Despite the many changes that have taken place over the years in the media industry, the basic building block, the press release, has remained much the same. In years past the release was the primary method for the public to submit story ideas short of making a direct pitch to a local reporter. While the “bones” of a press release, the who, what, where, how and when, are the much the same, releases are “packaged” much differently.

     Whereas news releases of years past were typically a 300 word type written and mailed letter, today we have vivid graphics, and audio and video snippets making compelling pitches to both reporters and producers. Media is everywhere.  But while the opportunities for publicity have grown so have the number of resources reporters and producers have to locate new story ideas. Thirty years ago most towns had 3 television stations and one newspaper. Today Cable News channels, trade publications, electronic newsletters, regional newspapers, national newspapers, Business Journals, Specialty Publications, News Feeds, Blogs, Vlogs and commercial news websites dot the information landscape.

     Add to this the massive growth of media newswire services coupled with advances in email blast software used by large marketers and public relations firms and its no wonder reporters are overwhelmed with options. Although these changes have made it increasingly difficult to rise above the clutter and get your message heard it has also opened some very powerful opportunities for those business people who know how to exploit the media’s insatiable appetite for information. Ironically the more the media is fed, the hungrier it gets.

     Here are two simple but important truths to grasp if you want to ensure your story does not end up on the newsroom floor.

1) News reporting is an entertainment industry. Lose sight of this and you’ve lost half the battle before you began.

2) Next to your contact information, the release title is by FAR the most important part of a release.

Why?

     Despite all the fancy color graphics and compelling video or audio sound effects a release might employ, it still must have a title. Despite all the advances in “Press Release Technology” this aspect has still not changed. As a matter of fact if you email a video release the title becomes even more important since the video does not load until the reporter opens the file. If the title is not compelling enough, the reporter will not even open the “envelope”.

     Basically it works like this: Reporters feel, and rightfully so, that if the title of the release intrigues them enough to read on, (Or view, or listen) then their readers will do the same. It’s just that simple!

     Boring, or overly promotional release titles, will get you no where. Reporters don’t care about your product. They’re not here to help you promote your business or educate consumers.

     They will however help you if you help them first, by helping them entertain their readers (There’s that word again. “She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye” – Don Henley, Dirty Landry.

     Its true news is entertainment DO NOT lose site of this no matter how much your brother-in-laws younger sister who just graduated with a degree in journalism protests. (She’ll figure it out soon enough).

     Reporters are in the story telling business. Every time they see a release they think “why does anyone care” If you cannot answer this question DO NOT expect them answer if for you. If you want your story to hit the newsstand it is mandatory you find the broader story. Why do we care? Your idea must be informative, compelling, and yes entertaining to the media and to their customer – the viewer/reader.

     Three things can come from a press release. One is nothing. It goes straight to the can. This can be for a variety of reasons and often for reasons you could not have changed.

     Two the reporter writes a story based solely on the information contained in the release. Perhaps he will call to get a couple of points clarified but the story is still based on the released information. Three the release can spawn a larger story and will require an interview. This third possibility is almost always because of the releases title. It got the reporters story telling juices flowing.

Let me give you an example:

     A few years ago I owned a company called Life Saver of Alabama. Life Saver built and installed removable mesh pool fences to keep toddlers from drowning. When we first opened this business it was unique to Birmingham Alabama. I convinced myself that a simple release with the headline; “Life Saver Pool Fence comes to Birmingham” would pull massive story requests. I was wrong. (There’s is a simple lesson here. I do this for a living and even I misjudged the media’s interest, at least at first)

     I went back to my bag of tricks and did some hard core research on child drowning. Not just the stale statistics offered by the franchisor. I wanted to learn how this preventable tragedy affected people in my hometown. (I was looking for the local angle)

     A week later I sent a new release. (Actually it was the EXACT same release with a different headline. For the sake of clarity this was a blind release. No phone calls were made. Although I own a good piece of this business I am known locally as a speaker and business consultant. I did not want to muddy those waters by putting myself in the pool fence business. I sent the release and asked my partner to field any response)

The new headline . . .
 

 Is a Child Killer Lurking in Your Backyard?
Eleven children will die needlessly by this Labor Day in Birmingham alone

KABANG!

It was an instant success!

