Increasing Press Release Coverage Starts with Knowing your Journalist
Writing a press release can be an overwhelming process for PR professionals. It can take hours, days or even a week depending on the deadline. After you have poured your blood, sweat and tears into crafting the “perfect” press release it is time to distribute it on the wire in hopes that journalists will soon be calling nonstop asking to cover your story. What do you do though if nobody calls and your release winds up on the last page of an independent TV station website?
If this happens it is important to realize that you might not be pitching the right journalist on the correct subject matter. Understanding what interests and what irritates the media is the difference between coverage and no responses. A recent article about what journalist think of your press release could help better your odds of securing a placement for clients. Here are their honest yet helpful responses.
Jennifer Bogo, Executive Editor, Popular Science
What annoys you about press releases?
“I am deeply annoyed by press releases that assume I am a man because I work at a science & technology magazine. And a shocking number of press releases perpetuate other gender stereotypes. There is a press release in my spam box right now that says ‘Rein in Your Girly Thoughts’.”
Samantha Murphy Kelly, Tech Reporter, Mashable
“ I always like to say, explain it to me in a sentence or two like you were telling your grandmother, before getting into the specifics. It’s always good to know “why” the news is important too — if it’s not my main area of coverage, I could overlook groundbreaking news and just not know it.”
Rick Newman, Columnist, Yahoo! Finance
What could PR people do to make pitches better?
Get to the point right away and let me know what it is in the subject line. Look up my last 20 stories (they’re all in one place, on my Yahoo Finance author page) to get a feel for what I cover, and send relevant info.
Derek Thompson, Senior Editor, The Atlantic
Have you ever found a good story via a press release?
Absolutely. It has to be specific and speak specifically to what I’m interested in. The good news is that there are possibilities of landing stories via press release, but it must be precise, targeted and well written. The bad news is that it may take more research and effort than you already put into the release itself.
To read the original story click here:
