All you need to do is download the press release template that fits the story you want to tell about your business and fill in the square brackets.

To make it super easy, and effective, each press release template tells you what you MUST include in each paragraph of the press release – and in what order.

With each template, we suggest the strongest news angle, the media to target and the best image to send with your press release, including an example.

If you follow these instructions you will get the media coverage you want for your business, according to your PR plan.

What we will cover today:

• The 17 press release templates for every story and occasion
• How to write a press release in detail
• How to pitch your press release to the media

Let’s get into it:

17 Press Release Templates for Your Business

1. Award Nomination Press Release Template
2. Award Win Press Release Template
3. Book Press Template
4. Charity Event Press Release Template
5. Crisis Statement Press Release
6. Event Press Template
7. Grand Opening Press Release Template
8. Music Press Release Template
9. New Employee Press Release Template
10. New Location Press Release Template
11. New Product Template
12. New Service Template
13. Product Update Press Release Template
14. Rebranding Press Release Template
15. Record Sales Press Release Template
16. Resignation Press Release Template
17. Takeover Press Release Template

1.Award Nomination Press Release Template

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News angle: Being in the running for an award is by itself newsworthy, as it shows you have done something exceptional – this is what the media loves.

Potential target media: Depending on the size of your business this will usually be a story of interest to your trade sector media or your local/regional press.

Image to go with your press release: A high-resolution photograph of your key team member(s) looking excited with their fingers crossed. Something like this:

2. Award Win Press Release Template

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News angle: Winning an award is naturally a news story so this template should write itself! The key here is to target the appropriate media with this press release. This is public relations 101.

Potential target media: Depending on the size of your business this will usually be a story of interest to your trade sector media or your local/regional press. Every town loves to see their local businesses doing well.

Image to go with your press release: A high-resolution photograph of your team with their winning award trophy. Something like this:

3. Book Press Template

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News angle: Releasing a new book will be of interest to literary critics who review new book releases each week, so that is your target here. This is not really a news story unless perhaps it is autobiographical and includes some particularly salacious revelations! 

Potential target media: The book reviewers of national media outlets or perhaps specialist interest titles if they are relevant to your book.

Image to go with your press release: A high-resolution photograph of the front cover of the book and maybe one of the author. Something like this:

4. Charity Event Press Release Template

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News angle: Make sure your charity event has something exceptional about it, a particularly brave or ambitious challenge and that it raises a large amount of money! 

Potential target media: Usually this type of press release is most suitable for the local/regional press.

Image to go with your press release: You have two options here. Either a traditional image of someone from your company presenting the charity with a large check/cheque (a bit boring) or a member of the fundraising team competing their challenge, i.e. crossing the finishing line at a marathon wearing the charity’s t-shirt. Something like this:

5. Crisis Statement Press Release Template

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News angle: This is strictly speaking not really a press release, this is a media statement in response to a crisis communication scenario so you want to keep this factual, sober and draw as little attention to your brand as possible.

Potential target media: This depends on the size of your business and the nature of the crisis. You could well be issuing this to major national media outlets.

Image to go with your press release: This does not require an image.

6. Event Release Template

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News angle: To get media coverage for your event it needs a strong news hook. Think of inviting a high-profile celebrity as a guest speaker or hold the event in an unusual location. There is more here on how to write a press release for an event.

Potential target media: Depending on the size of your business this can be the mainstream national media, major influencers or your local newspaper.

Image to go with your press release: If the event is for a product launch, have your CEO pictured on stage with the product you are launching, so people can see what will happen. Something like:

7. Grand Opening Press Release Template

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News angle: To make your grand opening newsworthy, think images – so much news coverage is picture-led. Think about some sort of PR stunt that would give your opening the real ‘wow’ factor. 

Potential target media: Local/regional and trade sector media for most sizes of business. Always keep it relevant to your target audience.

Image to go with your press release: Your image needs to convey that your new business is open, welcoming and ready for business. Sure you can include images of ribbon cuttings (yawn) but we prefer something a little more sophisticated. Something like this:

8. Music Press Release Template

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News angle: Releasing a new single/album will be of interest to music critics who review new music releases each week, so that is your target here. This is not really a news story, unless you are a global megastar – ‘hello Beyonce’, if you’re reading this.

Potential target media: Depending on the level of fame of the artist/band you should target music critics from the national mainstream media down to niche music genre blogs and websites.

Image to go with your press release: Include a copy of your album artwork and then also a decent high-resolution image of the band/artist. Something like this:

9. New Employee Press Release Template

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News angle: Only issue one of these press releases when you are appointing a senior member of your team. This will always be of interest to your sector trade media. 

Potential target media: Trade press.

Image to go with your press release: A standard profile picture of the person you are hiring. Something like this:

10. New Location Release Template

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News angle: Try and focus this press release on the fact that, yes you are moving to a new location, but the benefit you will be bringing to that location – the jobs you will be creating.

Potential target media: Local/regional media and possibly trade press.

Image to go with your press release: Include a high-resolution image of your new premises, ideally with team members outside. The media like people more than buildings. Something like this: 

11. New Product Template

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News angle: You must focus on what makes your new product particularly innovative and ‘game-changing’. What does it do that nothing else can do, what makes it a first? This is key in media relations.

Potential target media: Your trade sector media and influencers who are interested in your product/brand. 

Image to go with your press release: Include a high-resolution image of your new product, whatever that is. No example is needed here as you know what your product is! 

12. New Service Template

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News angle: You must focus on what makes your new service particularly innovative and ‘game-changing’. What do you do that no one else can do, what makes your service a ‘first’? Give it an attention grabbing headline.

Potential target media: Your trade sector media and influencers who are interested in your service/brand. 

Image to go with your press release: If your service is tech-based then include an image of your app. If it is an offline service then include a high-resolution image of people using your service. So, for example, if you run a restaurant you could go for something like this:

13. Product Update Press Release Template

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News angle: Focus on what has changed for your best-selling product, what makes this upgrade new, innovative and disruptive. The media loves stories of disruption – it’s a great way to get free PR.

Potential target media: Your trade media and those influencers who are fans of your product.

Image to go with your press release: Include a high-resolution image of your new product update, whatever that is. No example is needed here as you know what your product is! 

14. Rebranding PR Template

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News angle: The media don’t so much care about a new logo but they do care about the fact that your business is having a complete refresh and perhaps a change of direction. Focus on what the rebrand is FOR. What do you hope to achieve from this? 

Potential target media: Trade sector media and influencers who are followers of your business.

Image to go with your press release: Include high-resolution copies of your newly branded artwork – logo etc and also your products with the new branding included. You will need these for your entire public relations campaign.

15. Record Sales Press Release Template

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News angle: The key to this press release being of interest to the media is because you have broken a record, the business has done something for the very first time. The higher and more exceptional that figure is, for your sector, the more likely the journalist is to care.

Potential target media: Trade media only.

Image to go with your press release: Include a high-resolution image of your team toasting their success. If you want to get really creative you could have them smashing a target with a hammer, or some similar act of creative destruction! Here are loads more public relations examples. Or keep it more celebratory, like this:

16. Resignation Press Release Template

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News angle: You would only issue a resignation press release when a senior member of your company leaves – it also depends under what circumstances they leave too. If it is a celebration of their contribution then focus on thanks and appreciation.

Potential target media: Trade sector media only.

Image to go with your press release: An image of the outgoing employee. A simple profile headshot will do for this story. No example needed here.

17. Takeover Press Release Template

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News angle: The fact that one business is being taken over by another is usually always a story for the media, particularly the trade media that covers your sector. If you are in a particularly big business, the national business press may also cover the story. Focus on the monetary value of the deal in your news angle and what the deal encompasses. 

Potential target media: Trade sector media and business press.

Image to go with your press release: An image of the two CEOs shaking hands on the deal. Something like this: 

How To Write A Press Release – Quick Tips

Now you’ve seen the 17 press release templates for your business here’s a quick refresher on how to write a press release.

Getting the flow of a press release right is critical if you want a journalist to read it and think that you have a story worth telling.

This is our full guide on how to write a press release but the main elements are below:

Section 1 – Sounds obvious, but write ‘Press Release’ at the top. You’d be surprised how many people forget to do this.

Section 2 – Always date your press release. It ensures that the journalist knows that this is a new story and it also tells them WHEN you want the story to run.

Section 3 – The headline. Keep the headline to under 10 words – this discipline will force you to focus on your news angle.

Section 4: The Intro Paragraph. You’ve got 25 words or less to get across your entire story. Get to the point immediately and include at least five key news points.

Section 5: In the second and third paragraphs develop your story and include more key facts so the journalist can develop their story.

The quotes for your press release

Section 6: The quotes section delivers the ‘why’ behind the story. Include two or three paragraphs from your spokesperson and use their full name and job title.

Section 7: Main body copy. This is where you include your key messages, such as how much your product/service costs and where people can get hold of it.

Section 8: The closing quote. Your closing quote can be from your main spokesperson or you can introduce a third party spokesperson whose endorsement gives your product/service more credibility.

Section 9: ENDS. Always finish your press release with the word ‘ends’ so a journalist knows it is the, er, end.

Section 10: Contact details. Include full contact information for the person handling all press and media enquiries.

Section 11: Notes to Editors – also known as the boilerplate. It includes additional background information which could be of use to the journalist but is not critical to the story.

How to Pitch Your Press Release Template to The Media

This is our complete guide on how to write a media pitch.

If you don’t have time for the deep-dive, these are the essentials to ensure your press release gets noticed by a journalist. 

1. Email pitch subject line – The subject line of your email pitch must contain your news hook – the one thing that makes your story stand out and demand a journalist’s attention. 

2. The journalist’s name – For gawd’s sake make sure you spell it correctly! 

3. Your first sentence – Get straight to point with what makes your press release newsworthy. This is all the media cares about.

4. Show you care – Reference something else the journalist has written recently, show you like their work and know your story is relevant to them.

5. Don’t be a copycat – Do NOT, under any circumstances, include a line in your pitch which basically says “I saw you wrote a story about ‘X’ last week. My business does the same thing, will you write about us?”.

6. How to include your press release – Attach it to the email as a word document and also copy and paste the text into your email, below your pitch.

7. Images – Never embed images in the press release, this is useless for serious media. Attach them as high-resolution files, greater than 1mb.

8. Close your email pitch – Invite the journalist to contact you if they need any more information.

9. Triple check – Before you hit send make sure your email pitch is typo-free and as strong as it can be. You get one chance to impress upon the reporter that yours is a story worth telling.

So there you have it.

Download the template that is right for you – or get the entire bundle so you’re always prepared.

Good luck! 

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What press release examples do you need?

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But there are so many options out there it can be hard to know what to choose.

From working with Instagram and YouTube influencers to Google and Facebook Ads, traditional advertising and public relations, there’s no end to the ways in which you can target your customers.

And that can be a problem.

How do you coordinate all these different marketing tactics so that they work together in a coordinated fashion?

In this blog I’ll take you through a step-by-step approach to creating a marketing communications strategy that will work for your business.

I’ll explain the strategic thinking behind all successful multi-channel marketing and help you write a combined marketing and PR plan that will help you increase sales throughout the year.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is a marketing communications strategy?
• How to think about your marketing communications strategy
• Writing your marketing communications strategy
• Implementing your marketing communications strategy
• How to measure your marketing communications strategy

Let’s get to it.

What Is A Marketing Communications Strategy?

A marketing communications strategy outlines everything you need to do to market your product or service.

It’s a comprehensive action plan to get your target audience raving about your brand – and taking an action.

The strategy can include everything from social media campaigns, SEO tactics and events to your media relations work and above the line advertising campaigns.

It’s a carefully thought through, well researched and (ideally) data-driven campaign, over an extended period of time.

Every successful marketing communications strategy is aligned to business objectives, and often involves different departments working together.

Internal and external focus

Your strategy will have an external focus – what information your customers, investors or perhaps, community stakeholders need to receive.

There will also be an internal focus – what do your employees need to know or do? It will include target brand elements, key messages and the communications channels that you will use to achieve your objectives.

The strategy concludes with measurement, assessing how objectives have been improved and asking what did you learn from your work?

A marketing communications strategy is a bit like a road map. It outlines where your brand or company is in terms of market position and reputation.

It points to where you want to be and how you want your brand to be known. Then it maps out how to get there.

But the roadmap is not complete without a look back over your shoulder to see how the journey went and an analysis of what worked well and what needs to be improved. 

How To Think About Your Marcomms Strategy

You can divide the thinking behind a marketing communications strategy into three essential principles:

1. Intelligence
2. Relevance
3. Influence

Here’s what they mean in a nutshell.

Intelligence

Having detailed knowledge of your market, your customer base and the potential of your business is vital.

If you act without the insight into how your brand is positioned and what its reputation is with your target audience you’re flying blind.

But if you gather data and intelligence about how your company compares to the competition you’ll make informed decisions that will bring about the best results.

I’ll take a deep dive into how to understand your target audience and how to truly measure the impact of your strategy later in the blog, but right from the very beginning, I want you to start thinking ‘intelligently’ about your marketing communications strategy.

Adopt a mindset of curiosity and learn from the best marketing books. Understand the social and behavioural trends that affect your company and your customers.

Then you’ll be well positioned to build trust and demonstrate why your business or service is a must-have purchase.

Relevance

Whatever form of content you create, as part of your marketing communications strategy, it must be highly relevant to your target audience.

Potential customers and key stakeholders must be truly engaged as a result of your strategy. Your objective is not just to broadcast information, focus on creating genuine connections to your brand.

Create an army of loyal fans by showing the value that you bring and how integral your product or service is to their lives.

Take the current boom in the horoscope industry with Millennials and Generation Z. This demographic now consult the zodiac more than ever before.

Many use their star signs to inform huge aspects of their lives, everything from making important life decisions to what days they should go out on date.

Sound silly? Well trend forecasters price the mystical market at more than $2billion. Who’s laughing now?

And what’s behind this boom?

Accessibility of information and the unrelenting message that horoscopes can support and guide through every element of your life. At every moment they are relevant.

Weekly newspaper star sign columns are a thing of the past. They’ve been replaced by apps with push notifications, daily horoscope podcasts and personalised zodiac feeds.

Each comms channel providing daily support to consumers so they are never without a connection and one’s horoscope is always relevant to one’s life.

Influence

This is all about how your marketing and communications can affect someone’s behaviour or thoughts/feelings towards a brand.

Marketing communications strategies work best when they develop a positive relationship between a brand and a target audience.

This is an ongoing two-way interaction that builds connectivity and trust between each party, and in time this leads to influence over behaviour, feelings and thoughts about a brand.

This influence can be subtle. Well executed marketing, and in particular a public relations campaign, can nudge your audience into taking an action, buying a product or signing up for a service without them even realising it.

Or it can be bold and loud.

Think Black Friday advertising from a big online retailer that screams BUY ME NOW or political campaigns that are lobbying directly to get their constituents out to vote.

Before you start your campaign think about how you want your audience to think or feel about your brand, what action you want them to take?

Are you going to subtly nudge them in the right direction or is this a loud dynamic instruction?

Include your CTA (call to action) consistently through your content and see how your audience responds.

Once you’ve understood these three main principles, your marketing communications strategy will be a more comprehensive and a well thought through document.

It is a valuable piece of business intelligence that can be utilised by teams across your company. But before you share it far and wide here’s five key points to remember.

5 tips For Your Marketing Communications Strategy

1. It must be jargon-free

Don’t hide behind ‘marketing speak’ just to make yourself look good. If every department in your organisation can’t pick up your strategy and instantly understand it, then it’s pointless.

An excess of management speak = a lack of meaning. Make your marketing communications strategy accessible and engaging. Review and edit your strategy with this in mind and it will bring clarity and greater impact.

2. Choose your metrics before you start

Think outcomes before outputs. Don’t rush ahead with an elaborate strategy without working out how you can measure your success.

Define goals and targets and what they will look like as numbers. This way you can track progress as you go and amend elements of the strategy accordingly if you’re not hitting the mark.

3. Agree your budget

A marketing communications strategy will include lots of paid promotion so make sure you know what you can spend, and when, before you begin. You can’t organise an influencer marketing campaign if funds are not available.

You also need to know what return to expect on your spend – and be careful not to go over budget. Splashing the cash does not guarantee impact. Be frugal and invest where there is value.

4. Be clear on your brand before you start implementing your strategy

Of course this means a consistent look and feel to your brand, but also this will influence what messaging and channels you need to target.

We’ll cover this in detail but if you feel there is lack of congruence in terms of what people think and feel regarding your brand take a step back and spend some time sorting this out before you embark on your strategy.

5. Get the right teams or key people on board

Get agreement with your ideas before you kick start your campaign. A successful marketing communications strategy can involve all different disciplines within the marketing mix – digital, SEO company, internal comms and free PR.

Agree actions before you press the start button and everything will run much more smoothly.

How To Create Your Strategy

When you write your strategy here are the main areas that you need to cover:

1. The goal – what the strategy is trying to achieve
2. Target audience – the people that the strategy will target
3. Messages – what you want to say to those people
4. Brand consistency – does everything about your brand look and feel as it should
5. Channels – the ways you will engage with your audience
6. Content and stories – what you will share with your audience

Let’s go through each section in turn.

1. The Goal – what the strategy is trying to achieve

Think about your ‘Goal’ as what you want to achieve with this strategy. The result you want to enjoy at the end of all your work.

Goals must be measurable so that you know what impact the strategy has had. Avoid generic goals, such as ‘raise awareness’.

Pin your target down with data, and make sure that the goals you set are aligned with current business objectives or the strategy for the wider company.

