The reality is, not every news release gets picked up by the news media. And even when a news outlet does cover your company, the people you’d really like to have seen or heard it may have missed it. Thankfully, in this digital age, we have the ability to create our own audiences and communicate with them directly. This helps us get more mileage out of a news release, which is especially helpful when the news media doesn’t run it.
What is a news release?
A news release (AKA press release) is a piece of material specifically written for a journalist. The purpose of a news release is to introduce a newsworthy topic – such as significant company news. It provides information that a journalist would need to cover the story.
PR firms and in-house PR departments distribute news releases one of two ways: via a news wire service, like BusinessWire, or directly to select journalists (we call this “targeted outreach”).
News outlets, like newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations decide what topics they cover. So, there is no guarantee that they will use the news releases you send them.
Making a news release go farther
The good news is that PR and marketing professionals can – and should! – share news releases via your company’s “owned” communications channels. Even if the news media did pick up your release, repurposing the release will greatly increase the likelihood that your clients, prospects, employees, partners and supporters see the good news.
For example, you can do the following with news releases:
- Post them to your company website.
- Share them on social media.
- Turn them into articles for the company newsletter.
- Repurpose them to create blog posts.
- Email them directly to prospects and supporters to keep them in-the-know.
- Use them to create a video for the website and/or social media.
Tips
A word of advice: when posting or repurposing a news release, consider your audience then position the content to make the greatest impact. Your followers and subscribers will be more eager to read what you share if the content is helpful, educational or inspirational to them, rather than coming across as a sales pitch.
For example, a news release announcing a new hire could be repurposed as an e-newsletter article. But, it should be positioned to address how this addition to the team will result in better service for customers.
These are just a few ways you can amplify your current media relations efforts. It’s also a perfect example of why our firm provides integrated marketing communications – including Content Marketing Programs – to maximize every opportunity.
