Other company activities could be newsworthy. Have you appointed any new members of senior staff who have a reputation in your industry? Won a large contract or client? Become involved in a sponsorship deal? Have you received an accolade or won an industry award? If so, trade press might be interested.

Forthcoming events can provide ideal material for announcements. Are you holding any open days, speakers’ panels, rallies or debates? Charity events or donations from your organisation to good causes are worth highlighting, as are initiatives that benefit wider community. If celebrities or public figures are involved, your newsworthiness will increase. The level of interest will relate to stature of your company and nature of your event. If a famous chocolate factory held an open day with lots of freebies, it would be of national press interest. If Bloggs Grocers held a similar event, local paper would be main target.

When you’re seeking newsworthy stories, don’t forget one of your best assets – your personnel. Have any employees been recognised for outstanding achievements? Do they have unusual hobbies? Have they received any unusual requests or orders from customers that your company has fulfilled? The local press might opt for a quirky human-interest story.

Whatever reason for your announcement, remember this rule of thumb: yet another pizzeria on a high street full of pizzerias will not gain many column inches, no matter how good pizzas. But a pizzeria offering hottest jalapenos in UK, singing waiters, Italian cocktails with every meal or three for price of two (or something!) just might. Sometimes it’s even worth coming up with an offer of some sort (particularly in retailing) simply to garner press interest.

Remember to monitor news for events to hook into. Can you associate your company with upcoming holidays, public projects, or fads? Statements that might seem controversial, such as stating your organisation's stance on a volatile public issue, might gain coverage. Have you conducted research that gives you statistics you could release?

Finally, if you’re targeting different press sectors with same story, write multiple releases rather than issuing one generic release. An announcement focusing on metallurgy used to create your new range of stainless steel cooking pans would be of interest to trade press. However, it wouldn’t be considered too thrilling by lifestyle press and women’s magazines.

You need to think carefully about what you’re announcing and who it’s aimed at, rather than using ‘scattergun’ approach and sending untargeted releases to whichever journalists you happen to find. Professional PR distributors retain up-to-date lists of all journalists in each industrial sector and geographical region, and take a great deal of care to target right journalists with right releases. If you’re distributing your release yourself, a few hours’ homework can pay enormous dividends.