Eye On PR
March
5, 2001
News Releases, Skip the Release
By Jerry Brown, APR
Communicating With Impact
Some of the best news stories are ones you pitch without a news release. I
know people who regularly place high-profile stories and rarely use news
releases.
If you can convince one reporter that your story's newsworthy and if the
reporter can convince his/her editor, by definition it is.
All you need to do is convince a reporter your story's worth telling and
give her/him whatever she/he needs to convince an editor. There are lots
of
ways to do that don't involve writing a news release. A few examples:
-- Pitch letters. In a sense, a news release is a pitch letter broadcast
to
the world. You know, like mail addressed to "occupant." If
it's
interesting, you may do something with it. But it's not very personal.
If
you're targeting a limited number of reporters, send them pitch letters
addressed personally to each one. Tell them why your story would be of
interest to their readers/viewers, the resources you can offer to help them
tell the story and how to contact you. Voila. A personalized news
release
in a slightly different form.
-- If you talk to reporters, ask them if they'd be interested in a story
about (fill in the blank) while they're talking to you about the story
they're already working on. Don't make it a hard sell or spend a lot of
time on it. Just share the story idea and see if there's interest.
Reporters are always interested in good story ideas. They just don't have
time to sift through EVERY pitch that comes their way.
-- Give reporters documents they need to tell your story. Your CEO
delivered an interesting speech? Your organization filed a brief in an
interesting lawsuit? Your agency issued new regulations? Giving
reporters
a copy of the document and access to someone to interview may be all you
need to generate news.
-- Have a new angle for a story that's already appeared? Send a reporter a
clip of the original story with a note about your angle. If your story's
interesting enough, you may hit pay dirt.
The list goes on and on. If you use your imagination, there are all kinds
of ways to get your story ideas in front of reporters. Just be brief. Make
it clear why it's news (i.e., of interest to the audience the reporter
writes for). And tell reporters how to reach you, if they don't know.
And, if you develop a reputation for consistently having good story ideas,
reporters will begin calling you just to see if you have anything for them.
Getting great news coverage is just one reason to use some of these tactics.
Another reason -- you may be able to eliminate or simplify the elaborate
review process many organizations use for news releases.
Speaking of reviews, check in with you next week with thoughts about how to
get your news releases through the review process. Other topics coming
from
MMMM: What to Do When the Reporter Gets the Story Wrong; Remember Your
Media Miranda Rights; the CEO's Role During a Crisis; How to Communicate
With Impact.
If you have an marketing communications or PR event or a trend that others should read about please send us an email. Please send the event notice two weeks in advance. If you got a PR, marcom or geek question for non-geeks send us your question, we'll get you an answer with our endless resources! gmcquade@MayoCommunications.com
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