How designer-makers should use PR, part 2

So, hopefully you read "Designer/ makers - how to use PR effectively part 1" and have had a fair stab at conceiving an editorial-worthy idea for a press release. If not, go back and fix your story. There's no point continuing without something worth writing about!

If you did come up with a great PR angle/ idea, then now you need to know how to present it. Writing press releases is well covered on the web. Google it or visit How to Write a Great Press Release by Bill Stoller's Publicity Insider for a great guide with clear cut examples. By the way, you'll notice that he keeps banging on about that 'angle' issue too!

Once you've written, rewritten and finely polished your press release, you'll need to distribute it - send it out, that is. It's not going to garner much attention sitting on your PC's hard-drive! You'll need target publications, contact details and the like. You can get those from one of the authoritative media guides, try Media Directory 2007: The Essential Handbook (Mediaguardian).

What guides like the Mediaguardian one don't cover is many of the thousands of blogs and niche content websites on the web. But, actually, these could be as important and influential. They may be more targeted, trusted by their readership and have the benefit of immediacy; a reader's intention to visit your website can be converted in a click! Find these by searching on google, both using regular search (just throw blog into your keywords of interest) and google's blog search (see the more link at the top of the page after "... Shopping Mail..."). Also try www.blogcatalog.com - one of the largest blog directories on the internet.

Don't throw your press release to the whims of an online mass distribution/ newswire service. Well, certainly don't rely on that alone and do not do it straight off. There are numerous of these, all claiming to put your press release under the noses of thousands of editors. And, perhaps they do. But, they are never going to beat a personal approach. Newswire services are a blunderbuss, when in reality you need a rapier. In a PR distribution service your release will be amongst thousands, some of which are fairly blatant advertisements. You can stick out from that lot just by bothering to contact the publication or editor in question.

Mass press release distribution does have its place though. I have used PRWeb in the past. Here's an example: Survey Shows Women Prefer Romance to Sex or Extravagance from my day job at pressies4princesses. The trick is not to do it first. It could harm your credibility during the personal approach. Do it afterwards as a kind of mop up, but before your 'news' gets tired.

In my experience, you'll find distribution services are great at getting some 'lower rent' coverage. By that I mean personal blogs, independent publications, smaller magazines and niche content websites and the like. It'll generally be online (which is no bad thing) and may include some useful links back to your website. Basically, this kind of coverage stems from websites' voracious appetite for content - and the cost of producing it!

So, you're going seize the nettle; go for the direct approach first. You've got your media guide and a great press release, here's how to launch your press release:

1. Find target publications for your 'news'. Some will be obvious, some more tenuous.


2. Segment them according to their main interest in your release.


3. Rewrite your press release for each segment so that the really important stuff (to them) comes first and the relevance to their audience is immediately obvious.


4. Phone. Send. Wait.


5. Submit to mass distribution/ newswire service

When looking for target publications for your press release, consider all the reasons why your information/ story is interesting. Look beyond the obvious. For example, our story "Survey Shows Women Prefer Romance to Sex or Extravagance". That could be of interest to media covering: women's interest, dating, travel (romantic breaks won), men's interest, the Gift Industry, retail and retailing (because it's about purchasing intent), Internet (because the survey was conducted online), weddings, sex and sexual health, style and culture and probably a few more.

Segmenting media on their main interest is simply saying, "these media will be interested because romantic breaks won and this lot because it says men understand women, whereas these folks will want us to focus on what it means for selling high value gifts..."

Rewriting the press release for each segment is essential. When an editor, writer or journalist picks up your release, they will decide in a sentence whether it's RELEVANT TO THEM. After two, they'll want to know it's interesting. So, you have to switch focus and rearrange your words to state the relevance and interest to them quickly and clearly.

Phone and send, then wait, because nobody likes being chased. It's not a pleasurable experience, well not in the work sense. It's like polite bullying. And, it's just as likely to turn someone off your release as on to it. Calling before sending is a good idea to check names and warm them up. Calling afterwards is just hassling. Let your release do it's job.

Writing about PR makes it seem formulaic and easy. I do this and that and then I get media coverage. Well, no actually. No part of any of your first (or first few) press releases may ever get published. That does not mean it was a wasted effort. PR is a drip feed, not a magic bullet. It may take several press releases before you breakthrough. But, after each you'll be more familiar, less stranger. So long as you're building the right impression and creating newsworthy releases, you will get 'FREE' coverage, eventually. But, it won't come FREE of effort and persistence.

Designer/ makers - how to use PR effectively part 1

Make your Press Release editorial-worthy

Put simply, you have to be or do something worth writing about. What's written falls broadly into two categories: news and editorial.

News is not, "We launched this great product"; that's advertising (or advertorial, if you prefer) and you have to pay for that. So, what's news? That's hard to define. Beneath the major events that are the real news, there's a softer under-belly that's just 'interesting'. You can notice this in stories run by newspapers (except maybe the broadsheets), regional TV news bulletins, radio, etc. Interesting means timely and relevant to current affairs. So, an interesting response by you to a bigger news event or hitting on a new trend that's bubbling up can be 'news', for example.

Some PR doesn't even pretend to be news. That's editorial, like when a magazine prints your tip sheet or covers a human interest story. And, editiorial like this can be an easier route to publication or broadcast than doing something genuinely 'news'.

Whether it's editorial or news coverage you seek, one thing above all will dictate how much you get: the angle. The angle is the twist on your story or editorial that anchors it firmly in the here and now, makes it relevant, and makes it timely for publication/ broadcast. What does all this mean?

To understand timely, consider good timing versus bad. Good: submitting a story with a romantic twist in the run up to Valentine's Day. Bad: offering a tip sheet about wrapping presents at any time other than the Christmas season.

Relevant PR is grounded in current events. Today, in the aftermath of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, consumer credit, house prices, money saving, banking or the economic downtown are obvious examples of current relevancy. Tack your story or editorial to these masts and you'll have a greater chance of success. And, sometimes a contrary twist, eg "proof the economy is not slowing down", is even better still.

Of course, these are obvious examples. You are probably going to have to think of more subtle trends, current affairs and news events that can be related to what you do - unless you're a chief economist, large bank or research group. And, whatever angle you choose, be sure that you can muster some credibility. Nobody cares if the bloke next door says the economy is slowing. You can't just jump on the bandwagon because it's popular. Likewise, you're unlikely to get published for saying black is white, if there's no reason for anyone to be interested in what you think anyway!

Perhaps a good exercise to do, is to list every single trend, event or issue from an entire newspaper or week's newspapers. Just write it down in two or three keywords. Then, try to link every single one back to your business in some way. It can be about you too. Say you ran up huge credit card debts and started making jewellery to pay them off and now it's a thriving business - that would be highly relevant to our indebted age. Wording the story so it introduces a topical, newsworthy element - that's the angle at work. Adding this background to your business start-up makes you so much more relevant and interesting - no matter how great your jewellery really is!

This may all seem complicated and a lot of trouble. And, guess what? It is! But, this is going to have the biggest single impact upon whether you get published or broadcast. And, think of the flip side: money can't buy publicity for free is your reward.

I hope that was useful, stay tuned for the next installment.