To set effective and achievable goals you need to know what point you are starting from. Conduct a communications audit before you begin, to collect data on key areas you are focusing on.

Ask questions such as:

• What is your market position?
• What is the current reputation/perception of your brand with your customers?
• Is your company hitting sales targets?
• Collect qualitative data about people’s thoughts and feelings about your brand, their emotional responses to your product.

2. Target Audience – the people that the strategy will target

Who do you want to connect with? Who do you want to interact with your content? These people are your target audience.

Similarly, the individuals that you want to respond to your CTA (Call to Action), to buy your product, to use your service, are your target audience.

Once you’ve set your goals for your strategy, the next step is to nail down who you will connect with to achieve those goals.

Which consumer group, which demographic, what age group, will you target to gain success with your business?

Investing in proper customer research and analysis at the start will also provide valuable insight to guide key decisions throughout the strategy.

If you know personality types of your audience then you can make sure your key messages resonate with them.

If you know where your audience consumes their information you’ll know what channel to choose to share your content.

Here are some questions you can ask to work out who your target audience is:

• How do they think? Personality types, attitudes, values, behaviours.
• What needs, challenges, frustrations do they have?
• What are their primary goals?
• How does your idea, service, or product help them?
• Where does your target audience hang out online?
• What do they do offline? What events do they attend, how do they spend their leisure time, what experiences do they like?
• Where does your audience consume their news?
• What drives your audience to make buying decisions?
• What does your current customer database show? Can you use existing data to define your target group?
• Did you choose the right target group? Always come back to this question and reflect upon your success at targeting the right audience.

As you work your way through your marketing communications strategy don’t forget to invest time to stay in touch with shifting customer demands.

Set up focus groups and periodically review the suitability of your target audience. Always keep your work focused on achieving your goals and don’t be afraid to adjust your audiences if necessary.

3. Messages – what you want to say to those people

Your messages, or key messages as they are often called, are the key information about your brand that you want your audience to know.

This could be important product information, what makes you the best on the market, or it could be crucial event information that attendees need.

Key messages should be short and memorable. If they are too long, your audience won’t engage and they’ll be lost in all the other marketing noise out there.

What’s your USP? Make sure it is included in your messages – if you don’t tell your audience what is unique and special about your product then who will?

4. Brand consistency – does everything about your brand look and feel like it should?

A brand is more than just a logo and a strapline, it’s how people think and feel about your product or service.

It’s important that every consumer touchpoint is a consistent experience of the brand – you want every customer’s contact to be of the same quality.

If your target audience all think and feel different things then they’ll be no agreement on what your brand stands for and how you are different from competitors.

This will lead to confusion and instead of loyal fans, doubt will grow in the minds of your audience. They won’t buy into your product or service.

Before you begin your marketing communications strategy conduct an audit of all your marketing touchpoints and collateral and make sure they are consistent with each other.

If they’re not, take charge and make changes to ensure your brand is represented in its strongest form for all your target audience to enjoy.

Channels – The Ways You Will Engage Your Audience

Marketing communications channels are what you use to share content that will reach and then engage your target audience.

The channels that you choose are sometimes referred to as your ‘marketing mix’ – the combination of media platforms that you use to reach your potential customers.

Your marketing mix could include:

• PPC and digital advertising – banner ads etc
• Social media advertising – Facebook, Instagram etc
• Offline advertising on print media, billboards or TV
• Influencer marketing – partnerships with social media influencers who will endorse your product
• SEO and content marketing – creating content that ranks well on search engines to reach and engage new and existing audiences
• Celebrity partnerships, brand ambassadors and corporate relationships – creating a network of promotional partners for your brand
• Events and stunt marketing – connecting with your audiences in person, face to face like these public relations examples

The biggest gripe that our students feedback on

In the main, it’s how to choose the right marketing channels for the audience and then to successfully run these channels day in day out.

It’s undeniably hard, it’s a skill to make sure the most engaging content is posted/shared/published on the most effective channel to reach your audience at the right time.

Not only do you need to be switched on, creatively, but you need superpowers of planning to deliver content on time so you can meet all deadlines.

There’s no short cut here, it takes time so don’t rush this stage. Don’t go live on one channel until you have all your content lined up for the rest.

Timing is everything and we’ll deep dive into this in the How to Implement Your Strategy, later in this blog.

6.Content And Stories – What You Will Share

The type of content and stories that you share across the channels will be specific to your brand.

You’ll need to ensure that they generate as much engagement as possible with your target audience to achieve your marketing communications objectives.

Here’s my top five tips to creating content that resonates and sparks engagement.

Be relevant

Whether you’re making video content or figuring out how to get a story on the local news ensure that it’s relevant to the audience.

This means it something topical, current or connected in some way to the lives of your audience. In our PR campaigns we call this being newsworthy. If you want media coverage you must demonstrate the news value of your story.

Be succinct

There’s a lot of competition for consumer attention, your audience will be inundated by content from other brands, so you need to get your message through quickly and clearly.

Make sure your stories are to the point – keep videos to less than 1 minute, know how to write a press release so that it’s no more than a page and record your podcasts for no longer than 20 minutes.

Be consistent

To create a holistic and clear reputation for a brand all marketing content must be consistent with agreed messaging.

Make sure that everyone involved in story writing and content creation, including external suppliers, is well briefed and everything is presented consistently.

Be bold

Beige and boring content will not drive engagement. It will be ignored.

Don’t be afraid to push boundaries and try new types of stories for your brand. If you’ve always been seen as a conservative brand then try switching things up and showing a more human side to your company.

Be timely

As much as preparation and planning are essential to marketing success, this is 2021 and marketing must also be done in real-time.

Your brand must have a visible ‘real-time’ presence on social media and online and so it will require you to think on your feet and create reactive content to events as they are happening.

How To Implement Your Strategy 

Timing is everything.

Work to deadlines and make sure everyone is on board to achieve those deadlines. If you fall behind on producing a set of content for one channel then this will impact all your other work.

Be upfront about delays so that everyone can plan accordingly. Better to readjust time schedules and allow creatives to take longer with their work than to miss deadlines and leave your audience waiting.

Don’t Miss Out On New Opportunities

Timing is equally as crucial if you need to implement a reactive or opportunistic marketing communications strategy.

These are very common in certain industries, like fashion.

For example, a famous celebrity or influencer wears your company’s product. This is public relations and marketing gold and a strategy must be actioned immediately.

With each hour that passes after the celebrity was spotted means that your product is becoming less and less hot. Wait too long and you’ll be yesterday’s trend. Such is the fickle world of fashion.

As soon as possible you need to start the PR plan element of your campaign. Make sure that the product the celebrity wore is in front of every journo/influencer/media platform/celebrity gossip/music site you can think of so they know where it came from.

You’ll need to email them images and all key product specs/story – as a press release. ‘Influencer wears latest hot brand’.

Your digital/social media advertising strategy will also need to go live almost instantly if you want to cut through the noise. Get your ad sets signed off and get those algorithms working for you.

Stakeholder relations is a must here too. You’ll want to reach out to all your industry contacts, stylists, buyers and anyone influential to your business.

Let them know your product is on trend and in demand. If you’re hot to someone else you’ll be hot to them too.

Your Mindset Matters

Adopting a successful marketing mindset is just as important as having the right marketing tactics in place.

Stay calm and don’t let yourself become overwhelmed with information when working on different areas within the strategy.

Act on one thing at a time and prioritise what is most important.

Prioritise your tasks at the start of each day, work on the most time-critical content first.

Don’t cause a blockage – if you’re sitting on material that needs to be signed off then you’re at risk of putting the whole strategy off track.

As we discussed at the top of this section, set realistic deadlines and communicate when you won’t be able to achieve them. If you can’t make deadlines don’t consider this a personal reflection on yourself.

There are only 24 hours in the day and it takes time to produce quality content and run an effective marketing communications strategy. However, good time management can help you be more efficient and helps run your strategy more smoothly.

Check your task list around lunchtime – have priorities changed throughout the morning? Stay flexible and allow yourself to readjust your schedule if you need to.

Now It’s Your Turn!

Have a go at writing your own marketing communications strategy.

If you find it a drag to get bogged down in the planning before the exciting execution phase remember the old adage of the British Army – the 7 Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance!

And if you’re really ready to take your PR work to the next level grab our PR Starter Kit.

Our must-have kit has every template, script, strategy and guide you’ll ever need to do PR – all in one place.

Good luck!

The post Marketing Communications Strategy: How To Do It Like A Pro appeared first on Class:PR.

That means you need a quality press release template.

And that needs an attention grabbing headline.

The headline is THE most important aspect of knowing how to write a press release.

It is the thing that will get a journalist’s attention and convince them that you have a story worth telling.

In essence, it should be your entire story distilled into fewer than ten words – that is easier said than done.

I usually spend between 30-60 minutes working on the headline of my press release. Once I have this the rest of the story will write itself (pretty much).

And it’s worth my time, and yours, to get this right.

Why?

Because your attention grabbing headline will not only form the news angle of your press release, it will also be the words you use in your email subject line of your media pitch, even if you use a PR tool such as Response Source.

Get it right and yours will be one of the few emails that a journalist actually reads, get it wrong and you’re destined for the junk folder.

Attention grabbing headlines are CRITICAL to the success of your public relations campaign.

This is how you do it.

What Makes An Attention Grabbing Headline

The best headlines for a press release should meet the following criteria:

• Highlight what is new, a ‘first’, innovative, impactful or disruptive about your business (this is the news angle)
• Include the ‘How, What, Why, When and Where’ of news
• Be fewer than 10 words long
• Not be stuffed full of hyperbole and exaggeration (journalists loathe this)
• Not be in the style of a blog headline, i.e ‘How to Study for the LSAT’. 
• Avoid brand names in headlines – stick to what you do, not who you are
• Give the journalist a clear idea of the headline they will use on their finished story
• Crucially your headline should mirror the editorial style of the media you are pitching to

Killer Headline Examples

Great headlines will help a reporter out, especially if you know how to write a media pitch.

Here’s a list of eight killer headline examples that are taken from our Press Release Template Kit.

In each attention grabbing headline example, I’ve explained why this works from a journalist’s perspective.

Choose the one that best fits the stories in your PR plan – this is how to get a story on the local news, in the national press and on TV and radio.

Headline Example 1

Client: Baby Cakes – a food brand for babies and toddlers

Target media: Parenting magazines

Why this is a great headline: This business is launching a new range of baby food shaped as cake. News is about things which are counter-intuitive – such as cake and babies!

‘Cakes for Babies’ is essentially the story and would grab the journalist’s attention.

‘Set to Transform Meal Times’ tells the reporter what the impact is of this product.

‘For Parents’ is included because this story would be pitched to a parenting magazine. The headline is written to show the journalist you know who their readers are.

Headline Example 2

Client: Parkinson’s charity Parkinson’s Cure Together 

Target media: Trade news media 

Why this is a great headline: The headline is clearly telling the trade media that it is this charity’s 20th anniversary (which is in itself newsworthy) and also what the charity does, Parkinson’s. It avoids naming the charity as that is too advertorial in tone.

The ‘Year of Voices’ indicates to the journalist some interesting type of campaign is happening that will capture the views of many people, which themselves may well be newsworthy. 

This headline is bound to lead to some free PR for this charity in the trade press.

Headline Example 3

Client: Mental Health Now Charity

Target media: National press and TV

Why this is a great headline: This is a story about two brothers rowing the Atlantic to raise money for a mental health charity. The headline works because it is packed full of newsworthy information. 

We know they are ‘siblings’. Being brothers brings news value.

‘Break World Record’. So they have achieved some sort of major ‘first’. This tells the journalist this is a new story.

‘Crossing The Atlantic’. This is their story in three words. They basically rowed an ocean quicker than anyone else in history.  

This headline, in just eight words, says everything, and we don’t even have to mention why they did it. Of course, the charity will get a mention lower down in the story, but the achievement is the story. 

Headline Example 4

Client: FrogTwistr, a tech startup

Target media: The technology media

Why this is a great headline: Even without knowing who on earth FrogTwistr are a tech journalist would know that this is a story.

‘New Global Listener Chart’ tells the reporter that this a new platform with huge scale that will measure the number of listeners for all podcasts. This has never been done before so it is news.

The promise to ‘Transform Podcasting’ shows that this is a game-changing innovation for podcasting, a medium that itself has been intrinsically newsworthy in recent years. 

If what FrogTwistr say in their attention grabbing headline is true then the journalist will want to read this press release and write a story.

Headline Example 5

Client: Heath Travers, accountancy firm

Target media: Regional media in Birmingham, UK

Why this is a great headline: Because this is for local press it’s essential to get the name of the city, Birmingham, in the headline so the journalist immediately knows it is relevant to them.

‘Leading Accountancy Firm’ tells them that this is about one of the city’s major employers, therefore it is newsworthy.

‘Marks 30th Anniversary’ is the news story, this is the thing which is new and a ‘first’.

Again, in just seven words you have the entire story – the journalist knows that this is news worth reporting. 

Headline Example 6

Client: Pump Up!

Target media: Los Angeles business media

Why this is a great headline: This is a business launch story for the Los Angeles area so the headline MUST have the city name in it, Los Angeles.

A product launch by itself is not newsworthy so the headline gives the reason for the launch, ‘man launches inflatable ramp after paralysis’.

This brings a human interest element to a dry business story that will get the journalist interested. Plus using the term ‘inflatable ramp’ is clearly visual so the journalist will immediately be thinking that there could be good images to go with this story.

This attention grabbing headline is a great example of including the ‘why’ behind your story – journalists love that. All the best marketing books will tell you the same.

Headline Example 7

Client: Legal Eagles 

Target media: Local media in Luton, UK

Why this is a great headline: This for the press in Luton so that word MUST be in the headline, then the journalist knows it is relevant to them because it has happened on their patch.

‘One million steps charity challenge’ tells the reporter exactly what this story is. 

The team at this law firm have clearly been recording their collective walking steps to hit a one million target. This figure needs to be significant in size otherwise it’s not newsworthy. The headline also indicates that this has been done for charity.

In just nine words we have the entire story and the local press will love it.

Headline Example 8

Client: The wellbeing blogger Lo-Carb Lifer

Target media: National press in the UK

Why this is a great headline: In this instance, because Lo-Carb Lifer is a well-known blogger (use your imagination), it’s important to get that in the attention grabbing headline.

‘Sets off on a tour of the UK’s unhealthiest towns’ not only says what she is doing but it will also appeal to the journalist as they may think there is a story in simply knowing which towns in the UK are the least healthy.

This is a clever public relations trick which takes a simple tour and uses a particular theme to give it a news angle. In this case, a healthy eating guru taking her tips to unhealthy places is a smart trick. 

If you need to know how to write a press release for an event make sure it has a headline just like this one.

So there you have it, eight types of killer headlines for press releases that will get a journalist’s attention.

Knowing how to do this is essential for ALL public relations jobs.

Six Golden Rules For An Attention Grabbing Headline:

1. If your story is for the local press make sure you have the name of the town/city in the headline
2. If your story is for the national media make sure it has a genuine ‘first’ in the headline, something truly newsworthy
3. Indicate the impact of your story in the headline but without hyperbole or exaggeration
4. Take your time to get this right. If it takes an hour to get a great headline for your press release it will be worth it
5. Use your killer headline for the subject line of your pitch email 
6. Learn by example. Take a look at these public relations examples and find a headline similar to yours. If it has worked once it is likely to work again! 

And if you want to follow a press release format that is specific to YOUR business grab our Ultimate Press Release Template Kit.

You’ll get 10 real-life press release examples for every business and story type – from tech to fashion and professional services to charity.

The post Attention Grabbing Headline: 8 Examples For A Press Release appeared first on Class:PR.

This guide will show you how to write a press release.

You’ll get the exact press release template we’ve used to get thousands of pieces of media coverage, the world over.

It’s the cornerstone of every successful public relations campaign that we have run.

And it’s essential if you want to know how to write a media pitch too.

This is how to do a press release in 19 easy to follow steps.

1. What is a press release?
2. We’ve changed how press releases are written
3. What a press release is not
4. Why use a press release template?
5. The date
6. The headline
7. The intro paragraph
8. Paragraphs two and three
9. The quotes
10. Body copy – key messages
11. The closing quote
12. Closing paragraph
13. ENDS
14. Contact details
15. Notes to Editor
16. Rookie Mistake 1: Spelling and grammar
17. Rookie Mistake 2: Overall length and formatting
18. Go forth and get media coverage
19. 9 steps to creating, formatting, pitching, and sharing your press release
    

Once you understand the formula for creating a press release you will start to see the results you’re after.

Let’s take a look at the anatomy of the perfect press release and how you can go about creating one yourself, one that can form the heart of a successful PR plan.

But first, the essential foundation.

What Is A Press Release?

If you’re going to learn how to write a press release for your business, launch, event or crisis communication you need to understand its real purpose – to show that you have a NEWS story.

This is at the heart of ALL public relations and public relations jobs.

If you have a genuine news story you have a good chance of getting the media coverage you seek, and if you don’t, you won’t.

Sounds harsh?

That’s the cruel reality of the newsroom.

These are the most important 400 words you are going to write for your business if you want media coverage.

We’ve changed how press releases are written

Let’s address the elephant in the room.

The press release is NOT dead.

Sure, spammy, story-less, advertorial press releases are dreadful – they always were and they always will be.

But to think that the press release is dead because of misuse is to make an error.

Please, don’t make your press release look like this …

Instead, the press release has changed – and that’s a good thing.

