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Disgruntled PR people are often being beaten hard with large sticks by CEOs and senior management who just don’t ‘get media’, so their persistence is somewhat understandable.
But 9.98 times out of 10
PR exec is simply not going to get what they want - some kind of full-page, front-cover apology and glowing testimonial signed by publisher himself printed with a photo of editor’s public execution.
Every time I let them down I did say: “Write in - we’re always keen to receive letters to editor.” I’d guess one in 20 actually went ahead and did so, but you know what? If every one of them wrote in I would almost certainly have printed them all. Good editors embrace transparency - if you disagree with them or their reporters they’re likely to print your letter.
• Happy Birthday
At very most you’re 364 days away from some company milestone and if you put your mind to it you may find a few anniversaries just around corner.
Don’t limit yourself to xx years since company was launched, how about anniversary of company’s first profit, a look back at day company took on its 10th employee, or date a key contract was secured.
Then tell tale of how your company has developed since this date. Be sure to include some drama, good times and bad, and plenty of meaty quotes from most senior talking heads.
• Make a Date
Hunt for an angle based on some future date that is covered in one way or another by local and national press.
Browse some of these major online almanacs for inspiration:
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/ http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/ http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/archive.html
What you’re doing here is following Happy Birthday strategy, but looking for external hooks on which to hang your news release.
Local newspapers in particular like to keep an eye on calendar, so if you can provide your neighbourhood newspaper with a story, photo opportunity or news release and photo package related to a particular event, celebration or holiday, you could get some great quality local coverage.
• Only Five?
Trawl internet for reasons to write a press release and you’ll come up with dozens of lists. Some of them provide 30 plus reasons to issue a release, but vast majority of them require you to have “done something”. They are reactive reasons, rather than proactive.
The reasons given above can be put into action today - you don’t have to wait to secure a new contract or make a high-level appointment to get ink.
You might not have known you were sitting on those news stories, but there’s no time like present to tip off press that you have them.
Copyright © 2005 George Hopkin
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George Hopkin is a freelance journalist and CEO of ClickPress, a free press release distribution service which distributes content to some of the world’s most influential news and web search engines.
