How can marketing managers issue press releases to win coverage?
As a consultancy that specialises in engineering PR, we often meet marketing managers who issue press releases but are disappointed at lack of coverage. But success isn’t always down to the press release content, it may relate to how it was shared with the media. Success depends on getting many details right, so we wrote a guide on best practice for issuing press releases.
What’s the best way to issue a press release?
Issuing a press release is one of the first things PR professionals learn in their career. It becomes assumed knowledge for insiders but may be a gap for marketing directors who have come up the ranks in other disciplines.
It’s important to know the small details that make a difference when issuing a press release to journalists. A few minor details can make a strong story easy to overlook.
Three principles at play when issuing press releases
At Cadence, issuing press releases is something that we do all the time with good results but it’s worth understanding three principles before diving into the practical steps.
- You’re asking for a favour
Press releases are a type of sales email. You’re offering a story in exchange for the editor to give you valuable media space for free. In effect, you’re asking the editor for a favour. In return, you need a story that’s newsworthy and relevant to the publication’s audience. And you need to show that you’re trustworthy, both personally and as the brand you work for. - Be in the top 10%
Editors at the First Friday Press Club have told us they believe only 10% of people issuing press releases have bothered to read their work and evaluate whether the story is a good fit. If you add someone to a list without reviewing their work, you’re at risk of spamming them and hurting your reputation. - Your press release is one of hundreds
Journalists receive hundreds of press releases every week. You so you need to stand out from the crowd. A good story and a good image are only the starting point. You also need to format your email so that journalists can see and reuse your stories, and you need to remove any obstacles that might stand in their way.
How to issue a press release like a PR professional
Here are five practical points to cover when issuing press releases. These will increase your chances of winning coverage and they will also help you build a solid reputation as a reliable source of news.
- Use a targeted media list for every story
Every story is different, review your media list when preparing to issue a story. Cut and add editors depending on how well the content fits with their work. Then save a dedicated media list for every press release. This will put you in the top 10% of senders and will help to build the right sort of reputation. - Paste the story into the email body, don’t attach it in a file
This often comes as a surprise – but if you were an editor reviewing 100 emails on a deadline, you would skip the ones that are only ‘maybe’ if they make you click and wait while their computer opens a file. PR professionals paste press release text into the email body so that editors can see the whole story at once. The doc or pdf files are purely for your own records. - Host your images online and share them as links
It’s good practice to include high res image files with your stories. But it’s best practice to avoid gumming up editors’ inboxes with big files. Instead, upload images onto a website or file sharing site and paste a link and description into your email. And if it’s a stock image, make sure you have the right image licence and include an image credit in the file name. - Write a good subject line
You can expect email systems to cut your subject line short so you should write a subject line that conveys the story in the first 40 characters. Don’t waste space by starting with “Press release” as editors already know it’s a press release. Your press release title might make a good title, but don’t use it automatically. The best approach is to state your brand name and summarise the news, for example “Brand X wins new industry Y contract from Z” so that editors can see whether they like it at a glance without even opening it. - Write a brief covering note
Journalists want to get straight to the content so add a brief covering note to say you are sharing a press release and include the link to the image. Then let the press release text speak for itself. - How to send?
Usually, you have two options. The first is sending it from your own computer as individual emails to top target editors or using a mail merge. The second is through a media portal, which is similar to a mail merge. Portals show the email as coming from your email address. After issuing, the portal lets you see who opened your message but some journalists opt out of cookies so this reporting is never a full picture. A third option is to use a wire service but that’s a blog for another day.