Understaffed newsrooms and media outlets need ready-made stories.

There was a time when a reporter may have trawled through your press release to find a news hook – not now – you need to give it to them on a plate.

And that’s why a quality press release will be of as much interest to a journalist as it will to a high profile blogger or podcaster.

All of these are content publishers and they all want stories.

A decent press release will help you to know how to get a story on the local news, national media coverage and even form part of an influencer marketing campaign – if you get it right.

What a press statement is not

Let’s be crystal clear.

A press release is not:

• Full of exaggeration and false promises
• A sales pitch
• Self-congratulatory – “I/we are amazing, honestly!”
• Dripping with acronyms and hype
• A list of technical information about a new product or business
• Simply the fact you are launching a report (you need a news hook)
• Simply the fact you are launching a new business (you need a news hook)
• A glorified CV/biography of your founder
• Anything else that sends a journalist to sleep

It’s the act of creating a quality release that will enable you to understand what is newsworthy about your business and avoid making these mistakes.

Remember, a journalist, blogger, influencer or anyone else from your target audience wants to hear your story.

And that’s what a press release must be – a brilliant story about your business. That’s how you get free PR.

Even if you want to know how to write a press release for an event – it must still contain a news story.

There are some great public relations examples here that should give you an idea of what works, storywise, for all types of business.

The Press Release Template

A press release template has a very formulaic structure.

It consists of 11 sections.

To miss even one of them is to relegate your press release to the piles of ignored stories.

Following a proven system, which in this case is based on 20 years of working in media relations and for Arc Seven Communications, removes all the guesswork.

This enables you to get quick results.

A template brings consistency to the process.

If you are finding that your first few press releases aren’t attracting the attention of journalists it’s much easier to tweak the variables (headline, intro par, quotes etc).

Trust the template, its 11 proven sections will set you apart and let your story be heard.

This is how to write a press release.

Download Your Free Press Release Template

To help you out we’re going to look at a real-life press release.

This is from gluten-free blogger Vicki Montague, aka The Free From Fairy.

Vicki wanted to let the media know she was launching the world’s first wholegrain gluten-free flour.

The media loved it – Vicki landed coverage in Metro,  The Huffington Post and many more here.

Section 1: Send Date and Company Logo

The first section of any template might sound obvious but make sure you date your press release.

The date you are pitching it to the media is the date to use here.

That way the journalist knows this is a new story and something worth considering. You don’t want to read old news, and neither does a journalist.

When sending a press release out far in advance, make sure you use the word EMBARGOED followed by the date.

That way the journalist knows that this story should not be published until that date in time.

Also, include your company logo in the top right-hand corner.

Section 2: How to Write a Press Release Headline

Your attention grabbing headline needs to include your news hook to get the journalist’s attention.

Most journalists get more than 200 email pitches a day and they are looking for specific information – if you don’t stand out you’re done for.

Keep the headline to under 10 words – this discipline will force you to focus on your news angle.

Make sure within those 10 words you have the main four or five key points of the story – remember, think about what is ‘new’.

Why go to the trouble of creating a brilliant press release if your email isn’t even opened?

Every step of this process requires your skill and focus. Don’t rush it.

Here are some examples of effective headlines, ones that got great media coverage.

Section 3: The Intro Paragraph

Your headline grabbed the journalist’s attention but the intro is where you win them over, or lose them forever.

You’ve got 25 words or less to get across your entire story.

Get to the point immediately and include at least five key news points.

Your intro needs to explain the who, what, why, when, how and where of your story.

Listen to Guardian journalist Emma Sheppard on her ‘breathtaking’ method for nailing your intro paragraph.

Remember journalists are incredibly short on time.

If your story isn’t immediately obvious, they will hit delete.

Section 4: Paragraphs Two and Three

In paragraphs two and three you need to really develop the story by introducing key factual pieces of information and provide the journalist with the detail to create the story.

Remember, your job is to make their job easier.

Do this and you will get all the media coverage you want.

Don’t leave factual gaps, or leave out important elements a journalist would require for the story.

There are so many news story examples and feature story examples online right now that can show you the type of information you need to include.

All paragraphs of your press release need to:

• Have a natural flow so each paragraph logically leads on to the next
• Avoid repetition between paragraphs
• Avoid echoes throughout your press release
• Quickly, but with detail, deliver a compelling story

Section 5: The Quotes

Now it’s time to introduce your spokesperson to the press release.

This is the person you want to front your business.

Choose carefully as they may be asked for further interviews if your story gets published.

The spokesperson will usually be one of the founders or one of the senior team of the business.

The quotes section deliver the ‘why’ behind the story.

They communicate your passion and there’s a proven way to get this right.

Before you hit the keyboard think about what you want to get across and try the quotes out loud with a colleague.

You want to sound like a human talking, not a robot writing.

Introduce them with their FULL NAME and POSITION then start the quotes.

Aim for two or three paragraphs of quotes and close the quotation marks at the end of the final paragraph.

Section 6: Body Copy – Key Messages

Return to the main body of the press release now and include further factual detail and your key messages.

Your key messages can include:

• When/where your product or service is available
• The price of your product/service
• Your website address
• Technical information about your product/service

Don’t confuse these key messages with your main news hook – they are very different things.

Your release is the vehicle to deliver your key messages.

There is no guarantee the journalist will include your website link, but by following this press release template, you give yourself the best chance.

Section 7: The Closing Quote

Start to bring your story to a natural conclusion with a closing quote.

Your closing quote can be from your main spokesperson or you can introduce a third party spokesperson whose endorsement gives your product/service more credibility.

Section 8: Closing Paragraph

Bring the press release to a neat conclusion with a closing endorsement.

An effective endorsement can come from a trade organization, some favourable market data, or a fact which points to the future and shows what is coming next for your business.

This paragraph helps the journalist see that you and your business are ‘ones to watch’ and are credible enough to write about.

Remember, at every stage of the press release you are looking to excite the journalist with a news story and reassure them that you are newsworthy.

Section 9: ENDS

Here’s a strategy that will put you ahead of 98% of your competitors – always finish your press release with the word ‘ENDS’.

This is good journalistic practice and makes it clear to the journalist that the main body of the story is complete.

Section 10: Contact details

Include full contact information for the person handling all press and media inquiries.

Include their name, email address, and phone number.

Keep it simple and clear.

Section 11: Notes to Editors

Those in the industry refer to this section as the boilerplate.

It includes additional background information which could be of use to the journalist but is not critical to the story.

This tends to be information about your broader marketing communications goals.

Including this information anywhere else would slow down the press release.

Here you can include some biographical information about the founder, the CEO, the person quoted in the release. As well as:

• A little information about the history of the company
• Memberships of trade bodies
• Extra statistical information (sales figures, demographic information) that could provide the journalist with extra colour
• Links to reports or articles that may be of use to the journalist

No excuses, spelling and grammar matter in a press release.

Remember journalists are writers, this is their craft.

If you show a lack of respect for their artform they will have disdain for you.

If you didn’t go to school use spell check or an app like Grammarly.

In 2022 there are no excuses for spelling things incorrectly.

Keep your press release to two pages at absolute maximum – if possible get the body of the release on one page and include notes to editors and contact details on page two.

You’re shooting for 400 words in total.

A journalist does not want an academic essay.

They want a tightly worded, crisp, and concise news story.

Do not turn your press release into a pdf.

Ever.

Stick to a word document and attach it directly to your email. Also, copy and paste the text into your email – some journalists won’t even open an attachment.

And NEVER, EVER embed photographs.

Send high-resolution images (greater than 1mb) and attach them directly to your email.

Include photos of your spokesperson, your product or a suitable news image.

It’s Time to Write a Press Release

Now you know how to write a press release.

You are ready to create a newsworthy press release for your business – one that will deliver the media coverage you deserve.

Download Your Free Press Release Template

9 FAST TIPS ON PRESS RELEASE FORMAT, CREATION, PITCHING, AND SHARING

1. Download our template and worksheet and follow the system.
2. Find a strong news angle for your press release – awareness days can sometimes work.
3. Think which of the three main news story types you have? Is this business news, human interest news or events-based news?
4. Put 90% of your creative energy into your headline and intro paragraph – this should be the essence of your story in its entirety.
5. Be laser-like in your targeting of journalists – only go to those on your media list. Using a PR tool such as Response Source can help you out with this.
6. Make your email pitch direct and to the point – or use one of these press release distribution services.
7. Chase – but not TOO much.
8. Sit back and watch the media coverage come in (try using one of the best media monitoring services to do that).
9. And if you get invited for an interview make sure you read these media training tips first.

Taking the time to learn how to write a press release may seem like a lot of work, but getting it right can have a long-lasting positive impact on your business.

And if you want to follow a press release format that is specific to YOUR business grab our Ultimate Press Release Kit.

You’ll get 10 real-life press release examples for every business and story type – from tech to fashion and professional services to charity.

The post How To Write A Press Release: 2022 Guide and Free Template appeared first on Class:PR.

Don’t worry if you don’t have the dollars to hire a top PR agency – you can bootstrap your media coverage with a few simple tactics.

In this blog, we’ve listed 28 of the best in one epic list.

So if you want to know how to get a story on the local news but can’t invest in a full Public Relations Campaign right now then this is for you.

Plus we break our 28 tactics down into four simple categories so that you can be armed with free hacks for the different areas of Public Relations.

• • The Best Ways To Get Free Media Coverage
  • Use Your Content As Free PR
  • How To Build Influence On Social Media For Free
  • Use Your Network And Events To Get Free PR

We’ve already shared our list of best public relations examples, but here’s how you can do it all for free.

(Note – if you’re still at the stage of asking what does PR stand for? Read this first.)

Up to speed? Let’s go.

The Best Ways To Get Free Media Coverage

1. Help A Reporter Out (HARO)

What: Just as its name suggests, Help A Reporter Out, is a nifty platform that gives you the opportunity to become a source for journalists already working on stories.

Why: Although there are plenty of people vying to get their attention, reporters often find themselves short on sources for the stories they are writing.

So HARO allows them to ask for insight into various topics and people like you can respond with expert answers. It’s a win-win for both parties, and a great way to develop a relationship with a key person of influence.

If you are successful, they’ll name you and your business in the piece – and hopefully, give a backlink to your website.

How: HARO sends out emails with a list of topics, once you see one that you can offer help with, click on it and say your piece. This is where it’s a great idea to have your messaging, USP and pitch honed so they’ll pick you above the rest.

2. Newsjacking: piggyback on national news stories to get coverage

What: Spot news stories in national papers and become the local expert.

Why: Free PR is all about creating great stories that will drive home the core messaging of your business.

If you spot a national news story that you can add valuable insight on, follow it and find your angle.

In doing so, you can take the news that is nationally or internationally relevant and position yourself as the local expert in it.

How: Keep an eye on the headlines and when you spot a story that would work, act fast. For example, a story about a drop in A-C exam results in A-Level students could achieve follow-up press.

So, if you are a counsellor who specialises in helping students manage exam stress, this would be a great time to offer your insight.

3. Write your own press releases like a pro

What: When you pitch your story to a reporter, you need to send it in the expected press release template (and boilerplate) format.

Use this guide to know how to find someone’s email so you make sure you get to the right journalist.

Why: A well-written press release helps the journalist by giving them an angle, all the information they need and extra details about the subject.

By doing this, you save the journalist time and make their lives easier, and they’ll be far more likely to publish it.

How: We’ve created a press release template that gives you the format you need and a guide to how to write a press release. Download it, practice with it and then use it every time you pitch.

4. Become a thought leader and make a name for yourself

What: Position yourself as an expert in your field – and regularly comment on the big stories in the media. To get a deeper understanding of what is thought leadership read this quick guide.

Why: Thought leadership is being known by the media as an expert on your niche. You become an industry voice, commenting on issues and stories that matter to your business sector.

Thought leadership is a sure fire way to build a strong reputation, helping you reach new audiences and increasing trust with those that already know you. I

It’s a powerful tactic to get people to gravitate towards you and your business – and eventually, buy from you.

How: Let the media know that you are there and why they need to hear from you. Learn how to write a media pitch and then send your local news desk comment on big stories, pitch yourself to your local radio station to appear on a talk show or publish articles on social media.

Tip – get some media training and sound like a pro.

5. Offer an exclusive story to one publication

What: If you have a really exciting and genuinely newsworthy story that belongs to you alone, you can offer it to one publication exclusively.

Why: This tactic will work brilliantly if you have a story that’ll engage a big audience and one that would appeal to lots of media outlets.

By offering an exclusive, you demonstrate to the journalist that you see their publication as the most important and the place that the story best fits.

If you are right, they will love the chance to beat their competitors to the story.

How: Once you’ve crafted the perfect press release for your story, explain in your email pitch that this is being offered exclusively, so the journalist knows it is only with them.

Make sure you’ve done your research so that you’re a good fit with their news stories or with feature story examples and then you’ve got a much better chance of success.

6. Be personal and get a reporter’s attention

What: Find a unique and memorable way to send your product to a reporter.

Why: Please remember that journalists are inundated with press releases and you have to work hard to capture their attention.

Some people recommend using a paid press release distribution service but we prefer a more creative route.

If you can send your product to them, with something eye-catching like a handwritten note or personalised item, they are more likely to pay attention. But, remember if they don’t respond, don’t ask for your product back!

How: Launching a perfume company that helps customers create their own scent by choosing their favourite flowers?

Design a personalised scent for the beauty editor of your target magazine and send it over with a small bunch of the flowers you’ve used. It’s a great way to make it personal to them and impress them.

7. Take great pictures and never send a press release without one

What: You have no idea of how many great stories have been rejected because they don’t have a decent photo to go with it.

Why: We live in a visual world and that means your carefully crafted words won’t do the job all on their own.

When you develop a story to pitch to the media, think about how that story can be expressed visually. What can you use to give the reader context, emotion, and demonstrate the angle?

Make sure the picture is hi-res so it can be used by journalists both online and in print.

How: Here’s an example. Got a new electric wheelchair that helps disabled people get out of their houses and to the pub to join in their weekly quiz?

The picture you send needs to tell that story. So, it’s going to involve the person (the heart of the story), the wheelchair (the product), the pub (let’s put in context) with a pint in their hand and they should be amidst a quiz team smiling directly at the camera (the emotion of happiness).

When the reader looks at the picture, it should tell the story and intrigue them to read on.

8. Get to know your industry publications

What: Every industry or sector will have publications – whether in print or online – specifically reporting on them. You need to know what yours are and have a quality media list.

Why: Getting to grips with your trade press will help you in two ways.

Firstly, you’ll keep up with the news and innovations you need to know, and secondly, you can get to know who writes about your sector and what they focus on.

These are vital bits of information for building your PR Plan, so when you do pitch, you do it perfectly.

How: A simple Google search should reveal most of the information you need, but if you are frightened of missing one, pop over to online newsagents and browse their selection using the industry filers. You’ll have your list in no time at all.

9. Make a contact list to die for (and keep updating it)

What: Build a list of journalists, vloggers and influencers to engage so you can get your business in front of new audiences.

Why: The greater your network, the greater your influence.

Get your story shared by respected journalists or social media creators then you’ll be in front of thousands of new potential customers.

Yes, you need a budget to do influencer marketing, but if you give them a story they can’t refuse many are open to more authentic relationships.

How: Start off by making a simple list of all the media platforms and influencers – online and offline – that are connected to your industry.

Make a note of the names, email addresses and phone numbers of each person you think might be worth approaching. Reach out or pitch to a new person each week so that you are constantly building your network.

10. Get on podcasts and reach a whole new audience

What: Podcasting is a fast-growing content medium that reaches big audiences when done right. You know what podcasters need? More guests – and that’s your in.

Why: It takes some research, but you need to find out which of the podcasts out there are aimed at your target audience.

As a guest on a respected and popular podcast, you’ll be able to speak to loads of people at once.

After that, you can repurpose that content all over your digital marketing, and get useful backlinks from the podcast website (make sure to ask!).

How: Find and listen to the podcasts that are relevant to you, work out a good angle for your guest appearance and then contact them with an offer to appear.

Showing knowledge of what they do in their episodes will show them you are serious and want to fit in as part of their content.

11. Use ‘Awareness Days’ calendars to your advantage

What: All across the world there are days of significance, special interest or awareness that you can build a free PR story on.

Why: Publications love awareness days because they act as a short-hand for the reader and give context to a story.

For example, if you want to showcase your new product line of garden spades, it’s a good idea to leap onto National Gardening Week and try to get an interview with a horticultural influencer about using it.

How: You’ll find handy calendars that mark special days of interest all over the internet. Find the days relevant to your business and plan some content around them.

It’s a good idea to plan ahead and make sure you send the story at least a week before to ensure it reaches the report in time for them to plan it in.

12. Set up your Google Alerts (and never miss a mention again)

What: Don’t have time to trawl through social media management tools? Just set up Google Alerts on various names and words and you’ll get notified each time.

Why: You don’t want to miss out on a chance to find out the latest news or comment about your industry.

Google Alerts are designed to keep you in the loop for free, and you can create as many of them as you need.

This helps you to identify trends, key people of interest and topics that could be leveraged for free PR. You can also have them for your competition, so you can see what’s being said about them, or what they’ve got to say.

How: Just go to Google Alerts and start creating the ones that matter most to you. Be selective and targeted, so you don’t end up getting pinged for stuff you don’t need to know.

Use Your Content As Free PR

13. Show people ‘how to’ do something

What: By creating ‘how to’ guides pertinent to your industry, you can build up some great evergreen content that will be useful time and again.

