You wrote the release - now to get the story published
It’s no coincidence that PR stands for both Press Release and Public Relations; the two are inexorably connected. Writing a press release is something you have to do to get your thinking straight. It helps you define your message, it focuses you on what it is that you’re trying to convey to the world, it places the details in order. Reasonable people can read your release and get a sense of what it is you’re promoting. But it’s only one step in getting your message before the public, and usually not even the first step. Before you commit pen to paper (well, today’s equivalent) you will have worked on a business plan, on the competition’s message, and on your own marketing strategy. In all probability you will have created some presentation material and will have lined-up your spokespeople. Not only lined-up, but also coached and briefed. If you’re launching a technical product you will have an engineer ready to explain, someone who’s prepared to tailor his or her lexicon to varying audiences. The Wall Street Journal may be interested in your encryption algorithm as a safeguard for financial institutions, but the elegance of your formula is not likely to be fully appreciated.
So now you have everything in place and you’re ready to tell the world about your product or service. But wait – what are you going to do? Unless you’re part of a large, well known corporate institution (in which case you hopefully know what needs to be done) you need to take certain steps before you release your information. Let’s back-up for a moment. Have you pinpointed the media you want to go after? Do you have a short list? Does anyone on your short list expect an exclusive? What kind of exclusive? Have you made a note of the media that requires a prior briefing, and have you forwarded the relevant material, duly embargoed, to specific reporters and editors? We will not go into the requirements for releasing a story if you’re acting on behalf of a public company, but just in case, beware – you certainly cannot release financial information to anyone before you release it to everyone. Anything else could be construed as insider trading.
Okay, we’re getting there. You’ve briefed publications A, B, and C. You have forwarded presentation material, photos, videos, etc., to X, Y, and Z. “Draft” copies of your release have circulated here and there. Everyone you contacted is aware of zero hour. At precisely the right time your story goes out over the wire service and you get ready to deal with whoever gets in touch. The icing on the cake. Maybe. The truth is that releasing a story over the wire service may get you some coverage, and links will direct some traffic your way. But if you want your press release to work for you, you have to engage in public relations work. There’s no other way.
You wrote the release now to get the story published - To learn more about this author, visit Joe Gagliano's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
![]() | |
| |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
|
| |
| |||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
![]() | |
![]()
| |
![]() | |
|
| |
![]() | |
|
| |
![]() | |||||||
|
![]() | ||
|
| ||
![]() |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
![]() |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
![]() |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
![]() |
|
|
![]() | ||
|
Choose A PR Topic
Press Release Builder | ||
|
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | ||
![]() | ||
![]() | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||








Subscribe to Joe's articles











