The Web Design Business Kit Chapter 6 - Market Your Business

A Public Relations Primer

Public Relations covers a wide range of activities, but in a promotional sense, it’s about building goodwill for your business by gaining unpaid media attention. The whole premise of PR is that you “borrow credibility” from the media, rather than looking like an advertiser who’s simply paid for exposure.

So, how does it work? First, you have to attract the press. Now, you can get the media’s attention in two ways—the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way is to write a concise, well-constructed release about your newsworthy event. The hard way is to write a sloppy release on something that nobody cares about.

Here are the basic rules of thumb you’ll need to follow:

• Media releases should be one page long—and one page only. You need to tell your entire story in that single page.
• Your release should be on A4 or US Letter size paper only, no odd sizes.
• The paper you write your media release on must be plain white, not colored—no letterhead, no logo, nothing but white.

As you get a bit more confident, and become recognized by the media, you might want to bend these rules—this will probably be OK once you’ve established yourself a little. But to begin with, stick to these guidelines.

Now, let’s look at what you need to include in your release.

Contents Of A Media Release

Your media releases should always follow this standard, accepted format. It's what journalists and editors will expect, and it allows you to communicate your message clearly. Your media release should contain the following elements (see the sample Media Release file on the CD-ROM—it's a good example of how the following elements work together in practice).

Release Timing Details

The timing of publication of a media release can be extremely important in some cases. To let the press know when they can use a release, it’s common practice to include release timing details in the upper left corner of the page. You have two options; choose the one that's more appropriate for your purpose.

You can either write "For immediate release," to let the journalist know that he/she can report upon the information at any time. Or you can write "For release on October 1st, 2003," which lets the journalist know if your story is urgent or time-relevant.

Headline

The headline of the release is next. Your headline has a big job: it must grab the attention of your readers, and encourage them to keep reading, so it has to be compelling. Make it as interesting as you can.

Body Copy

The body copy is next. Split this into three parts.

1. In the first paragraph, tell the whole story: the who, what, when, where and why. Tell the whole story in 2, or maybe three sentences. It's sometimes a little tricky, but it can be done.

2. The second part of the release should contain quotes that give credibility to the story while fleshing out the most important details.

3. The third part of your media release should contain your call to action. What do
   you want to have happen as a result of your media release?

As you write, think about your release from the point of view of someone who doesn't know you or your company. Who cares about the information you’re discussing in the release? If you can't answer that, then your release isn't newsworthy. If you can answer that, make sure you write the release in a way that will be interesting to them.

Contact Details

When the release is complete, write "ENDS" on its own line. Below this write: "For further information, contact:” followed by your name and phone number.

And that’s it!

Top Ten Tips For Your Media Release

1. Make sure the information is newsworthy.

2. Write a great headline.

3. Start with a brief description of the news: the who, what, when, where, why and how.

4. Ask yourself, "Is this really newsworthy?"

5. Make sure the first ten words of your release are effective, as they're the most important.

6. Avoid the excessive use of adjectives and fancy language.

7. Focus on the facts.

8. Provide contact details, and make sure you can be reached.

9. Send it to the right person! There’s not much use sending your IT story to the
   sports journalist.

10. Follow the structure I've outlined here—don't deviate from this plan! These are the standard rules you should keep in mind when you write a media release.

    Stick with these and you’ll have a professional-looking release, for which you won't have had to pay hundreds of dollars!