Why: The whole point of free PR is to create a connection between your brand and your target market, and that involves building trust.

By creating pieces of content that show people ‘how to’ do something, you empower them and help them fix an issue. In return, they’ll begin to trust what you say and develop loyalty towards your brand.

How: Create a page or post for your ‘How to’ download on your website. Make your guide clear, answer all the potential queries you think the user might have and offer them a call to action at the end. 

14. Become a guest blogger on other business sites

What: You can reach a whole new audience simply by offering to write a guest blog for somebody else’s website.

Why: Don’t just broadcast to your own network when you blog, try to reach other people’s too. It’s hard to keep producing content, so for many influencers, businesses or professionals, having content created by somebody else that will resonate with their readers is a win-win.

How: Be targeted about who you guest blog for. You need to find people who offer companion services to yours or operate in a market that makes sense for you.

Some platforms regularly accept guest submissions and have published guidelines on what they are looking for. Before to check these out before you submit.

If they don’t make it clear, take a look at the style and voice of the publication you want to write for and create an example piece (or two) to send the editor. Make sure it would fit seamlessly onto their site and ask for the chance to keep writing content for them.

15. Leverage your database to showcase interesting trends

What: if you have a significant customer base who behave or purchase in an unusual or interesting way, use the date to create a survey.

Why: Journalists love surveys. They are a great, accessible way to make credible observations about behaviour.

Not only will interesting or surprising results start a debate, but your survey and therefore your business will be credited each time it’s written about.

How: Use your data wisely. If you suddenly realise the demand for your product is on the up, find out the numbers.

Once you’ve got a set of interesting figures, write it up as a survey and get it out there. You can also survey your audience and publish their findings – do this online, via email marketing, or even when they come into your office.

16. Create your own library of great content

What: Use the content on your website to reach new audiences and position your business as a market leader, ahead of your competition.

Why: When you send a story out to somebody else, you risk them diluting or changing your message. In your own content, you make the rules.

Your content should be helpful, showcase your expertise, be engaging and memorable and provoke a reaction.

All these things will increase the chances of the reader sharing what you have written, helping you reach a whole host of new customers.

How: Create five attention grabbing headlines of subjects that are relevant to your business. Under each heading write five topics or questions.

Once you have this, then check the search volumes of people looking for the content. Even if you think people want to read it, don’t waste your time writing it if no-one actually is.

If you know people are searching for your topics then you can create a piece of content for each one and begin to build the library you need to grow your business.

17. Make content that could go viral

What: Create a piece of content that gets shared across the internet and reaches a huge number of people.

Why: You cannot buy this kind of publicity because viral content helps you achieve global recognition in record time.

Viral content often involves humour or outrage, so work out how to feed your key messaging into that. It’s a challenge, but when it’s done well, boy does it pay off.

How: Got any cats? Just kidding! Cat videos definitely rule the internet, but you don’t have to keep it feline.

Think about how to be funny in a way tons of people will connect with and then ask everyone you know to share it. You never know what might take off.

How To Build Influence On Social Media For Free

18. Answer questions on forums: being helpful wins business

What: People all over the world are asking questions on online forums about your industry – be the one to give the answers they are looking for.

Why: Consider the last time you had a problem with your computer, didn’t know what to do and went online to find answers.

If a local computer repair shop answered that question, gave you some free advice and then offered to do the repairs you need, it’s likely you’d take them up on their offer.

You can do exactly the same thing for people suffering the pain points that your product or service solves and win business.

How: Never hide that you are selling something, but deliver useful, honest advice and don’t be afraid to give some of it away from free.

Not only could you impress the person asking the question, but others on the forum will notice you in action too.

19. Follow online hashtags and join the conversation

What: Right now there are lots of hashtags being used on Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram that are connected to your business. Get involved! Make sure you have a winning LinkedIn headline and know how to post an article on LinkedIn. 

Why: Contributing to an online chat about your industry helps you to strengthen your reputation as a thought leader and hashtags allow you to see what topics are causing the most buzz.

Once you know what they are, you can contribute to the conversation and also create content that deals with those subjects on your online platforms.

How: Make a list of the hashtags you want to follow and use the search bars in each social platform to find the latest posts and most popular discussions about your industry.

Don’t forget to use the hashtags when you post stuff online too, so others can find what you’ve written.

20. Go ‘live’ at networking events

What: Use the video feature on your smartphone to post live updates at networking events and introduce your digital network to the people you meet.

Why: This is a great idea for two reasons.

1) video gets excellent engagement online and shows you are out there doing things.

2) by involving other people, you should get shared on their social networks too.

How: Be generous. Don’t make it all about you. The live broadcast is a great chance for you to introduce the people you meet and tell people what THEY do.

If you are willing to do that for them, they’ll be far more inclined to recommend you to others.

21. Use your local Facebook groups

What: Facebook is an excellent resource to connect local businesses to their local market.

Why: Community Facebook groups allow people to share information, recommendations and knowledge.

If you are savvy, you can become a trusted name in your local group and build a reputation for helping people out.

Once you’ve done that for things that don’t involve your business and made some connections, you can begin to offer what you do too.

How: The next time people need to know the bus times, a local plumber or the best nail technician in town, give them your recommendation.

From then on you can keep an eye on people who need what you offer. The best way to leverage this is to get other people to recommend you.

So, drop a quick DM to some of your frequent customers and ask them to tag you in their post.

22. Ask your customers for Google reviews

What: Google reviews are one of many different forums for customers to publish their honest thoughts about your service. Ask satisfied customers to use them.

Why: Social proof is one of the quickest ways to overcome an obstacle to purchasing. These days, you can’t afford not to have a great Google rating.

When a customer searches for you online, make sure the Google search brings up kind words from previous customers. It’s a great way to show that other people are raving about your business.

How: Ask your customer to you review you on Google in person first.

Then send a follow-up email with the link to posting a review for you.

Make it as easy as possible for your customers to complete the review – tell them just clicking 5 stars is great and a sentence or two of praise is even better.

Use Your Network And Events To Get Free PR

23. Nail your one-sentence pitch (and make it value driven)

What: Do you know how powerful a concise pitch that clearly explains the value you bring to your customers is? Spoiler alert: It’s more powerful that a room full of Avengers.

Why: People have short attention spans so you don’t underestimate the free PR value of being able to explain exactly what you do and why it matters in a quick pitch.

Once you’ve honed and developed this messaging, it’ll be your best free PR friend at networking events and other face-to-face marketing communications opportunities, as well as online.

It helps people grasp the concept of your business fast and nothing is more important than that.

How:  Start by identifying the main pain point that your business solves and keep it simple.

For example, mine is ‘’I teach entrepreneurs, small business owners and marketeers, how to do their own PR to get their message in front of millions.” What’s yours?

24. Use existing events to get free exposure

What: There are tons of events out there, ones that have spent thousands on PR and will have dedicated hashtags. Go to them.

Why: If you attend an industry event or any kind of relevant happening, you’ll get to mingle with interesting people and give your take on the whole shebang.

If you are smart and using social media hashtags to log your attendance and provide insight and commentary, you’ll reach a wider audience because the events already have their own following.

How: Find local and national events, attend and post updates from them. Make sure you use the official hashtags and feel free to tag in relevant speakers or delegates too. That helps you reach a new and significant audience.

25. Stage a free event of your own

What: You don’t need a big budget to host your own event, you can do something clever and cost-free if you put your thinking cap on.

Why: You want to build a community of people who know your business and will either buy from or advocate for you.

A free event invites them into your orbit to do something together and should help you remain memorable (for all the right reasons) long after it’s done.

Plus, write a press release for an event, one with a quirky news hook and you’ll get media coverage. And use one of the best media monitoring services to track your success.

How: You need to think laterally on this one. You could be the personal trainer who runs a free-to-attend litter picking run every other Tuesday night.

That’s brilliant as it’s a chance for people to exercise together and do something good for the community. A free PR gem of an idea.

26. Work your network

What: Everybody you know is a potential PR person for your business – so make sure they know who you help and what they might need help with.

Why: Make sure your family, your friends and people in your wider business network are crystal clear on your business and how you help people.

Talk to them about the pain points you resolve for customers because every time they are out in the world, they will potentially meet somebody who needs what you are selling.

How: When you chat to people in your network, give them examples of customers you help and make it really easy to spot them.

Give them business cards, online links and even a fact sheet about your company – you never know who they might be able to pass it to.

27. Help a good cause by using your expertise

What: There are many ways that your skills could benefit charities or community groups, so offer some pro bono help.

Why: Doing pro bono work is a great way to generate free PR. You’ll be able to demonstrate your expertise and showcase your work in a safe setting, and you never know who is paying attention.

How: Think about causes close to your heart or charities whose work really resonates with you.

Think about how you could help them to reach more people or any practical assistance they may need.

Every time you do something, write about it and ask the charity to share it on their social channels too. It’s the sort of free PR that does you the world of good.

28. Enter local business awards

What: The business community in most places will have a host of dedicated awards to celebrate local companies, so get involved with them.

Why: If you win an award, you’ve got proof the somebody significant rates you. You can’t buy that kind of social proof.

For potential clients, it’s an endorsement they can trust and you can leverage the publicity around your win for years.

How: Find out the awards that run in your community and how to submit an entry for consideration. Even as a nominee, you’ll be able to use the prestige of the awards as PR in your content.

Free PR: an invaluable way to market your business

So there you have it, 28 ways to do your own PR for free.

And if you’re ready to take your PR work to the next level grab our PR Starter Kit.

Our must-have kit has every template, script, strategy and guide you’ll ever need to do all your public relations jobs.

The post Free PR: 28 Proven PR Tactics for Your Business [2022 Update] appeared first on Class:PR.

Do you want customers to increase their spend or use your service over competitors? Great, then a well-crafted public relations campaign is vital.

Persuading people to take a leap of faith toward your business doesn’t happen overnight.

You need to gradually build trust and, more often than not, people need to hear your message more than once.

One of the most effective marketing ideas for small business is a strategic public relations campaign. You’ll find it in all the best marketing books.

Here’s what a public relations (PR) campaign can do:

• Raise the profile of a particular service or product for your business
• Persuade people to make a significant behaviour change i.e. choose you over a competitor
• Get involved in a particular project or initiative i.e. join your business’ membership community
• Help raise investment and improve financial trust in your business

A PR campaign is more than just a press release template, it’s a calculated burst of activity, involving all different types of media, that focuses on achieving a specific result.

Done well, a campaign can produce amazing results for an organisation.

Think the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ for ALS – this little known charity was propelled to global fame with one campaign. Plus it raised millions in funds and gained celebrity backers that included Mark Zuckerburg and Bill Gates.

Impactful PR campaigns have traditionally only been the remit of expensive agencies.

But in this guide, I’m going to share the secrets of what makes a successful public relations campaign so that anyone can implement one for their business. There is even such a thing as free PR.

Here’s what I’m going to cover:

1. What is a public relations campaign?
2. How to plan a campaign
3. The best way to choose a standout message
4. What media collateral will you need
5. How to maximise your campaign media coverage
6. Using influencers in your campaign
7. Integrating social media in your campaign
8. What are the risks to your public relations campaign?
9. How to measure the success of your campaign

Let’s get to it!

What is a public relations campaign?

So what does PR stand for?

A public relations (PR) campaign is a series of planned activities that are all focused on achieving a specific outcome for a business.

This could be creating a behaviour change such as buying a new product or investing in a new service.

It could be a campaign asking for support or with a particular call to action. For example, making a donation to a charity or writing to your politician to ask for the government to take action on an issue.

Agreeing to a specific objective at the start of the activity not only makes it easier to plan and execute the campaign, but also to measure its success.

A well-crafted public relations campaign often uses a combination of both earned media/mainstream media (TV, radio, digital, print) and owned media (website, social media, newsletter, etc).

Often a company will choose spokespeople or celebrities to head up the campaign and drive engagement.

Increasingly organisations are working with influencers to share their message with their own audiences.

Like Influencer and Love Island star Alex Miller who supported the #Mentalhealthistrending movement pioneered by Heartknoxx. The campaign generates awareness days for mental illnesses and raises profits for the Mental Health Foundation.

Whilst much of the PR work is planned in advance, there is also a reactive element to any successful campaign, particularly as it builds in momentum.

It’s the job of PR to continually manage the message, to keep the campaign focused and ensure it achieves its goal.

How is a PR campaign different from a PR Plan?

A PR campaign is a planned series of activities over a relatively short period of time, focused on one main objective. PR plans map out activity over a longer period of time, often with multiple objectives and focusing on different brand elements.

How to plan a public relations campaign

The saying, ‘Fail to prepare then prepare to fail’, couldn’t be truer when it comes to public relations – this is why you need a PR plan.

Successful PR campaigns are, without exception, well researched and meticulously planned.

Before you do any media work or reach out to influencers, you need to nail down the following:

1. Objective – what do you want to achieve
2. Message – what you are going to say to ensure you achieve your objective
3. Audience – who is your campaign targeting

Once these are agreed, all activity can then flow from them.

For example, the type of media you approach during the campaign will depend on the audience. Who do you want to target during the campaign? What behaviour do you want to change?

The media you work with will also be dependent on the message. What does the campaign need to say to get the people you want to respond. And which media will be open to that message?

Start by clarifying your objective. Be as precise as possible.

If you want to raise brand awareness, think about which element of the brand you want to promote specifically and for what purpose – increasing sales, driving web traffic or even recruiting new staff.

If you want to change opinion amongst your customer base then understand why they hold their views and how you need to reassure them.

The devil is in the detail.

Don’t forget to measure

Most importantly make sure that your objectives are measurable. Set targets and time frames.

Liaise with your marketing communications or business development team and ensure that your goals are aligned with the overarching business objectives.

There’s no point trying to raise awareness about a product if it’s set to be discontinued in a couple of months.

And it’s not worthwhile trying to change opinion about one element of the business if there’s another issue which is a far greater risk to the company.

Once you’ve agreed your objective then you need a razor-sharp message to help you achieve it.

How to choose a standout message

Your message is the single most powerful element of your campaign.

Get it right (and get some media training) and it will drive engagement and generate a huge media buzz for your business. Get it wrong, people will switch off and the media will ignore you.

Here are my top five tips for choosing a standout message:

1. Be newsworthy
2. Have a clear call to action
3. Include audience participation
4. Be informative
5. Dare to be different

1. Be newsworthy

If you want to get traction with the media from your campaign then your message needs to be newsworthy. It must be topical, current and make the journalist sit up and take notice. You must help a reporter out.

Situate your message within the wider news agenda, explain how it is relevant to the media’s audience and what impact it can have on their lives.

This is often quite challenging for businesses, particularly those whose products or services are not typically thought of as newsworthy.

This is where PR needs to become creative, imaginative and humorous. And successful campaigns contain a little bit of all three.

A great example is Paddy Power, the online betting shop, who managed to gain a huge amount of media attention with their ‘Brexit Bunker’ campaign.

Headed up by former Manchester United footballer and Frenchman, Eric Cantona, the campaign suggested that anyone tired of Brexit madness should join them in their Brexit Bunker in the middle of the English Channel.

Timely, humorous and headed up by a football legend, it was a winning campaign.

Was their message taken seriously, did anyone show up at their Brexit Bunker? No, but it did wonders for brand awareness.

2. Have a clear call to action

The most impactful messages are the easiest to understand and have a clear instruction for the audience to follow.

Make it simple for your audience to complete an action (that benefits them), and it will be a no brainer for them to take part.

A great example is the recent ‘sleepover PR campaign’ from IKEA who, having conducted their own research (always a good PR tactic), set about tackling people’s poor sleep habits.

To encourage people to prioritise a good night’s sleep, they invited customers to have a sleepover in one of their stores.

Think, “Hey, struggling to get the perfect night sleep? Then come over for a sleepover and we’ll show you how.” type of message.

Such a quirky and unusual request was bound to get a good response and a tonne of media coverage. All the while increasing brand loyalty and customer engagement in the brand.

3. Include Audience Participation

Get your audience involved in the success of your campaign and not only will they feel more connected to your cause or product, but you’ll benefit from them sharing your message across their networks.

Think ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ for ALS – this little known charity was propelled to global fame with a very simple message. Participants were dared to pour a bucket of ice over their heads in exchange for charity donations, and then nominated a friend to do the same!

The campaign went viral, raising millions in funds (not to mention producing some very amusing ice footage) and gained celebrity backers that included Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates and Victoria Beckham.

But the ultimate result is that the millions raised have been credited with funding an important scientific gene discovery – the identification of a new gene that contributes to the disease.

4. Be informative

PR campaigns are a great way to educate consumers. But the best campaigns don’t preach, they engage and inform through opening minds and raising awareness.

A fantastic example is from environmentally friendly cleaning brand, Ecover, who opened a pop-up venue called The Rubbish Café, where consumers were asked to pay for food using plastic rubbish.

Bring in a plastic bottle and get a coffee in return. Genius.

The Ecover message was that 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced throughout history — 60% of it ended up as waste and more than three quarters of plastic waste goes into landfills.

The promotion was part of the company’s “Clean World Revolution.” It’s aiming for all its packaging to be made from 100% recycled plastic and 100% recyclable by the end of 2022.

5. Dare to be different

Don’t be afraid to turn your existing brand perception upside down. For example, if you’re a serious, conservative charity then do something pretty out there or if you’re a lesser known charity think BIG to get noticed.

To get traction with your campaign you will need to be creative, or even better, disruptive.

One of the best examples of this is from The Dollar Shave Club from back in 2012 (but it’s so good I just had to include it!).

