Simple Steps to gaining media coverage (part 2)

Many of the companies I help with their marketing in Leicestershire either at my marketing seminars or during my business marketing consultancy are not very newsworthy. That is – what they do is not topical and will not really get editors on the press excited. Other clients most certainly are. They have a product that will catch the public eye and make for interesting copy. This is always an important consideration before embarking on a PR campaign. This does not make you product or business a good or bad thing, it’s just that the media (and certainly the mass media) have certain agendas that they follow.

Imagine that your company had developed a type of hair weave that worked on people with just 2mm of hair. That is not very newsworthy under normal circumstances. But it would have been when Britney Spears shaved of her hair. Suddenly you would have a product that could be linked to possibly the worlds most written about woman at a time when she was in the news more than ever. So it is worth regular re-evaluation whether your product is news worthy, but bear in mind that is certainly subject to change.

Here are 3 other important considerations if you have a story about your company you want to be picked up by the media:

1. Remember that you are NOT writing an advert- if your press release takes this form, it will go straight into the bin. Your article must contain information of interest to your target audience.

2. One of the advantages of press releases is that they can be easily adapted for different audiences. Once you have written the main copy of your release, it can be adapted for the local press or the specialised trade press with minimum effort, maintaining a narrow focus and an angle that is interesting to its intended audience.

3. Consider the topical subjects in the news- childhood obesity, crime, anti social behaviour to name but a few issues which are ‘hot’ at the time of writing, but will soon give way to some new topic. Can you find a way in which your product or service impacts on these topics? If so, the media are far more likely to pick up on any article that you send them. If your release hits the right spot at the right time, you can gain an enormous amount of coverage for very little effort.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.