     Within days we had four radio interviews, two live on-air television news stories, one feature story in the Birmingham News, a three paragraph mention in Birmingham Magazine and one guest appearance on a local morning show the day after Miss Alabama had been crowned, with Miss Alabama (and soon to be 1^st runner-up to Miss America) Scarlotte Dupree on the set. How’s that for timing?

All with just one faxed release!!!

     The reason it worked so well? The release caught the imagination of the local press. The story was personalized and we shared how the tragedy affected local readers and viewers. In other words there was something to be gained from watching/reading the piece and a community service was performed. But get this and get it good. The pool fence title, in addition to being boring, would only have appealed to people who own pools. Plus the title actually told the entire story. There was nothing else of value to be learned.

But take another look at the new title:

Is a Child Killer Lurking in Your Backyard?  

     Almost everyone I know either has a child, knows a child or once was a child. Something is lurking in our backyards and kids are dying, what is it? Do we have one? Who’s killing the children? Is it in MY backyard? Better find out and fast!

     Can you feel the angst, the anxiousness, the utter curiosity of the reader? Can you imagine a reporter NOT reading this release? ESPECIALLY if he has children of his own. (Every reporter and producer that contacted us was a parent) I wish I had the space to elaborate on the impact of this one press release. It built our entire company and we sold the company one year later. Although this is an extreme example it underscores the potential of what one well thought out release with a powerful title can do.

     It all comes down to something all good sales people know, and selling the media on a story is just like selling anything else. (Don’t like sales. Ooops you’re on the wrong website) If you want to close the deal you have to uncover pain and make it all better.

     Remember the two biggest motivators are pleasure and pain. Pain is by far the most powerful. We’re going to explore pain resolving releases for now. We’ll touch on a pleasure release a bit later on.

     People have problems, concerns and issues. We all grapple with life, almost daily.

     Identify the problem then help reporters help people fix it. In the case of Life Saver kids were drowning needlessly. We could stop this horrific tragedy. It wasn’t enough to say “Hey here we are”. We had to state the problem. Something capable of killing a child may be in your own yard – here’s how we can fix it. See how easy this formula is. Now before you get confused, the problem is not always tragic. In the minds of the media what to get mom for Mother’s Day is a problem so if you own a gift basket company fix the problem!

Let me give you another example:

     A client of mine owns a home cleaning service and just could not get any traction. Repeated “Hey here we are” releases just weren’t getting it done. So I asked “What’s the problem?” “People have dirty houses” came the response. “No” I said, “That’s the result of the problem” “Why are the houses dirty” “Because in most homes the mother works and doesn’t have time to clean”. “Ah now we’re getting somewhere” What other problems could a home cleaning service cure: Well we did some more child research and found that over a dozen kids a year die from ingesting cleaning fluids. Hire a maid service and they bring, then remove these toxins when they leave.

     I instructed the company to poll its own customers to find out why they were hired in the first place and the answers were:

So I could spend more time with my kids
My husband and I never have time to be together
My husband hired the service for my birthday
I can’t reach the high shelves in my house
I’m allergic to cleaning fluids
I have a bad back
House cleaning aggravates my allergies

     Do you see the opportunities just flowing? They range from safety to romance. This home cleaning service could (and actually did) tie in to Valentines Day.

Don’t Take Her to Dinner This Valentines – Take Her Vacuum Cleaner!

     Huh! Huh! Whadda think? Think it pulled? We got PR for this bunch all year long on this type of approach. By the way in this one we resolved pain AND created some pleasure.

     We also discovered that next to infidelity and money issues lack of time together and domestic incompatibility (Meaning one person is a slob) were right on up there when it came to stated reasons for divorce. This revelation produced:

Will those dirty dishes be the end of your marriage?

Survey Reveals: Rising divorce rates may be caused by dust bunnies

     See what we’re doing here? We found a problem (In this case several) and then showed how this firms service helped solve the problem(s). I’d like to add I have a habit of writing long release titles. Sometimes I have to break them into two sentences and even (As with the pool fence company) use subtitles. I don’t where the idea came from that release titles have to short and pithy, but I write until I’ve made my point and boast an exceptionally high rate of placement.

