Top Common Press Release Questions
Before you get down the art and practice of writing a press release or managing your company’s press and public relations, it’s a good idea to learn the fundamentals and to educate yourself on the best practices and proven tips and strategies. This will save you countless hours of your valuable time, and it will help you reach your press and PR goals more quickly. You’ll get the results that you want rather than spending time with the trial and error approach. To help lay the groundwork for a successful press release campaign, let’s take a look at the most common questions about press releases and explore the answers.
#1 When Should I Write a Press Release?
The short answer to this question is that you should write a release when you have something newsworthy to share. Of course, the next question is “what is newsworthy?” Consider the impact that the story will have on your readers. A new CFO probably isn’t relevant to your readers, but the impact that the CFO will have on the company mission (and the immediate impact it has on customers) may be extremely relevant.
When the media looks at a story to deem whether it’s newsworthy, they look at the timeliness of the information, the relevance, the proximity (meaning does it impact locally), and the human-interest component. Your story is newsworthy and worthy of a press release when it provides value to your readers and is something that the media will want to cover and share with their audience.
#2 What Do I Do With My Press Release?
Okay, so you’ve written a release, now what? Now you can do several different things with it. You can personally send it to chosen media representatives who cover your industry or niche. You can also publish it using a press release distribution service. This will get it in front of the most media channels possible and provide valuable tracking information. You can email it to your list, publish it on your blog, and share it on social media too.
#3 What Do I Do After I Write, and Distribute My Press Release?
Follow it up. If you send it to journalists, follow up with them. If you use a distribution service, publish it on your blog, email, or social media, then review the analytics. How many people read it, shared it, linked to it, or commented? How much traffic did the release generate? Sales? The more you can learn about your press release results, the better the next release will be.
Finally, you may want to know how to write a press release. That’s certainly a subject for another article. Learn the format and study press releases online. Read releases and take a look at the ones that work and the ones that quickly lose your interest. Becoming a press release master can take some time, but learning the fundamentals can help you get a fantastic start.
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