Their disruptive offering, subscribing to razors rather than buy overpriced ones from the supermarket, was coupled with a revolutionary viral video that generated 12,000 new customers in the first 48 hours.

Their message, “Our Blades Are F***ing Great,” was so direct and unashamedly bold that it made everyone sit up and take notice, earning them millions in revenue.

The Dollar Shave Club are an excellent reminder that fortune favours the bold.

What media collateral will you need

You’ll need a variety of different types of media collateral for your campaign depending on the story you are telling and the media you are approaching. Make sure you have them in advance so you can supply them as soon as they are asked for.

Here is a selection of the collateral you’ll need to produce:

A Press Release

Learning how to write a press release is still the most important part of any PR campaign. It must be a well crafted, news ready story that clearly communicates the relevance of your campaign and why a journalist or influencer should take notice of it.

Gone are the days of tedious lists of information and promotional messages about a product. First and foremost a press release must contain NEWS!

A press release has 11 sections so that the story flows just as a news story would. Amongst others, these include an attention grabbing headline, first paragraph, quotes and a boilerplate.

Browse through these public relations examples and see what you can use in your public relations campaign.

Media Pitch

Working with the media is not just about having a good media list and calling in favours for your campaign.

What matters most is your presentation of the news story. This holds true for how to get a story on the local news and also for getting national media coverage.

Whether you email or phone journalists you must clearly and succinctly articulate the importance of your campaign and why it will be of interest to their audience.

Use this guide to know how to find someone’s email so you make sure you get to the right journalist.

Then know how to write a media pitch.

Be targeted and personalise everything. Journalists HATE spam. Using a PR tool such as Response Source can help you get to the right person fast.

Respect deadlines and always be prompt in responding to the media. You need to build a relationship of trust ASAP and that means giving them what they need when they ask for it.

If you are just looking to blast your campaign out to 100s of places at once, you can always look into using one of these press release distribution services.

Media ready photos

All media is image-led so make sure you have a library of high res, professionally shot and perfectly styled images to tell the story of your campaign.

Prepare these in advance and ensure you have a variety of portrait and landscape images available. Save them in Dropbox or similar folder so you can easily share them with journalists.

Don’t forget to include your logo too.

Video content

News platforms now include video content in most of their stories. Create a short video that summaries your story and gives the audience the headline points in a short space of time – it can be as little as 30 seconds.

The video can be a combination of photos, infographics, interviews and event footage to communicate why your campaign is relevant and what action the audience should take.

Spokespeople

Most of the most impactful PR campaigns are made up of human voices to create an emotional connection with the audience.

So you’ll need spokespeople for your campaign, who can be company representatives, celebrities or from case studies of actual customers or people affected by the issue you’re addressing.

Human voices bring personality to a story and make it more relatable for the audience.

Infographics

Summarising the main points of your campaign story in an attractive infographic is proven to boost engagement because it is easier for the audience to understand.

Not only are consumers overwhelmed with information in the digital world, but they have increasingly short attention spans, so use infographics to stand out and make your campaign as accessible as possible for them.

Campaign collateral

If your campaign ignites you’ll be inundated with new people interested in your organisation or business. They’ll want more details on your product, extra information about how they can support your work.

You must be equipped to deal with new enquiries otherwise the campaign will be a wasted effort.

Make sure you’re prepared with the necessary marketing materials e.g. brochures, product information sheets, website content and merchandise, so you don’t miss out.

How to maximise your campaign media coverage

Earning media coverage for your campaign is competitive. Journalists are inundated with PR requests, so you must stand out in their cluttered inboxes.

Here are my top 5 tips to help you rise to the challenge:

1. Have a newsworthy story
2. Work to deadlines
3. Think visually
4. Make your spokespeople available
5. Create media briefings

1. Have a newsworthy story

If you want to earn serious amounts of media coverage the first thing you must do is package your message up in a newsworthy story.

Journalists do not care about your campaign per se, they are only concerned about whether you have news which will be of interest to their audience.

A newsworthy story is, in a nutshell, something which is relevant, topical, and makes people sit up and take notice.

The news is about firsts, innovation or changes in behaviour that affect people en masse.

Sometimes business owners get the imposter syndrome at this point. Does my business really have a story?

I always respond with a resounding YES. Every business, entrepreneur, charity, community organisation has a story you just need to know where to look for it and how to present it.

So we’ve created a special How To Guide on How to Find The Story in Your Business. It comes with a free Story Finder template – a tool for thinking through a business in a systematic way to uncover all the areas in which your stories might be hiding.

2. Work to deadlines

Remember back in the second section of this blog I emphasised the need to plan your campaign if you want to achieve the success your business deserved?

Well, there was a good reason for that.

All types of media work to editorial deadlines and to achieve the most coverage then you need to coordinate the launch and more stories of your campaigns with their deadlines.

When planning your media outreach it also pays to understand the difference between a news story and feature story examples. Each has different deadlines so you’ll need to factor those into your campaign.

But one thing’s for sure – if you want to secure media coverage, you need to work on their deadlines and give them stories when they want them.

Here are some general timelines for pitching your stories:

• Magazines: 3-6 months in advance
• Newspapers: anything between 1 day and 1-3 weeks
• Social media influencers: 1-2 months
• Podcasts: 2-6 weeks
• Radio: 1-2 days

You need to ensure that everyone who’s involved in the creation of your story understands these deadlines.

3. Think visually

Impactful images and compelling video content are essential to the success of your campaign so it’s crucial that you think visually about your story.

Your story might sound good on paper but what does it look like on camera?

If you are successful in approaching TV then where would the feature be shot? If a news crew turns up on your business’ doorstep where is good to look good on camera?

If you have a multi-story campaign then prioritise which stories should be pitched to TV by their visual appeal.  

For example, our agency Arc Seven Communications worked with a UK based dementia research charity and supported them to celebrate their 30th birthday.

Instead of issuing a generic ‘We are 30’ press release, we focused on the most visually interesting aspect of their work – a brain bank that homes more than 1000 human brains.

We provided exclusive access to TV and the local newspaper (who filmed the tour) and both generated a tonne of coverage and increased awareness of BRACE’s work.

4. Make sure your spokespeople are available

This might sound obvious but make sure your spokespeople are available to give media interviews.

Time and time again I have worked with businesses and charities who launch fantastic campaigns but when it comes to media work their spokespeople let them down.

Don’t pitch to the breakfast news if your spokespeople aren’t available for a 6 am interview. If you don’t have anyone comfortable on camera then don’t approach TV.

And make sure they have transport available to get them to the studios on time – you can’t be late for live broadcasting!

5. Create media briefings

Remember all that time you spent carefully planning and articulating your campaign’s message?

The last thing that you want is your spokespeople going off message. They’ll miss the opportunity that you’ve worked so hard to create.

It’s not about creating robots but there is a very short space of time to deliver the message during an interview. You only have the audience’s attention for a moment before they move on to the next story, so you need to nail it.

Ensure that every public face of your campaign has been briefed on the message. Why it was chosen and what it is trying to achieve.

Create briefing notes that they read through before every interview. Work with them prior to filming to make sure they are comfortable with what they have to say.

How to use influencers in your campaign

Partnering with influencers or micro influencers is now an important tactic in many public relations campaigns – we call this influencer marketing.

It’s a no-brainer. Influencers have an organic and engaged following, who want to hear more about the influencer’s life and experiences.

So if you and your campaign can strike up a genuine relationship with an influencer, one where they truly care about your product or issue, then the gain can be huge.

But be cautious of insincere partnerships. If your campaign is not a good fit with the influencers values or the audience can tell that the support is disingenuous then there can be a backlash.

An example of an influencer partnership done well is the campaign to raise awareness about the importance of cervical screening in the UK.

The number of women in the UK who are participating in cervical cancer checks has hit a 20-year low.

Public Health England and cervical cancer charities worked with Michelle Keegan who vlogged about her smear test.

The influencer admitted she had been putting it off “for quite a long time”, ignoring numerous letters and encouraged other women to get theirs done.

The partnership ran alongside other media work and events and has resulted in a great deal of media interest.

How to integrate social media in your campaign

Effective use of social media is an integral part of any PR campaign.

Of course, the priority focus is to earn media coverage, but generating engagement on social comes a close second.

Here are five ways you can use social to extend the reach of your campaign:

1. Preview your campaign to build anticipation around the launch
2. Use live broadcasting from campaign events
3. Share your campaign content
4. Share your coverage
5. Use social media advertising to boost interaction

1. Preview your campaign to build anticipation around the launch

Offer exclusive preview content to build anticipation and warm up audiences before a launch. Include a call to action e.g. pre-book your launch tickets or sign up for launch offers.

Creating an engaged list that is waiting for the campaign material will help generate traction from the get-go, boosting the campaign’s potential to go viral.

2. Use live broadcasting from campaign events

Take advantage of the live broadcasting opportunities on social media – they’re a proven way to increase engagement in your content.

Film your launch event, interview participants, get spokespeople to talk to the camera, just as you would do if they were on TV. This content will be useful so you know how to write a press release for an event.

3. Share your campaign content

Maximise the engagement of specially created campaign content by sharing it across all your social media platforms. The content may have been created for mainstream media but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be used elsewhere.

4. Share your coverage

If you’re secured a story in the media then be proud and share it on social to extend the reach of the story with new audiences who may not have seen it. This will also help to build confidence in your campaign as you have been endorsed by a trusted media source.

If you earn national coverage then try @ing your regional media so that they can cover it too. Regional media are always looking for a way into a national story so they will respond positively.

5. Use social media advertising to boost interaction

If one of your stories is generating more traction than others, or has been featured in the media and is getting a very positive response, then maximise its impact and give it a boost by putting spend behind it.

This will help it reach new audiences. You already know that it is of interest to certain demographics you’ll be able to be a lot more targeted in your spend.

How to measure the success of your campaign

Here’s where your planning comes into its own. You can pat yourself on the back that you spent so much time clarifying your objective and being so targeted in your goals.

Now it will be so much easier for you to measure the campaign’s success – have you reached your goal? If not, why not?

I recommend reviewing your campaign as you go along, instead of leaving it all until the end of the campaign. Set your review period (a few days, a week, etc) and then be nimble, respond to the feedback as quickly as possible.

Are you generating the traction that you predicted? Is your message being well received or does it need tweaking?

Quantitative data

Traditionally there have been challenges around quantifying the impact that PR campaigns have on a brand, because of the very nature of public relations.

We’re not in the busy of the hard sell. PR is about persuading and nudging people to take an action. Therefore, the results of a campaign can often be delayed and difficult to measure.

Here are a few questions you can ask:

• What was the response in numbers to your specific campaign call to action?
• Has there been an increase in web traffic over the time period?
• Was there an increase in followers and engagement on social media?
• Have there been more signups to your database?
• Has the rate of opt-ins to lead magnets improved?
• Have you seen online sales improve?

Qualitative data

Qualitative data is just as important as quantitative when it comes to brand positioning and managing a brand’s reputation.

Think holistically. Look at the different ways the PR campaign has brought added value to your different brand elements.

You can do that by answering these questions:

• Has there been any change in how your brand is viewed by target audiences?
• How were your key messages received and what response did they get?
• Were they believed?
• Were there any negative responses?

Use PR to help boost your SEO

Many major media platforms have a rule that they don’t include links to companies that they feature within their stories. So if you need your PR to help boost your SEO then remember to include smaller influencers, blogs and more niche news sites in your campaign.

These sites often do include links and as long as the sites have a strong domain authority they’ll be great for SEO.

Don’t forget the power of outbound links. Even if you don’t get a link from the media, you can still include a link to the coverage on your site. SEO performance also reflects the quality and quantity of outbound links from your site.

If you’re continually monitoring your SEO, then be simply using your normal metrics, you’ll be able to calculate the positive impact of your media coverage. Make sure you use one of the best media monitoring services to track your success.

Now it’s your turn to start a public relations campaign

Define your goal, nail your message and target your media. Launch a successful public relations campaign and it will be rocket fuel for your brand’s growth, propelling your business to the next level.

And if you’re ready to take your PR work to the next level grab our PR Starter Kit.

Our must-have kit has every template, script, strategy and guide you’ll ever need to do all your public relations jobs.

The post Public Relations Campaign: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 appeared first on Class:PR.

It can help you reach new audiences, drive engagement and influence how your customers feel about your product or service.

But the discipline of public relations can be a bit of a mystery.

In this blog, I explain exactly what public relations is and why it’s a great tool for all levels of business (not just big corporates!).

Plus if you’re thinking about a career in public relations or you’re a marketing communications pro who needs to add a PR string to your bow, then I’ve got everything you need right here.

However, if you’re asking ‘what does PR stand for?’ read this first.

Okay, this is what I’m going to cover today:

• What is public relations?
• Beyond the hype – what public relations isn’t
• PR in the digital world
• Public relations strategy and messaging
• Tools and techniques in PR
• Crisis communication
• Can you measure PR?
• How to start a career in Public Relations

Let’s get started.

What is Public Relations?

Public relations is one of the most powerful ways to influence consumer behaviour – and have a massive impact on the success of a company or organisation.

There’s the thrill of securing major media coverage, the excitement of driving online engagement and the buzz of exponentially boosting sales.

But unfortunately, the official definition of public relations is rather dull.

Here’s what the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) suggest:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Yawn.

But here’s the thing, I don’t think one sentence can do the multifaceted discipline of public relations justice.

Instead here’s what I think public relations (more commonly known as PR) is all about:

• Connecting
• Storytelling
• Influencing

Connecting

Every brand, business, organisation or charity has an audience (customers, employees, investors, journalists etc).

In short, a bunch of people who have an interest in your company (aka stakeholders).

It’s the job of PR to connect your business to your people.

The more engaged and connected the business is, with the people that matter most, then the more successful the business is.

This is a proven formula.

Connectivity is another way of thinking about reputation – a main component of PR.

A brand’s reputation is a combination of three core elements.

• What you say you are
• The things you do, how you actually behave
• How your customers think about you

If these three elements are connected positively and in agreement with each other then there is a good reputation.

So, if your marketing team says your product is amazing and your customers agree, then there is an army of loyal fans raving about your business. 

Success.

But if the opposite occurs i.e. there’s a disconnect between what the marketing team boasts about and what the customer actually experiences, then this leads to a negative reputation.

You’ll read about this phenomenon in all the best marketing books.

Public relations is about connecting what you say you are, with what you actually do, and making sure that that is linked positively to how your customers feel about you.

Storytelling

What’s the best way to get someone to listen to you?

Share a list of boring information or make a long, tedious statement about something really not very interesting?

Obviously not.

How about grab their attention with an inspiring, captivating story, that makes them feel more connected to you?

If you want your audience to take an ongoing interest in your brand then the most effective way to do that is through storytelling.

And, if you want to get engagement through social media or the mainstream media, then that story must be newsworthy.

In other words, you need a story that is relevant to that media’s or influencer’s audience. A story that will make them sit up and take notice, rather than switch off.

Creating newsworthy stories for brands, that also include vital product or service information, can get you free PR.

Influencing

But what’s the point of storytelling and generating engagement? What is the impact on a business?

The measure of PR success is not just likes, clicks and shares or the amount of media coverage that is generated.

Successful PR creates behaviour change and influences opinion.

It persuades people to FEEL a certain way about a brand, or it nudges customers to actually TAKE action and buy a product or service.

Notice I say ‘persuade’ and ‘nudge’ rather than ‘tell’ or ‘instruct’.

PR is not a hard sell, instead it is gently leading someone and influencing how they think, feel or act.

And this is why it is so powerful.

Public relations can influence behaviour and opinions like no other form of marketing or customer relations.

See how it helped inform these marketing ideas for small business.

Beyond the hype – what public relations is not

Before I explain the tactics that PR uses to create influence let’s go through what PR is not.

Contrary to what you might have heard, PR is not all glamour and long boozy lunches. (Despite how it is often portrayed in the media!)

Public relations jobs are not just about who you know.

The quality and relevance of your story is what matters and that takes long hard strategic work to get right.

PR is not all spin and fake news.

Sure, there are still ‘Spin Doctors’ in operation but in this era of increased transparency, brands are expected to BE their PR and engage in genuine value-led PR activities.

What they say must match what they do.

Audiences are increasingly holding brands accountable, both in their media statements and behaviour, and if expectations are not met then customers are all too quick to make their criticisms public.

PR is not paid for – it is earned.

We do not buy advertising or pay journalists to write about a company.

The practice of PR is not about asking influencers to endorse products for financial gain, instead they persuade them to fall in love with the product – genuinely.

Whether it is through traditional media, social media or speaking engagements, the endorsement that PR generates is real and authentic, and that makes audiences trust it more. So in the case of the press, you must help a reporter out. 

Public relations in the digital world

Sometimes when discussing public relations it becomes separated from digital communications and solely associated with mainstream media relations – getting journalists to write about a company or feature a product on their show.

But that’s just one element of public relations.

Connecting with your audience through storytelling can take place on ALL platforms – social media, your own website, podcasts, blogs and newsletters.

PR works in all these areas.

Traditional media in its original format (print, radio, scheduled TV shows) lost audiences to new tech platforms (digital news sites, podcasts, on-demand TV) and because they were such large established companies it took them longer than it should have to adjust.

In the internet boom we saw digital content creators, SEO advisors and growth hackers, spring up everywhere, presenting themselves as something very different to PR.  

We also saw terms such as ‘Digital PR’, ‘Inbound PR’ and the like, rise in popularity.

A changing media landscape 

But the mainstream media has adjusted to the digital world and now these terms have become a little outdated.

