One piece of rock solid PR advice you don’t want to hear

One news story, one press release – right? It’s been this way so long that most people don’t question it, but there is a far more effective approach. And it’s going to make you squirm.

No matter how good it is, there’s always going to be some advice you just don’t want to hear – “only eat healthy snacks” probably being at the top of the list.

Ever since the first press release – written in 1906 by Ivy Lee, to brief the press when a train fell off a swing bridge – one thing remains unchanged. For most companies, it’s a tool of convenience which surrenders potential performance to ease of execution. Which is to say, it’s written once and sent to everyone. It’s such a fundamental part of what PR is that few people question it.

Well, here’s the stuff you don’t want to hear. It’s not 1906, when the media was more or less one thing: the press. Even the first radio news programme was almost 15 years in the future. To reach people, you briefed the press. Now, press releases can, if we choose, go out to far wider audiences. Not just different types of media, but other influencers and communities such as customers, suppliers, partners, sector bodies, event organisers, analysts – to name but a few. There’s an obvious problem with this. In any other circumstances, it’s unlikely that you’d write one single thing and expect it to resonate equally well with each of these audiences.

(Yes, I’m sure you take the story and boost it via social media, which is great. But do all of those communities, influencers and media outlets follow you on social media? Will they see your post when it happens to fly down their timeline?)

To really connect with these substantially different audiences, and to get the most from each story, you need more than one single version of the story. I’m sorry, but no other approach comes close.

Groan. More work. Yes, it is – but it’s not work without pay-off. Let’s take an extreme example: a company’s financial results. There’s a regulatory need to report this in a specific way – and that’s what we generally see from a financial release. But partners and customers could easily benefit from a different take on this, as can employees, analysts and so on. Don’t think about the multiplication of work, think about the multiplication of coverage. It’s worth it.

• Think about how you can build your audience for news stories. In my book, Is It News?, I look at how organisations can move from distributing stories to just the media to over twenty channels – a vast increase in reach. These include analysts, bloggers, business organisations, commentators, events organisers, customers, employees, partners, professional bodies, social influencers and more.
• You’ll need a way to manage a segmented list, with selective distribution. Again, this is covered in my book.
• For each news story, work out which are the most important communities for a personalised version of the story. Decide for which ones a general version will suffice. You don’t need to write twenty versions.
• Think about the news story, not ‘the press release’. This will help you to work out what’s important to each readership.
• Try to understand the language differences between each audience. They’re usually fewer than you think, but they are there. For example, employees will understand terminology that customers may not.?
• Don’t accept that there is some kind of rule about how news stories are conveyed. There is not. Even with releases for the media, the old, dry style of pitching the story is no longer effective. Write the final story, as if you are a journalist – because in many cases it will be syndicated as is, and if a journalist wants to run with the story, then no harm, no foul.
• When a story is written in one way for all audiences it’s hard to make it exciting. When you focus on specific audiences, you can find topics and angles that really resonate well.
• If you are really serious about publicity, you want to get your news out far and wide. A massive database with boring stories told in one way doesn’t cut it. To get people to actually read what you send out,? it must be relevant to them.

This is just common sense, good advice. Combined with a refreshed agenda for building and managing distribution lists, it can have a massive impact on the reach of your PR activities.

If a story isn’t worth being told more than once, or the juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze, is it even worth being written at all? Is the press release a lame duck, being executed for the sake of it? If it is, bin it off, and spend more time writing better stories.

This is one of the topics covered in my latest book, Is It News? The book outlines strategies for writing, structuring and optimising a press release headline – using detailed examples to show how this is best done.?

Is It News?

How to write really great press releases

My book,?Is It News??– co-written with Rob Clarke, publishing editor of newswire Learning News – covers the subject of writing press releases in depth.?Download an entire, unabridged, chapter from?Is It News??‘Writing compelling headlines’ explains why a headline can make or break a press release – and shows you how to write headlines which sell the whole story, at a glance.?Download free chapter or buy from Amazon.

Training and coaching

Myself and Rob – authors of?Is it News??– are available for in-depth coaching sessions for marketing teams and business managers. We cover not only all aspects of writing news stories, but also help you put in place strategies to reinvent your approach to publicity – increasing the success you get from it.

Peter Labrow

Peter is a marketing consultant and the owner of content marketing agency Content Productions. For help with your press releases, publicity or marketing,?contact Peter Labrow.

Robert Clarke

Rob is managing editor of specialist newswire Learning News. To publish L&D news stories, contact?Robert Clarke.