Land some publicity by following our guide to a perfectly crafted media release
Effective media release writing can sometimes feel like going fishing.
You throw a few lines out hoping something will catch, but the power is essentially in the hands of the journalist. If you aren’t delivering exactly what that journo wants at the time they want it, reeling them into the story can be a struggle.
However, if you are launching a product or service, have won an award, are part of a significant community event, have made a contribution to an important cause, or have another news story to tell, a media release can get you some much-deserved free publicity. Who wouldn’t want that?!
If you want to start leveraging the media for your business, here’s a good place to start.
This article breaks down our six tips for writing a media release that will hook the media, whether you are after the little or the big fish.
First, what is a media release?
Sometimes known as press releases or news releases, a media release is an article crafted by a business and pitched to a journalist for them to consider for their outlet.
A well-crafted media release will tell a story quickly and effectively, with the goal essentially being for the journo to pick up and run the story as is. No tweaking!
A media release can contain the suggested headline, story, a bio about the business, quotes from key spokespeople, bios on those spokespeople, and additional relevant information. It should also contain relevant imagery, audio or video (dependent on the outlet) for their use.
Importantly, a media release should be structured around the publication you are targeting. Like certain fish take to certain bait, so too will the journos you pitch to. So, that means you need to make sure the content is relevant.
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Our tips on effective media release writing
Make sure your story is actually newsworthy
While your news piece is important to you, take a step back and check whether it would actually be newsworthy to someone outside of your business. A key thing to think about is, what is the hook. Journalists won’t waste their time on stories that aren’t newsworthy or relevant to their publication structure, content style and audience.
As a rule of thumb, basic public relations advice suggests the below guidelines for determining if an article is newsworthy:
- Timing– is the story new, if not, what makes it relevant now?
- Significance– the number of people affected by the story.
- Proximity– the location of the story is relevant to the outlet you are pitching to.
- Prominence – having someone famous or well-known in the local area involved will result in better results.
- Human interest – appealing to emotion, such as amusement and sadness.
- Novelty – an unusual story.
- Conflict– we hate to say it, but sometimes the media does take a ‘good news is no news’ approach and are more likely to pick up stories that highlight the bad or generate the shock factor.
Avoid spin
Some PR practitioners have been accused of spinning stories, which means they’ve taken the news item and tried to put a positive spin on it.
For example, a few years ago Range Rover held a media stunt under the guise of a jealous lover. The new Range Rover was parked in a high-traffic area in the UK, attracting attention for the messaging on the car. Turns out it was just a stunt to promote the new vehicle model.
Another example is a business only talking about the positives of a trial and misleading the public by excluding any negative findings.
Spin often comes across as dishonest and will reflect poorly on the socially conscious audience of today. If you get caught, it can cause significant reputational damage to your business, and we absolutely don’t want that.
The best approach to take is to present your news honestly and be unbiased. The journalist will know you have a message in mind with your pitch but try to consider what makes your piece newsworthy as opposed to the message you are trying to deliver.
Our team knows their way around the art of public relations and marketing implementation. We understand how important it is to find the balance between your story being beneficial to your business, all while remaining newsworthy, without the spin of course!
If you’re feeling stuck, why not chat to us and see how we can help?
The five W’s and the one H you need to know
Your media release MUST include the standard five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why. For good measure, you should also cover the how here as well. This is media release writing 101!
It’s important to get the key details in the first few lines of your story so the journalist can understand its newsworthiness quickly. Ensure you incorporate the who, what, where, when, and why in the first few paragraphs. The how can be carried into the rest of the article.
But it doesn’t stop there – you need to order content from most to least important
Did you know the way you structure those six key points will impact your story’s pick-up rate?
Journalists don’t have a significant amount of time to read your media release, as well as the many others they receive. Their email inboxes are constantly in overdrive. So, it’s important you don’t waste their time and make their workday easier for them.
Your story needs to be structured with the most important information first. Addressing the five W’s in the first few paragraphs will help, but even the structure of the remainder of your story should be ordered by importance.
Think of the structure of your article like an inverted pyramid.
Readers want to know more about the who, what and where first. But to make it appealing to the journalist, you need to ensure it’s linked to something newsworthy. As an example, we recently delivered a media release about our partnership with The Pyjama Foundation for National Pyjama Day.
The first paragraph brought in the who, what, where and why, but also was an attention-grabbing statement. “On 21 July thousands of people in Australia will wear their PJs to the office and events to help raise awareness of the education programs needed for children in foster care.”
After you’ve grabbed your reader’s attention, you can support the initial statement with further information and detail. Ensure you leave information that is directly about your business or has any sales aspect at the end of the content – salesy PR will rarely by picked up.
Provide an authoritative voice (or two!) as part of your media release writing
Quotes are essential to effective media release writing. Journalists will always pick up stories that have quotes incorporated from people within your business or if relevant to the story angle, over releases that don’t have any quotes. For example, if you’ve contributed a significant donation to a cause that has made a substantial impact on a community need, you could consider a quote from:
- Your CEO
- The charity’s CEO or key spokesperson;
- Or better yet, a person that your donation helped.
Imagine your business manufactures running shoes and you sponsor an upcoming race by donating your product.
For a media release, you might include a quote from your team, with the CEO explaining why the product worked so well for the race. However, this would risk making the story too commercial.
For a more newsworthy angle, instead, try to collect quotes from the race-winner. This makes the story more localised and will do especially well with community news outlets that want to focus on local voices.
Serve the media everything they need on a silver platter, and add a little garnish
Your job is to make the journalist’s job easy! So don’t hold back on providing the extras to simplify the publishing process for them.
If you are pitching to a radio station, include some audio from your spokespeople. If you are pitching to a TV outlet, try to capture and send some original video they could use.
Always include the dates and times your talent (the people quoted in the media release) are available for an interview along with their contact details. This means that there is no back and forward for the journalist and they have everything they need to finalise the story quickly.
You’ll have more chance of success if you create the ultimate package for your journalists and it is catered to their unique publication requirements. So, do your homework first!
Are you ready to go fishing for some publicity?
If you are struggling to find your way, let’s chat! We have an experienced team of marketing generalists, many of which have worked in media previously and continue to do so today (through our partnership with Hunter Headline).
We can chat with you about how public relations can form part of your wider marketing strategy for the best results.