Media companies are fully established online and have real domain authority.

They are also multimedia companies – they may have a print edition, a digital edition, a podcast and a TV show.

In the same way, PR is also a reflection of this digital maturation. The same PR rules and tactics apply when pitching or liaising with all types of media, including digital.

For example, reaching out to a trusted website that you would like to review your product and give you a backlink to help your SEO is essentially PR.

Creating great content, targeted at specific keywords to drive traffic to your site, also includes elements of PR and storytelling.

Public relations strategy and messaging

At our PR agency, Arc Seven Communications, we have a three-step process that summarises how we do public relations.

• Intelligence
• Relevance
• Influence

First we focus on intelligence and gather the data around the client – the company and product information, their business objectives and what impact they want to have on their audience.

We conduct a thorough communications audit – what has worked for them in the past and what needs to be improved? What is their audience’s current impression of them and are there any reputation issues?

This is the most important step of the three, and the data that we gather here informs all PR work going forwards.

We then use this intelligence to form a strategy which incorporates steps 2 and 3.

Making a PR plan

The PR plan outlines how we are going to make our client relevant to their audiences so that we can create engagement and then influence by either creating a change in behaviour or a new way of thinking about the product.

PR is a long term game and to make sure that there is a continued positive impact over a sustained period of time, your work must begin with a strategy.

Crucially the strategy should outline the messaging that will run through all PR work.

These messages are the information that you want your audiences to remember about your product or service. They are either USPs (unique selling points) or CTAs (calls to action).

Messages need to be clear and succinct, containing only the necessary information to get your point across – this is a critical part of your media training and will ensure you give a good press interview.

But despite their brevity, they are super-charged – their inclusion in PR work is the key to generating more sales or changing behaviour.

A PR story that doesn’t include strategic messaging is a missed opportunity and won’t yield any influence for the brand. 

Public Relations Tools and Techniques

Here are some of the main tools and techniques used in public relations work:

Story and content plans

Newsworthy stories are rocket fuel for a public relations campaign and can catapult a brand into the national spotlight overnight.

But for PR to have a sustained impact on a brand you need a constant flow of engaging and relevant stories that continue to build its reputation.

Stories take time and resources to find, develop and then pitch so they need to be planned, throughout the year, to make sure that deadlines are met.

Press releases

The purpose of a press release is to communicate that you have a newsworthy story to share.

It needs to grab a journalist’s attention and stand out from the 100s of emails she will get a day.

Learning how to write a press release is imperative to your success in getting media attention.

A press release has a very formulaic structure. It consists of 11 sections, that present your brand’s story as a ready-made news story.

Amongst others, these include an attention grabbing headline, first paragraph, quotes and a boilerplate.

Get your press release format right and a journalist can just click cut and paste and it will be ready to go on their news site.

And don’t overlook public relations tools such as Response Source – they can massively increase your PR opportunities on a daily basis.

Media Pitches

Media pitches are a vital component of media relations work.

How a story is presented to a journalist can often be the difference between it being covered or not.

Newsrooms are fast-paced and highly pressurised environments and journalists are often working to meet deadlines.

You must know how to write a media pitch and have a quality media list.

And use this guide to know how to find someone’s email so you make sure you get to the right journalist.

Your pitch should be succinct and to the point, clearly demonstrating the relevance and news angle of the story.

Otherwise, it will be ignored.

You can also use a press release distribution service, but do your homework.

Press Conferences

Press conferences are called when a company needs to convey more information than is possible in a press release.

The conference gives the media an opportunity to ask their own questions, take photographs and to film or record the event. Note, make sure you know how to write a press release for an event.

It’s also an opportunity for senior spokespeople within an organisation to develop their public profile and build relationships with the media en masse.

Campaigns

A PR campaign is essentially a more complex story, with multiple news angles, often incorporating partnerships with different organisations.

It overtly pushes the audience to take an action, sometimes linked to specific awareness days.

A good example is the ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the importance of cervical screening in UK.

The main news headline is that the number of women in the UK who are participating in cervical cancer checks has hit a 20-year low.

Government bodies and charities are joining forces with celebrities, cancer sufferers and survivors, to encourage women to get checked.

Influencer PR

Influencer PR is very similar to Influencer Marketing, (using influencers to endorse your brand and promote it to their audiences) apart from there’s no money involved.

It’s the job of PR to convince influencers to partner with you and promote your product.

Their endorsement can come from what PRs call the ‘Editorial Value’ of your product. This means they promote your product because of its own merits, or because of your compelling presentation of it.

PR must answer these questions: How is your brand different, how can it stand out and make Influencers sit up and take notice?

If you’re a good fit with their channel then the influencer will be open to partnerships. There are some great public relations examples here.

Blogging

This is a powerful public relations tool that is used to tell the story of the company and build a strong brand personality.

Blogs can be used to preview new products, share stories evidencing the company’s values in action. They can also be used to offer comment and opinion to position a company as a market leader.

Blogs are critical to SEO and building a strong digital presence for a brand. By targeting strategic keywords, blogs can drive traffic to websites and boost domain authority.

Newsletters

Customers are inundated with information through their social channels and in the media. So email comms is still as important as ever because it is delivered direct to a customer’s inbox.

Curating the company news, and segmenting by audience to ensure they only receive the content that is relevant to them, plays a significant part in public relations.

The audience is warm and receptive to comms so this is where you can build trust and add real value to their experience of the brand.

Speech writing

Speech writing also plays an important part in public relations work. They are needed to announce company news, expansions, launch new products and partnerships.

It’s a real skill to write an engaging and lively script that also includes all the company’s messaging.

Speeches can also be vital in protecting a company’s reputation during a crisis.

For example, if a large corporation needs to show its human side in response to a major incident, the speech needs to be carefully considered for sentiment and tone.

Crisis Communications

Another element of public relations is responding to a crisis and helping to manage the company’s response in the aftermath of the event.

Crisis can take many shapes and sizes.

At a major level this could be an involvement in a disaster such as the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 or the recent fatal airline crashes for Boeing.

On a smaller level this could be series of disgruntled reviews on TripAdvisor or a social media backlash over the launch of a new product.

Speed of response is crucial to the success of managing public relations within a crisis. The rolling news machine and social media demand comment and reaction within minutes, not hours or days.

Public relations teams must remain calm under pressure and offer advice on how best to respond to take the momentum out of any crisis. They need to put the brand back in control of its own reputation.

Choosing not to engage does not limit the damage.

Some of the PR services during a crisis are:

• An emergency response team with a 24/7 press office service
• Issuing briefings to all key stakeholders and the media
• Liaison with a legal team, advising on the reputation challenges and limitations of taking legal action in the face of negative media coverage
• Social media crisis response – engaging with followers and managing the negative online conversations
• Media training for leadership and key spokespeople – what to say and what not to say to the media
• Reputation recovery communications – rebuilding in the aftermath of a crisis

Can you measure Public Relations?

Well executed, strategically planned Public Relations, produce both quantitive and qualitative data.

This data helps you see how effective PR has been in raising awareness and influencing the conversation and behaviour around a brand.

You can measure:

Share of Voice

Share of Voice (In terms of Public Relations measurement, not advertising) refers the percentage of all online, print, and broadcast coverage and conversations about your company or brand that you have secured, compared to those of competitors.

Public relations professionals should keep track of all media coverage achieved, i.e. cuttings, screenshots, clips of broadcast coverage, so that there is a record of everything.

Make sure you use one of the best media monitoring services to keep on top of this.

Compare the coverage your brand has achieved, with that of your competitors to see how your work stacks up.

However, measuring Share of Voice on its own won’t provide you with any qualitative data. This is why I always recommend to combine it with Tone of Voice.

Tone of Voice

Tone of voice measures how your company is presented within the media – is it positive or negative?

Is the tone of the writing favourable? Was the presenter kind in their presentation of the brand? Or was the interviewer accusatory? 

You can also make a list of keywords or phrases and keep a track of how often they appear – is there any repetition in how your brand is being described? Are you becoming known for something positive or negative within the media?

Brand Perception

Building on the qualitative data from your Tone of Voice assessment, you now need to review your overall positioning for your brand.

You can do that by answering these questions:

• Has there been any change in how your brand is viewed by target audiences?
• How were your key messages received and what response did they get?
• Were they believed?
• Did you receive any negative responses?

The best way to obtain this information is by gathering customer feedback.

Whatever method you choose to gather the feedback (and there are many) it’s important that this is not a one-off event.

The key here is to make it an ongoing effort, so you can measure any change in perception and feeling towards the brand at any given point in time.

Digital Presence

Here’s an important point to bear in mind – not all PR success leads to immediate consumer action.

PR influences consumer behaviour more through nudging than shoving.

The objective is to build trust and long-lasting loyalty.

A consumer may not take immediate action but your compelling story has been engaged with and has triggered their interest.

I recommend measuring consumer action over set periods – monthly, quarterly, etc. This way you can see a clear pattern.

Here are a few questions you can ask:
• Has there been an increase in web traffic over the time period?
• Is there an increase in followers and engagement on your social media management tools?
• Have you seen an increase in signups to your database?
• Has the rate of opt-ins to lead magnets improved?
• Did your online sales improve?
• It’s vital that you work in partnership with your digital teams for this measurement.


A career in Public Relations

When I’m hiring a new team member the first thing I try to ascertain is their understanding and experience of the ‘real-world’.

Are they interested in politics, do they have awareness of issues that are affecting society, are they engaged with current trends and some of the more popular cultural conversations of the time?

I look to see if they have experience working with different communities or organisations, outside of their own social background, and how they understand what is important to those people.

Deliberately, I don’t look for marketing graduates, who have solely focused on learning the marketing/comms discipline at the expense of other experiences.

Working in PR requires a much broader understanding of how the world works.

The right mindset for Public Relations

If you enter a career with a strong foundation of social and political awareness then you will gradually find a natural fit for your personality and skill set within the different components of PR.

For example, it requires a particular analytical and strategic mindset to gather the right intelligence about a company during the initial phases of Public Relations work.

It then takes a more creative but still socially plugged-in mindset to use that information to create relevant and engaging stories for different audiences.

Then, it takes an energetic and driven person, who enjoys the thrill of pressurised situations, to pitch those stories, drive engagement and create connections between different audiences.

If you want an immersive learning experience with a live classroom environment then get started on your PR journey right now with our best selling online course. FAMOUS: The Ultimate PR Course

Sector specific

Another benefit of starting your career with a well-rounded understanding of the world and how it works, is that you will be in a much better position to choose the sector that you work in.

Public relations is relevant to every sector and for every business, so it can be very difficult to make that choice so early on in your working life.

The more knowledge you have about what you’re interested in, what you’re passionate about, the easier that decision is.

For example my PR agency specialises in health and social care Public Relations.

We work with care homes, neurological hospitals and support services for adults with mental health and Learning Disabilities.

I’m well suited to this sector because part of my undergraduate degree was in psychology. Previously I worked as an ABA therapist for autistic children whilst at university.

Then as a support worker for adults with Learning Disabilities for a year before I went into public relations.

But, I didn’t realise this at first.

Before health and social care public relations, I tried out Pharmaceutical PR, Financial PR and then the charity sector before setting up our agency. I took the long route!

Working In-house or Public Relations Agency

Next you need to decide whether you want to join an in-house PR team or be part of a public relations agency.

An in-house public relations department works solely for the company that employs them, they generally have an in-depth knowledge of their sector and its issues.

All stories and content created by the team is focused on their niche and their particular business objectives.

If you like to focus on one area and become an expert in that field then working in-house would suit you well.

Working within an agency means you will generally be working with a number of clients across different campaigns or accounts.

You’ll need to have strong knowledge of each different business and work on multiple but independent projects and content at the same time.

If you’re a confident multi-tasker and enjoy a varied work day, sharing your time across different organisations, then an agency role could be for you.

Now it’s your turn.

So whether you are a small business owner who needs to public relations for the first time, a graduate who wants to start a career or a marketeer who needs to know how to do PR, you’re now armed with some stellar PR knowledge to take your first steps.

And if you’re ready to take your public relations work to the next level grab our PR Starter Kit.

Our must-have kit has every template, script, strategy and guide you’ll ever need to do public relations – all in one place.

The post Public Relations: A Comprehensive Guide for 2022 appeared first on Class:PR.

Then this is for you.

Getting your story on the local news is one of the tried and true marketing ideas for small business. You’ll see it in all the best marketing books. 

When you learn how to get your story on the local news, or on the radio breakfast show, then your business is in front of 1000s of potential new customers and it can transform your sales overnight.

Take fashion business Corala Cashmere, whose business rocketed after a single piece of news coverage meant that they completely sold out when they first launched five years ago.

And this can happen to you.

In this guide, I’m going to talk you through how to get your story on the local news so you’ll be all over the best media monitoring services.

Here’s what we are going to cover:

• What local news can do for your business
• What is a local news story
• Why your story is so important
• How to find the story in your business
• Where to pitch your story
• How to pitch your story so it can’t be ignored

Let’s get started.

What local news can do for your business

Buying local is booming. Governments, NGOs, sustainability groups, you name it, are now all urging people to buy from local producers and companies. And they are – recent reports state that more than half of shoppers prefer to buy from a local brand.

The good news is that regional news shows and sites are often the first port of call for consumers looking to source their local goods.

So if you frame your business as a local news story and get media coverage, then your brand will be seen by 1000s of potential new customers wanting to support your business.

For example, the new microbrewery opens in town, or new local wellbeing space offers free mindfulness classes to the community. Both of these can be newsworthy to the right local news outlet when pitched properly.

The more local exposure your business receives the more you can grow your customer base and increase your sales.

It’s a no brainer.

Many people overlook local news coverage preferring to focus on national media first instead. But in reality, local news is the perfect place to practice before you take your brand to the big time. If you’ve had a little media training local TV is a great place to practice before you’re ready for the News at Ten.

Yes, the exposure of national media is 10x or more what you’ll get on your local news but securing a spot is just the first step. Pulling off a good performance on national television or radio is not as easy as it looks – it takes practise

If you don’t have the budget to invest in full public relations support or media training then you’ll need to practice as you go.

It can take a while to perfect your pitch and become comfortable in front of the camera, so start small and then go big.

But before you start, let’s establish the differences between local and national media. Plus, we will look at some public relations examples and see how you can tailor your pitch to get the best coverage for your business.

What is a local news story

Local news stories are defined by their geographic location.

When a major news story breaks, which is covered by all mainstream media, and has national or global significance, then regional media will look for a local angle on the story.

Such as this story about a Norfolk family who lost their mother in the Boxing Day tsunami or how Brexit will affect people living in rural Somerset.

Local news follows the same story categories as national media – business news, politics, entertainment news, sports, health, and social care news.

The same geographic rules apply to all these categories. For example,  if you are a frozen yoghurt company based in Florida, but you’re trying to get local media coverage in New York, then you’re out of luck.

But if you’ve got a newsworthy story then the media where you base your business will cover you. This is great free PR.

Local news also has an additional focus on community stories – softer, less hard news focused, and more human interest stories that highlight what is happening in the local community.

So if your business engages with the community, in partnership with other businesses, schools, charities or community groups, then your business, by default, becomes newsworthy.

Why your story is necessary

Before you start researching who you should pitch your story to, and how to write a media pitch, let’s start from the beginning and make sure that you have a story that a journalist can’t ignore.

If you don’t get the story right then a journalist will hit delete when they receive your email. 

First impressions count and I’ve seen countless media pitches fail because the small business has neglected THE most important part of the process – finding their story.

First up, here’s a reality check.

Journalists are not interested in your business.

Ouch, that hurts. But it’s true.

Deadline-driven journalists do not have time to listen to generic information about your company.  

Sales figures, product announcements, upcoming event details?

Bland. Boring. Not a story.

You may think it is interesting, because you’ve sweated over your business day and night, but journalists don’t. You must help a reporter out.

News stories don’t sell products or services – that’s what adverts are for. News stories get aired on editorial merit, not because you pay a fee for them.

So…to get your story on the local news you need a newsworthy story.

In other words, you need an engaging and interesting story, relevant to the media’s audience. A story that will make them sit up and take notice, rather than switch off.

The story can reflect behavioral trends, current interests or link to one of the countless awareness days.

For example, you’re a new Vegan cafe, and you’ve seen a boom in customers because lots of people are taking part in Veganuary then you have a newsworthy story.

Your story can also involve members of the community and be entertaining.

For example, if the care home you operate is joining with local dance schools and clubs in the area to hold a Dancing with the Stars Extravaganza to tie in with the broadcast of the live final – then you have a story that will be of interest to your local news.

How to find the story in your business

The first step in how to get your story on the local news is to start thinking like a journalist.

It also pays to understand the difference between a news story and feature story examples.

Whenever a journalist looks at a story they ask these four questions:

• Is it a ‘first’?
• Is it new?
• Is it remarkable?
• Is it innovative?

If you can answer yes to one of these four questions about your story and you’re on track to having a newsworthy story.

Let’s take the first two parts – is it a first and is it new?

Now the clue here is in the name of what we’re dealing with… NEWs. Your story has to be new and has an element of it has to be a first.

Stories of firsts get viewers and drive web traffic.

Then ask, is it remarkable?

Think of the headlines which grab your attention. They are out of the ordinary, they are unusual. Journalists want stories that are different from the norm.

Often the people behind businesses are remarkable. News is emotional, it’s based on hopes and fears. Audiences connect with other people and their successes and failures.

And lastly, is it innovative?

What is the impact of your story? Is your story about creating change, is there an improvement that will affect the journalist’s readers?  

