Newsworthy? 5 Things to consider before sending a press release.
Posted by Aja on September 3rd, 2010
Creative Commons License photo credit: Robbert van der Steeg
Are you thinking of sending out a press release in the hopes that it will result in some type of media coverage? Before you risk wasting your time, money and effort, make sure that the information you are sending out is newsworthy i.e., something that a reporter would actually deem worthy of coverage.
Various factors contribute to the newsworthiness of a story. Because we are talking about media releases, i.e., stories designed to bring positive attention to your company, I will focus only on those factors that will most apply to you. Some important points to consider when determining whether or not you have something newsworthy to send to a reporter:
Impact Will your information have some impact on the public? Will it affect a large number of people or create some type of significant change?
Proximity The closer your news is to the media organizations you are pitching it to, the more newsworthy it becomes. For instance, a new company bringing 300 new jobs to downtown Baltimore would be of very little interest to local media in Atlanta, but would be of interest to local media in Baltimore.
Prominence Things that aren’t newsworthy otherwise can become news if famous people are involved. Your organization doing a community clean up may not be news, but doing a community clean up in which the mayor participates may be.
Novelty Sometimes things are news just because they fall outside of the norm. A Walk-A-Thon fundraiser may attract more media attention if the participants wear stilettos.
Timely Timeliness is one of the most important factors in determining newsworthiness. People no longer have to wait for the evening news or the newspaper to find out what’s happening every day. At a time when there is some news being tweeted every second, your news should be about what’s hot right now, not what happened a month ago.
Your information may not incorporate all of these factors, but if not, it should be some combination of a few. If the story you’re pitching doesn’t fit, there are other ways to gain media attention, but a release may not be the best thing for you right now.
Next week-Find out how to get attention when you don’t have a newsworthy story. Sign up to receive a reminder in your inbox.
Hola,
este mensaje es para con vuestro permiso daros a conocer el portal de comparacion de precios de productos infantiles Kidalia donde comparamos precios de moda infantil, mobiliario infantil, sillas de paseo, puericultura, material para comer y para el baño, seguridad, etc, etc. que hemos lanzado y que se caracteriza por ser totalmente independiente y practico.
La principal diferencia frente a otros comparadores es que nosotros si comparamos precios de verdad, por lo que el proceso lo hacemos semi automatico. Comparamos precios en El Corte Ingles, La Redoute, Venca, Kiabi, Prenatal, Mothercare, Neck&Neck, Zara Home Kids, Kiddys Class, Verbaudet.
Como no tenemos dinero para anunciarnos (hacemos esto casi por amor al arte y desde un punto de vista amateur para ayudar a otros padres como nosotros y vosotros a ahorrar unos euros) nos damos a conocer a traves de los blogs.
Si consideras este mensaje como spam, pues lo borras, que no pasa nada
Ah!, y si encuentras nuestra iniciativa interesante, haznos una rese?a en tu blog
Gracias por tu apoyo
Javier
Sir one more comment like that and I will strangle you with my microphone wire!
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you make running a blog glance easy. The total glance of your website is excellent, as smartly the content material!
You completed a number of good points there. I did a search on the topic and found a good number of persons will have the same opinion with your blog.
Cómo se puede determinarlo?
WOW! Amazing post… Cheers
Really informative and wonderful bodily structure of subject material, now that’s user genial (:.
Merely wanna remark on few general things, The website layout is perfect, the content is very great : D. Elegant Models London, 22 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1DX, United Kingdom. Phone:028 9321 0335