send, always include them. Three photos is usually more than enough, but one great one that you have permission to use, is excellent. Always make sure you have the rights to the photo before sending it to a news source. If you don't have permission, this can lead to problems for the publisher. If people are in the photo, make sure you have their permission to distribute the image. When you can send photos, the story is far more likely to be published than requests without photos. Again, because you have done the work for them. Otherwise, they need to drive over to your place, take some photos, edit them and that can take several hours to accomplish.

Don't send a pdf poster. It can't be used in a story, as it's usually vertical, and all the info is locked into the layout which makes for more work on the part of the writer. Many times that is all we get from people looking for a story. Again, its a lot of work, and reflects negatively on you as you did not take the time to contact them in a way that made the interaction easy.

#5 Contact Info

Always be sure to include contact emails and phone numbers should the reporter need to ask a few questions or clarify some details. Many times people forget this simple step.

#6 Quotes

Quotes bring a story to life. To hear from the people involved a quotable line or two about the business or event, makes a story much more engaging. And again, eliminates the need in many cases for an actual interview. If a writer can lift much of a story directly from a press release, you almost guarantee that you will be covered.

#7 How You Send It Matters

If a press release is sent as a pdf, the words are locked on the page, whereas if you send the press release as a Word document, it is easy to copy and paste into a story. A simple rule of thumb, paste the document directly into your email, but also send it as an attachment. That way the writer can decide, are they forwarding it to someone else, copying it into a Word Press story, or downloading it to save for later.

#8 Who to Send It To

Develop a list of publications that you feel would be interested in your story. Is it of local interest only? or Regional? or National? Then find pertinent TV and radio stations, news and magazine publishers. Most news outlets have a dedicated email just for capturing press releases and story tips.

Get to the right person. Not the ad salesperson, and not the publisher. You need the editor or the actual journalist who will be writing the story. Many newsrooms and magazines have a "stories" or "news" email address. Search those up and start collecting them as your Media List. Make an email contact list (call it Media) and have that handy when you have news. Always BCC so that the receiver only sees your email address and their own, not an email chain.

#9 When To Send

Always send a press release at least 2 weeks prior to your event date. You can't expect someone to write a story about your event or business with only a few days' notice. They have story calendars and news beats to cover and your story needs to be worked in. Even better than the two-week rule, send a month in advance and send AGAIN in two weeks. Another great strategy is to create 2-3 press releases with the idea in mind of timing them. For instance, a first press release could be six weeks out from an event, and state "Event XYZ Announced", then follow up a few weeks later with an update, and then a final announcement 2 weeks out from the event. This steady stream of releases lets the publication know the event is building and they can decide when they wish to cover it, Before During or After.

#10 Follow up

But do so gently. Remember, you are asking for a favor, and the publication doesn't work for you. A gentle reminder such as "I recently sent this press release to you, can you update me on whether you will be covering this story". Or " I sent this over, did you have any questions?" will suffice. If you don't hear back, they may be busy, but don't hound them. Being annoying is a sure-fire way to not get coverage.

In short, MAKE IT EASY. The less barriors to being covered the better. Sure everyone would love to have photographers adn writers zipping over to cover the story, but more often than not, it is unneceesary and during COVID, not even encouraged. Think about other peoples' time the way you value your own.

You should meet with a lot of success. I hope to be reading about your company or event soon!