Make sure you can back up your claims with clear, hard facts. A journalist needs evidence of innovation.

Spoiler alert – this is where most business owners have a crisis of confidence.

When they actually start looking objectively at their business they begin to doubt that they will find a newsworthy story.  

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

I’ve been working with small businesses for more than a decade and I am confident that every single business has a newsworthy story within it – you just need to know where to look.

So we’ve created a special How To Guide on How to Find The Story in Your Business. It comes with a free Story Finder template – a tool for thinking through a business in a systematic way to uncover all the areas in which your stories might be hiding.

Where to pitch your local news story

Small business owners typically write a PR plan and then begin their media relations work by having a fixed idea about where they want to be featured.

Demanding to be on the six o’clock news or on the morning breakfast show, without looking at the suitability of your story, is a sure fire way to failure.

Instead, let your story guide you.

Here’s how to figure out whether your story is suitable for local television news:

• Do you and your business present well visually?
• Can your business premises host a camera crew and journalist?
• Do you have a spokesperson who is confident on camera?
• Are you flexible in your schedule and available at short notice?

Or is your story more suitable for radio?

• Do you have a confident spokesperson who is happy to speak live on air?
• Is your spokesperson happy to take part in discussions or debates?
• Are you available for early morning recordings and can you travel into the studio?
• Is your story more issue-based and less visual?
• Can your product be described and understood, without the audience being shown a picture?

Or should you focus on newspaper coverage?

• Do you have an attention grabbing headline for your story that will attract readers?
• Do you have a good image to accompany your story?
• Can you provide compelling quotes for the story?
• Are you looking for coverage pre-event (and are more flexible on deadlines)?
• Do you know how to write a press release for an event?

Before you choose where to pitch your story, you also need to think about timings.

Every media outlet works to their own editorial calendar and it varies between outlets depending on the frequency of the show, publication or broadcast.

If you want to be featured on a particular media outlet then you need to work on their deadlines and make sure you pitch your story at the appropriate time.

Timelines for pitching the media your stories:

• Television: 1-2 days
• Radio: 1-2 days
• Newspapers: anything between 1 day and 1-3 weeks
• Magazines: 3-6 months in advance

And what’s the golden rule in pitching?

Do not spam. And do not use a press release distribution service for getting on the local news.

Do your research and find out exactly where your story would be a good fit – draw up a quality media list.

Use this guide to know how to find someone’s email so you make sure you get to the right journalist.

Then armed with that intelligence, figure out which journalist or producer (if it’s a show) you should contact.

Make sure you contact them for a good reason – either because they are responsible for the show, or they have run stories like yours before.

Make sure the journalist knows that the pitch is personal and you are not just sending it to everyone.

Include in your email – “I thought this would be a great fit for your show” or “I know you ran a similar story like this back in the Autumn and I thought this would be a great follow.”

Once you know who you want to pitch, there are a few easy ways to find their contact details:

• On the contact page of the website/publication/media outlet. Journalists are normally listed by category – business, technology, sport, etc.
• Get on Twitter. Most journalists are. Some will list their work email in their bio and some will have their messages set to open so you can DM them. Those that don’t have their messages open? Follow them and then @ them a brief pitch. If they like what they read they’ll follow you back and you’re off.
• Contact lists can also be really useful when you’re on the hunt for contact details. Most major media platforms will have a list of all their main writers and contributors so check those out too.
• If you can’t find their email listed online, you can try ringing up the reception or the switchboard of their publication and simply ask for it.

Remember, you are not looking for a huge number of journalists to pitch to, at most you will be aiming for 3 or 4.

We want quality pitches, not quantity.

How to pitch your story so it can’t be ignored

How to get a story in the local news? If there’s one way, it’s this:

You don’t have to SELL your story, you have to TELL your story.

You have to do a journalist’s job for them. You need to present them with a clearly written and compelling news story.

The best way to do that is by learning how to write a press release, one that demonstrates the news value of your story and immediately tells the journalist that they cannot ignore it.

Here’s what a press release should NOT be:

• Full of exaggeration and false promises
• A sales pitch
• Self-congratulatory – I/we are amazing, honestly!
• A list of technical information about a new product or business

There is a clear system to writing press releases and we break it down for you in our step by step guide, complete with a free template.

Once you’ve nailed your press release (with a boilerplate) and you have a ready-made news story, then it’s time to pitch it.

Journalists are inundated every day with 100s of emails. So you need to make sure your email stands out within their crowded inbox.

Here are my top 5 ways to stop your email from being ignored:

• Use your subject header to grab their attention. You need to make the journalist sit up and take notice. Make sure you include the main news hook of your story so they know this is an email worth opening.
• Provide value, help them do their job and make sure your email directly conveys the news value of your story.
• Use the word ‘story’ in your email, show the journalist that you know the currency they trade in. Say: “I have a story about XXX and I thought it might be of interest to you.”
• Don’t provide them with lists of information. You need a well-crafted story in the form of a press release. Something that they can clearly cut and paste if they are rushed off their feet.
• Situate your story within the wider news agenda so the journalist will see that your story is relevant to their audience.

And what if your story is not snapped up the first time?

Don’t worry, not everyone is successful in their first attempt.

Sometimes journalists are just too busy to respond to stories, even if they are newsworthy, or perhaps an editor has decided that your story isn’t quite the right fit for them at this moment in time.

Follow up your pitch with a polite but not pushy email, letting the journalist know that should the story be of interest to them in the future then you’re available to work with them.

You wouldn’t believe how many people let journalists down – they don’t show up for interviews or cancel at the last minute.

If you and your business become known as a reliable source of news stories then you will be featured ahead of your competition, every time.

And if your first story doesn’t make the headlines, then try again. Media relations, PR, and marketing is a long term game. When done right, over time you will get the exposure that your small business deserves.

Now you know how to get a story on the local news

So now you’ve had the ultimate guide to getting your story on the local news.

You know what stories local media want and where to find them in your business. You know where and how to pitch your story to local news. 

The next step is to do it – put yourself and your business forward to be on your local news with a brilliant public relations campaign. 

And if you’re ready to take your media pitch to the NEXT level grab our Media Pitch 101 product.

This essential PR kit includes proven email templates, phone scripts, media photo checklists and pitch prep sheets so you can drop the nerves and pitch ANY story with confidence.

The post How to Get a Story On The Local News [2022 Update] appeared first on Class:PR.

Are you unsure how to make your PR plan connect with your broader marketing objectives?

Our comprehensive PR plan guide will give you the answers you need.

And once you understand the process behind creating a PR plan you will be 10 steps ahead of your competition.

Public Relations and Marketing, when executed properly, work hand in hand to build a trusted and much-loved reputation for your brand.

But to get the most out of this relationship you need to be strategic and go beyond simply knowing how to write a press release.

In this article, I’m going to walk you through a step-by-step process so you can create a successful public relations plan that:

• Builds brand awareness
• Earns trust with your target audience
• Gets your customers engaged and excited
• Keeps you ahead of the competition
• Positions you or your company as thought leaders
• Is the foundation of all crisis communication 

How do I know this PR plan works?

We’ve been running Arc Seven Communications, a leading healthcare PR Agency in the UK, for more than a decade, and this public relations plan is what we use with each and every one of our clients.

And if you follow my process, it will work for your business too.

If you can’t wait and want a free PR Plan Example to get started right now, then download our free PDF here.

But if you’re here for the instruction, let’s get into it.

First up, let’s agree what a PR Plan actually is.

What Is A PR Plan?

A PR plan is:

A document that outlines how you are going to interact with your audiences, customers, and stakeholders for an ongoing period of time.

Its purpose isn’t just to create a buzz around one-off events or anniversaries. Instead, it delivers ongoing results that have a lasting impact on your brand’s reputation.

Here’s what a PR plan does for your business

• Details the stories and content that you intend to create. These stories strategically include your brand’s key messages – what you want your audience to know about your brand.
• Maps out the channels that your audiences trust and use to consume information. It removes all the guesswork so you can be incredibly targeted when reaching out to your audiences.
• Schedules how and when to pitch stories so that you generate the most impact for your brand.  

It is a comprehensive document that is aligned with business objectives, sales targets and the marketing communications strategy.

What makes for a successful PR plan?

It’s simple. For the plan to work, ALL content must be newsworthy.

Whether you’re pitching stories to the national media, trying to learn how to get a story on the local news, to social influencers or sharing them on your own channels, if your content is not newsworthy then it won’t generate engagement.

Newsworthy is another way of saying relevant – relevant and of interest to your audience. A story that makes people sit up and take notice. A story that won’t be ignored.

Here are 46 proven public relations examples to get your juices flowing. 

PR professionals have, through years of practice, developed their sense for which stories are news, and which aren’t. Fortunately for you, there are nine questions you can apply immediately. These questions will enable you to think like a journalist and decide what stories have genuine news value.

This is how you help a reporter out and make the most of PR tools such as Response Source.

The 9 steps to creating a PR plan:

1. Map out your brand elements
2. Define your target audience
3. Formulate your key messages
4. Identify the channels to reach your audience
5. Find newsworthy stories in your business
6. Write your PR plan
7. Plan your media pitches and use a press release template
8. Boost the success of your story
9. How to measure the success of your PR Plan

Once you understand the formula for a successful PR Plan, with these nine simple steps, you can create a bespoke strategy that sets you apart from your competition and guarantees the results you want.

Let’s start with making sure PR and Marketing are working together in perfect harmony.

How To Map Out And Prioritise Brand Elements

Fake News Alert – PR is about getting media coverage, isn’t it?

Wrong.

PR plays an important role in reputation and brand management.

So in order to create an effective PR plan you need to understand your brand and what it stands for.

The first question you should ask is, what do your stakeholders think about your brand? How do they feel?

Brands mean different things to different people

Your customers will see your brand differently than your employees will. Your investors want will interact with your company in a contrasting way to the companies that you partner with to deliver your service.

Without getting into too much brand theory (you can do PhDs in this stuff!) it helps to know that there are different brand elements. And knowing which ones your PR plan will focus on will help you achieve more targeted results.

Some of the most common brand elements are:

• Consumer brand: how your customers view your brand
• Financial or company brand: how your investors, shareholders or anyone interested in the financial or legal set up of the company views your brand
• Employer brand: how your employees view your brand
• Community brand: how your company engages with your local community/charities/campaigns/causes (and how this affects your brand)

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when writing a PR plan is to try and cover every single brand element.

There will be the cross over between your brand elements. A story can be relevant to more than one, but the more focused and targeted you are, the more impactful your PR Plan will be.

There is no blanket approach to PR. No one size fits all tactic. Each brand element needs a tailored and targeted approach.

Choose your preferred brand element based on business objectives and make sure the PR priorities are aligned with the company-wide focus.

It’s vital that you spend time agreeing which brand element requires a PR focus at the start as it will inform which audiences you interact with and what stories you share.

Ther Right Target Audience For Your PR Plan

Once you’ve agreed which brand element will be your focus, you can drill down into your audiences.

Simply put, your target audience is the group of people you want to communicate with, the people you want to hear your stories.

You can have a singular target audience or more than one, but it is important that you identify them and understand who they are.

Important audience details to understand:

• Demographics: age, gender, income, marital status, occupation/industry, educational level
• Location: country, city, neighbourhood
• Psychographics: likes and dislikes, attitudes and opinions, hobbies/interests

Sharing stories and content with a targeted audience is proven to increase engagement. So it is essential to understand your audience prior to creating content.

Knowing this level of detail is an essential foundation for your PR plan. It will help inform the key messages and stories you create and share.

How To Formulate Your PR Plan Key Messages

Key messages are concise and clear sentences that articulate important information about your brand. Simple, short, and specific.

Why the emphasis on brevity? Your audience is inundated with news and advertising. It’s your job to keep your key messages simple and focused on one thing – attracting the attention of your target audience.

Have you ever tried remembering a poorly written paragraph someone has put in front of you, or a waffling advert you heard on a podcast? It’s pretty much impossible.

Key messages contain particular information that you want your target audiences to hear and remember about your service, product or your public relations campaign.

The messages are deliberately chosen to create the brand image and reputation that you desire, communicating your unique selling points so that your company stands out from the competition.

Each brand element needs its own targeted key messages

These messages need to be tailored to the demographics of the audience, and not trying to attract everyone. Knowing these is critical if you want to make the most of your media training. 

For example, a 20 something student hip hop fan living in London will need a different message than a 75-year-old in a retirement village in Florida who likes playing golf.

To get started on your key messages, ask yourself these questions:

• What’s the most important thing about my product/service/campaign?
• What is the most interesting thing about my product/service/campaign?
• What does my product/service/campaign do differently to my competition?

Once you have a draft message, here’s a checklist for you:

Did you pass the PR Plan checklist?

Great! Then onto the next step – testing your message.

You can do this with focus groups, surveying your database, or more informally within your own team.

Don’t be afraid to adjust messaging based on constructive feedback, but make sure it stays focused and retains its clarity.

How To Identify The Channels For Your Audience

So now you’re in an awesome place, the foundations of a successful PR plan are coming together. You know:

• Which brand elements your PR plan will focus on
• What audience your PR plan will engage
• What messages your PR plan will share

The next step is to identify what channels you can use to communicate your messages to your audience.

Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut here, you’ll need to research where your target audience consumes their information.

Do they watch YouTube, follow influencers on Instagram, or are they more likely to listen to podcasts or tune in to the 6 o’clock news on the television?

Here’s a selection of popular channels:

One of the biggest benefits of identifying your target channels before you start your public relations planning process (that’s the next step) is that you’ll know what type of stories each channel is usually interested in.

There are three types of story

• A news story: must be timely – it is happening today, tomorrow or next week. It could be an event, or breakthrough that occurs and due to its importance (or triviality in some cases), it is deemed to be newsworthy. Note – make sure you know how to write a press release for an event, a boilerplate and an attention grabbing headline.
• A feature story: much more reflective and examine current trends, patterns, mark an anniversary or take a more in-depth look at a current news story. Features can include case studies or discuss a particular issue.
• A product placement story: describes the detail of the product and general information

Learning the difference between a news story and feature story examples takes practise and patience, but it is essential to the impact your PR efforts.

Although it depends on the channel, generally the type of stories each channel wants is as follows:

• Mainstream media: print and online – a combination of news and feature stories
• Niche media: trade and specialist – a combination of news, feature stories and product placement
• Digital influencers: product placement and feature stories
• Podcasts: feature stories
• Blogs: product placement and feature stories

If you’re thinking about approaching social media influencers then check out our definitive guide to Influencer Marketing.

How To Find Newsworthy Stories In Your Business

Now it’s time to start looking for stories within your business.

Your stories are the heart of your PR plan, and they are essential to sharing your key messages with your target audience.

A well-crafted story becomes the vehicle to get your key messages to your target audience.

We use the analogy of a train: The story is the engine, which pulls the key message carriages along the channel’s track, to the audience’s station.

If you just share a list of reasons why your product or service is brilliant, who will care? No one, because it’s just an advert. And we are inundated with them!

When you engage your audience with a compelling and relevant story, then you’ll be much more likely to keep their attention. Plus you’ll be able to build a more informal and conversational dialogue with your customers, which is proven to build brand loyalty.

This is such a crucial part of the PR plan but it’s often the most challenging.

Many people get stuck at this point because they don’t know whether or not their business has a story or where to find those stories.

So we’ve created a special guide on How to Find The Story in Your Business.

It comes with a free Story Finder template – a tool for thinking through your business in a systematic way to uncover all the areas in which your stories might be hiding.

Once you have your list of stories, the next step is to start populating your PR plan.

Match your stories, and the key messages you’ll share through them, with media channels that will love them. This simple formula will give you a super effective PR plan that will bring you amazing results.

Let’s talk through how it’s done.

How To Write Your PR Plan

Get your free PR Plan Template here or create your own grid with the following columns.

From left to right these are your column headers:

Part 1 – your own research

Date: everything must be tied to a date to make sure you achieve your goals within a set period. Awareness days can help here to give you a news hook.

Row input: you’ll put the month or quarter that you are working on this story.

Story: every story you work on should have an easily recognisable title, one that is shared across teams (marketing, business development, fundraising) for consistency.

Row input: Add the different story names e.g. ‘Single-Use Plastic Campaign Launch’, ‘YouTuber Extreme Ironing Challenge’, ‘10th Anniversary Party’.

Brand element: use this column to identify which brand area you are working from.

Row input: You can list more than one brand area per story, just make sure you are being as targeted as possible.

Audience: use this column to detail the groups of people that you want to target.

Row input: As with brand areas, you can list more than one audience per story, but by being more targeted you’ll generate greater success.

Key messages: the clear, concise and important information that you want your target audience to remember.

Row input: As with brand areas, you can list more than one audience per story, but by being more targeted you’ll generate greater success.

Part 2 – PR plan media research

Channel: the media that you want to share your story through.

Row input: With big stories, you may have a number of target channels – prioritise them, you may not be successful with all of them so focus on the ones that will create the most positive impact for your brand.

Media outlet: the name of the individual show, magazine, podcast that you want your story to be featured in.

Row input: Be specific and do your research, list individual shows rather than channels etc.

Frequency: this describes the frequency of the show or publication – how often they are on air, how many times do they post content etc.

Row input: This is vital information that informs when you pitch your story to ensure it is featured on the correct show or date.

Story type: news, features or product placement story.

Row input: Include the detail – is it an ‘Industry Round Up’ news story, ‘Best 10 FinTech Apps of the Year’ product placement story, or ‘How to lose weight quickly’ feature story?

Contact: the name and contact details of your target journalist, influencer or blogger.

Row input: Don’t spam, do your research and find the contact details of the exact person you need to speak with.

How To Plan Your Media Pitch

If you’re at the point in your PR where you’re writing a PR plan then I’m assuming you understand how to pitch single stories to a media list.

But here we’re talking about pitching a number of stories to many varied outlets, coordinating content and meeting deadlines, so you need to have nailed the perfect media pitch already.

If you need help with your pitching then check out How To Write a Media Pitch: The Ultimate Guide

This is also useful so you know how to find someone’s email.

The purpose of a PR plan is to run multiple stories throughout the year and consistently earn media coverage and increase engagement for your brand.

Every media outlet, whether mainstream media or digital creators, works to their own editorial calendar – not yours.

Editorial calendars vary between outlets depending on the frequency of the show, publication or broadcast.

But one thing’s for sure – if you want to secure media coverage, you need to work to their deadlines and give them stories when they want them.

Timelines for pitching the media your stories:

• Magazines: 3-6 months in advance
• Newspapers: anything between 1 day and 1-3 weeks
• Social media influencers: 1-2 months
• Podcasts: 2-6 weeks
• Radio: 1-2 days

You need to ensure that everyone who’s involved in the creation of your story understands these deadlines.

That could be:

• Photographers supplying the media-ready images
• Your digital team who may be making video content to accompany the story
• Spokespeople who supply the quotes
• Senior team members who provide sign-off of facts and figures, get consent for photographs etc
• Your marketing team who need to create complementary material for social channels

Never go to the media with an incomplete pitch

If you’ve got a great story but the accompanying photograph is not ready, you’ll lose out to another story.

And worse still, if you promise a journalist something but then can’t deliver it, because it’s not signed off or not ready, then you’ll have seriously let them down.

They need to supply stories to set deadlines. If they trust you to provide something and you don’t, they won’t ask again.

How To Boost The Success Of Your Stories

Once you’ve secured coverage then don’t rest on your laurels, here’s a checklist to help you share your story far and wide.

How To Measure The Success Of Your PR Plan

The best PR plans produce data, both quantitive and qualitative, that can help measure the success of your media relations strategy.

This is essential in all public relations jobs.

You can measure:

• Share of Voice
• Tone of Voice

These are two really useful metrics to analyse how you stack up against your competition. They will enable you to see how effective your PR has been in raising awareness and influencing the conversation around your brand.

Share of Voice is a popular advertising metric, so you may already be familiar with the phrase if you’re a marketeer.

Share of Voice

In terms of PR measurement, Share of Voice refers to the percentage of all online, print, and broadcast coverage and conversations about your company or brand that you have secured, compared to those of competitors.

Add up all your coverage and all of the coverage of your competitors then see how you stack up.

Each week, keep track of all the coverage you achieve through your PR plan – cuttings, screenshots, clips of broadcast coverage so you have a record of everything.

This is a very time-consuming job and unfortunately, Google search won’t bring up everything, especially if your media targets are niche and trade-specific.

To do this properly, I advise paying for one of the best media monitoring services – there are lots out there –but two that I currently use are:

• Kantar Media
• Gorkana

If you don’t have the budget for a paid service then just try to keep on top of your own coverage as best as possible so you at least know which of your pitches were successful.

Cross check your successful media outlets against your audiences – have you achieved success where you needed to reach your targets? Have any audiences not been reached? If so, rethink your strategy and see if there’s a way to engage them.

Measuring Share of Voice on its own won’t provide you with any qualitative data, which is why I always recommend to combine it with Tone of Voice.

Tone of Voice 

Tone of voice measures how your company is presented within the media – is it positive or negative?

Is the tone of the writing favourable, was the presenter kind in their presentation of the brand? Or was the interviewer accusatory, was the review critical of the product?

You can also make a list of keywords or phrases and keep a track of how often they appear – is there any repetition in how your brand is being described? Are you becoming known for something positive or negative within the media?

Most businesses and brands have an official Tone of Voice document (check with your marketing department for this) and see if the way the media are speaking about you matches how you want to be presented.

If not you can feed this back into your next PR plan and make sure you set a specific goal to address this difference in representation.

This ties us in nicely to the next measurement, how has the perception of your brand changed through the execution of the PR plan.

Brand Perception

Building on the qualitative data from your Tone of Voice assessment, you now need to review your overall positioning for your brand.

You can do that by answering these questions:

• Has there been any change in how your brand is viewed by target audiences?
• How were your key messages received and what response did they get?
• Were they believed?
• Were there any negative responses?

The best way to obtain this information is by gathering customer feedback.

Some brands find that periodic audience surveys (mostly online) work best. If you have an engaged database then it’s certainly a method I would recommend.

Create a short series of questions which help you understand how your list feels about the brand, perhaps asking them to review your product and how it can be improved, or offer a simple star rating.  

Another popular method is to actually speak with customers face to face through focus groups. A great benefit of this method is that you can do more in-depth questioning and have more detailed conversations.

Whatever method you choose it’s important that this is not a one-off event.

The key here is to make gathering audience feedback an ongoing effort, so you can measure any change in perception and feeling towards the brand.

Digital Presence

Here’s an important point to bear in mind – not all PR success leads to immediate consumer action.

This is both one of PR’s biggest criticisms but also (as I often argue) one of it’s greatest strengths.

PR is not advertising. The media who cover your product or service don’t end the coverage with BUY NOW! Or GO TO THEIR WEBSITE NOW!

Often media outlets don’t even include a link to your website – much to SEO people’s annoyance. But that’s what editorial is, it should be a non-bias exploration of a topic or issue. Informative but balanced.

Mainstream media are very cautious and do not want to be seen to be unfairly endorsing a company or brand.

However, the halo effect of being featured in respected media outlets is VERY real and VERY impactful.

PR influences consumer behaviour more through nudging than shoving. The objective is to build trust and long-lasting loyalty.

A consumer may not take immediate action but your compelling story has been engaged with and has triggered their interest.

I recommend measuring consumer action over set periods – monthly, quarterly, etc. This way you can see a clear pattern.

Here are a few questions you can ask:

• Has there been an increase in web traffic over the time period?
• Has there been an increase in followers and engagement visible on social media management tools?
• Have there been more signups to your database?
• Has the rate of opt-ins to lead magnets improved?
• Have you seen online sales improve?
• It’s vital that you work in partnership with your digital teams for this measurement.

Every element of your PR plan should be in partnership with the other areas of your business and the measurement element is no different.

In fact, it’s important that this data is shared across all the departments involved in the PR plan.

Not only will this improve your future stories, but it reveals business-critical information about your brand awareness levels and detailed brand perception.

Now It’s Your Turn to Create a PR Plan

Take your awesome story ideas and follow the PR plan step by step – you’ll be impressed by the results.

Execute it properly and your PR plan will help transform your brand’s awareness levels and credibility throughout 2022.

And if you’re ready to take your PR work to the next level grab our PR Starter Kit.

Our must-have kit has every template, script, strategy and guide you’ll ever need to do PR – all in one place.

The post How To Write a PR Plan: A Comprehensive Guide [2022] appeared first on Class:PR.

Great, this article is for you.

This is the structure of how to write a press release, one that a journalist will love whatever your public relations campaign might be.

But the structure alone will NOT get you the media coverage you want for your event.

How do I know this?

Because I’ve been getting national and international news coverage for clients for 20 years.

Before that, I was a journalist myself so I know what works. This is how to help a reporter out.

Here’s the thing: Event press releases need a strong news angle.

Most press releases about events fail because they simply say ‘an event is happening’.

No offence, but who cares? An event on its own is not news. It’s essential to understand the difference between a news story and feature story examples.

I’m going to show you 12 proven ways to find a strong news article for your press release.

This will guarantee your event is newsworthy so you can get the free PR you’re after in advance of your event.

Getting this media coverage for your event will mean:

• More people attend your event
• You sell more products and services
• You raise more money for your cause
• Exponentially increase your impact
• Your event will deliver on its objectives
• Your next events will build off of the success of this event

Whatever type of coverage you want for your event – from trying to figure out how to get a story on the local news to national press or niche podcasts, blogs, or news sites, there IS a way to make journalists care.

And if you get some media training you can really thrive.

There are 12 proven ways to make YOUR next event attractive to the media and part of an effective PR plan.

If this is one of your public relations jobs let’s make start.

1. Use Powerful Messaging

Give a speech and say something hard hitting at your event – give the media advance warning of what you will be saying in a quality press release.

Most suited for: Major charities, businesses, politicians and campaigning organisations

For example, Public Health England held an event to improve the sexual health of under-25s.

To ensure they got coverage for this important topic they engaged reality TV star Dr Alex George to share a hard-hitting message on safe sex. This would have led their event press release.

2. Get Celebrity or Influencer Endorsement

Invite a high profile, but RELEVANT, celebrity or influencer to your event and lead your press release with the fact that this VIP will be there.

Include quotes from the celebrity explaining why they are there and why they love your business. This is influencer marketing and it is extremely powerful in 2022. You can read more about it in some of the best marketing books.

Most suited for: All sizes of business and charities, but choose wisely, select an individual who fits with the values of your organisation. They must be a natural fit. And be warned, some VIPS will charge A LOT of money to endorse you.

That’s not to say you should outright avoid them, but you do need to do your due diligence when using influencer marketing for your business.

When the new Winter Funland had its launch event in Manchester in the UK they invited local celebrities, including Premier League footballers.

The footballers brought their star status, and their families, which guaranteed great picture opportunities and heaps of media coverage. Without this VIP endorsement it’s unlikely Winter Funland would have got this coverage.

3. Launching a Report or Study

If your business, charity or organisation has a new report or study to launch, turn it into an event.

Then create a press release in advance with the most newsworthy aspect of the report.

This will probably be the most powerful statistic in your report, the problem you are highlighting, a compelling human case study or the strongest recommendation from the report.

Most suited for: Charities and campaigning organisations that want to impact public opinion or behaviour or influence and lobby politicians.

In this example business mentoring network SCORE was holding an event to launch their new Women Entrepreneurship Report.

To get attention for their event they highlighted the report’s most newsworthy finding in their event press release, that women were more likely to launch healthcare or education businesses than men.

This got them the media attention they were after in an important target publication.

4. Hold Your Event in an Unusual Venue

Think hard about WHERE you are holding your event, this can definitely make the media sit up and take notice of your event press release.

Choose a venue that is relevant to your business in a fun way. Don’t go for a dry, corporate meeting room and think the media will flock there. Most likely they won’t.

For example, if you run an organic yoghurt business, launch your new range in the field where the cows graze that produce your milk – great photo opportunities there!

Or if you’re launching a new fitness app host your event in a major sports venue. The more creative you get with your venue choice the more likely you are to get media coverage.

Most suited for: Dynamic businesses with a real niche product looking to carve out a new space in a crowded marketplace.

Samsung hosted a series of events to launch the new S8 phone and its impressive camera feature.

They could have gone for the traditional ‘Steve Jobs’ style launch event in a theatre but instead, they revealed the phone at a series of famous landmarks, including Stonehenge.

This clever stunt meant they could signal that the camera took pictures that were so realistic they looked real. This GIANT phone stunt won huge amounts of media coverage globally.

5. Host a Community Event

If you’re running a local community event, say a village fair, the opening of a local care home, a school fundraiser or the opening of a local park make sure you invite a dignitary along.

This will usually be the town Mayor, Member of Parliament/Congress or a community leader.

Having a dignitary open your event gives it relevance and a photo opportunity. This will mean you are much more likely to get local and regional media coverage.

Lead your press release with the fact the dignitary will be opening your event.

Most suited for: Community organisations, youth groups, small charities, schools and volunteer organizations.

When London’s Angel Canal Festival was planning its 30th anniversary celebration they invited the local Mayor along to open the proceedings. They led their event press release with this crucial fact and it won them the advance media coverage they were after.

6. Think of the Kids in a Press Release for an Event

If children are involved in your event focus on them in your press release –they tend to be more newsworthy than adults.

For example, your event is an open day at a holiday park focus on what the children can do at the top of your press release.

So rather than simply saying ‘we are having an open day at FunTimes Holiday park’ try something like ‘More than 500 children are expected to descend on TOWN next weekend for a free day of play’.

You then explain what the venue is further down the press release. Focus on the BENEFIT of your event, not simply that fact that it is happening.

Most suited for: Businesses that need to appeal to children and young families – from visitor locations to toy brands.

This US ‘Coding Camp’ event gave children the opportunity to get tech-savvy. All ages were attending the event but by focusing on the youngest children in their event press release, and providing an image of a child at the camp, they were able to get this great local media coverage.

7. Amplify Your Story with Awareness Days

Try and hold your event on a national awareness day relevant to your business. By doing this you will amplify the news value of your event. Make sure you include this awareness day at the top of your press release.

For example, if you are holding an event to launch a new electric bicycle then launch it on Cycle to Work Day. The media will love this as it gives them an easy way to cover your story.

Most suited for: Any business with relevant awareness days – and there are thousands. Take a look at this to see the best awareness day for your business.

For this media coverage, a number of UK electric bike companies issued event press releases on Cycle to Work Day to highlight the events they were holding to mark the day. This made for a great feature in the Metro when they were looking to do an article on the future of electric bikes. Without utilising the awareness day the electric bike companies would have never secured this excellent profile-raising coverage in a huge UK media title.

8. Anniversaries Attract Attention

Just like awareness days holding your event on a newsworthy anniversary will make it of much more interest to the media.

Of course, the anniversary needs to be relevant to your event, but if you can find the right one include it at the top of your press release – it will give a journalist a reason to pay attention and care.

Most suited for: Any business type but you need to make sure there is a direct link to the anniversary. Here is a great list of newsworthy anniversaries.

Co-working office provider GoWork held a launch event for their new ‘Premium Floor’. This on its own may not have secured the media coverage they sought. Instead, they created an event press release saying the new launch marked the first anniversary of the company starting up – a very smart move. This indicates to the journalist that this is a company on a rapid growth trajectory and therefore worth writing about.

9. Connect Your Event to a Wider News Event

Your event on its own might not be newsworthy enough for your target audience but if you think about how it fits into a bigger current news story then you could be on to a winner.

For example, say you have an ice cream business, you’re launching a new flavour and we’re in the middle of a heatwave.

Make sure the press release for your launch event mentions the fact that you are holding the event during the hottest week of the year.

It might not sound important, but for a journalist it is – it gives them a way to write more about a current story they care about.

Most suited for: Businesses and startups whose events may not be of interest to the media on their own. There are some great public relations examples right here.

In this example UK ice cream makers Magnum held an event to talk about their record sales in 2018. By linking it to the heatwave they were guaranteed to get far more media coverage than they would have done.

10. Have a Pop-up Event

What: Don’t just hold an event, hold a pop-up event! Here’s a great guide on how to do it well.

Because pop-up events often have a strong theme, some element of theatre and are short-lived they are much more newsworthy than a more formal event.

Remember, the more creative you get the more likely it is that the media will care about it. Host a pop-up event and make that the focus of your press release.

Most suited for: Creative startup businesses that have a real theme of disruption to their business model – this will lend itself most naturally to a pop-up idea.

This pop-up bookshop hit on a massively newsworthy issue, the lack of diversity in children’s books. By opening the bookshop for just a short period of time the media were bound to be interested and this event press release would have written itself.

This is also where the worlds of PR and marketing communications meet. Here are 71 marketing ideas for small business that might also inspire you.

11. Have a Genuine FIRST in your Press Release for an Event

News is fundamentally about new things happening. If your event features some element of a ‘first’, say a new product that has never existed before, then make sure you make this the focus of your press release.

Focus on the ‘being first’ element of your story, rather than the fact you are holding an event to announce the launch. This is key to effective public relations no matter what you’re doing.

Most suited for: Tech businesses and disruptor businesses. Any company that can genuinely claim to be doing something for the first time – that’s key to an attention grabbing headline.

This media coverage is proof of the power of being first. The launch event for a bar would normally be of very little interest to the media, but these guys focused their event press release on the fact they were the first in Australia to be entirely gluten free – that meant they were a story.

12. Think in Pictures

When planning your event think about what images you’ll be able to generate from it.

Quality and creative images are absolutely vital if you want to win media coverage, even post-event.

Think about including some sort of installation at your event that the media can have a little fun with so they can walk away with newsworthy images. This will also encourage individuals to share pictures from the event on their own personal social media accounts. Make sure you mention this installation at the top of your event press release.

Most suited for: Businesses with a bit of a budget to be honest. You don’t need to go crazy but a decent interactive installation may cost a few thousand dollars.

This event press coverage featured an installation at a Dublin Gallery that showed how visitors were turned into pixels in real time. A launch event for this would have massively appealed to journalists who could try the technology for themselves. Any press release would feature this fact right at the very top!

Taking Action on Writing a Press Release for An Event

There you have it, 12 ways to ensure your event press release (with a boilerplate) will be of interest to the media.

If you really want to maximize the chances of your event getting media coverage then combine more than one of these ideas for your event.

Perhaps try holding your event on a relevant awareness day, in an unusual occasion and with an influencer in tow!

The more news hooks you can generate for your event press release then the more likely you are to get media coverage, especially if you know how to write a media pitch or if you use a press release distribution service.

And use this guide to know how to find someone’s email so you make sure you get your press release to the right journalist.

Finally, if you want to follow a press release format that is specific to YOUR business grab our Ultimate Press Release Template Kit.

You’ll get 10 real-life press release examples for every business and story type – from tech to fashion and professional services to charity.

The post How to Write a Press Release for an Event [2022] appeared first on Class:PR.