HELPFUL HINT: Do your research. Is there a bigger story behind your news? Talk to your customers. What problems did they have? Why did they choose you? The answers will probably write the title for you. Also look beyond the basic facts. The media likes new, compelling, firsts of some sort, things that are unique, or out of the ordinary. If you look hard enough you might discover there’s more to you story then you think. (By the way NEVER use the promo type words like “compelling: in your titles. If you have to tell the media your product is “unique” it’s not and they will view your release as promotional fluff – which it is)  

Here’s an example of going a little deeper. The names have been changed to protect the guilty and to keep me out of court. A large University announced they hired a new speaker to deliver a particular continuing education course. The entire PR department of the 50,000 student school was involved in producing the PR campaign.

Their release read:

"Really Big School" Announces Collaboration

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Man was this ever bad. It was sent to every paper in the state. Not one ran it or picked it up. The release was then sent to me much to the supreme angst of the Universities PR wonks. I did some due diligence and discovered that while looking for someone to present to course two candidates in other states had been interviewed as well.

My revised title:

National Search for Industry Expert Ends in “Name of City”
“Really Big School” selects “Company CEO” Bob Smith

Result?  100% of the media outlets that received the release ran the story.

Why?

The two out of state candidates made this a national search. I hit the local boy does good and beat the out-of-towners angle. I also established the local boy as THE industry expert. He actually is but the media did not know it. Everyone wants to feel good (This is a pleasure release title) and the media gets to tell some great news about our home town. Also did you folks know we have THE industry expert living right here with us?

Again do you see the difference? Nobody gives a tinkers dam about some school hiring a speaker. But when that speaker beats out all challengers and is from our hometown, now that’s news. And all it took was five minutes of talking to the speakers company to find out how he came to be selected.

And there is not a business out there that cannot take this approach. I've even got press for a Bill Board advertising company.

So lets take a look at what some angles might be for other industries:

• Mortgage Brokers: Rates are low. Federal Bailout money may be coming. Banks are at risk. Credit is tight. Foreclosures are on the rise. The Presidential election is looming. But rates are still good and they’re bargains to be had.
• Car sales people: Sales have been slumping nationwide, how can buyers in your town use this to their benefit? Is it time to buy. What about a family making an investment in a third, gas saving, economy car? 
• Contractors: Storms have plagued much of the country. How can homeowners avoid being defrauded by unscrupulous contractors? Where can they find home improvement money with credit so tight? Help them find it and they’ll buy from you.
• Stockbrokers/Planners: How can an investor avoid being taken advantage of? What’s the real threat of identity theft? What are your thoughts on these Life Lock type programs. The media in your town probably wants to know.
• Swimming pools Contractors: might pitch a story on how to “open” a pool for the Spring or perhaps, oh I don’t know, prevent childhood drowning. The dangers of beach cleansers etc
• Small retailers might offer insights about the benefits of shopping with them over a big box retailer. How are you going about marketing to products and cashing in on the Federal stimlus program?
• Landscaping contractors would do well to sell a story idea on winter lawn care or seasonal grasses. Remember to contact the media again when the temperatures begin to climb. The dangers of fertilizers to children and pets.
• Every industry in the ENTIRE WORLD should be commented on how the "Green" movement is effecting them and how they intend to join.

The point is to find the larger, more mass appealing story behind the staid old "Hey here we are" approach. Yes your local paper might print a blurb announcing your new location. But the point is to get them to cover your business and it's services. This is the only way to fully tell your story.

Consider this: Life Saver went from being a Pool Fence Company to a "Saving Kids From Drowning" company. The medis did this, although no intentionally. Their coverage actually expanded our market. After the stories began to run we we're getting calls from people WITHOUT pools. These folks wanted to know about protecting kids in public pools, lakes, bathtubs etc. We began to offer a product called a Safety Turtle that looks like, well a Turtle. You strap it onto the childs wrist and if they get in the water, any water the turtle omits an intensely loud siren alerts adults neadby a child is in trouble. Pretty damn cool huh?. Then we began offering high density pool covers to keep kids safe in Winter etc. etc. We became the expert in keeping toddlers from being the victim of drowning.

Everytime a drowning or near drowning event occured anywhere in North Alabama we we're in the news. Police referred to us. Schools called us, grandparents bought everything we sold. We were everywhere and it was all the media's doing.

FIND THE LARGER STORY

This kind of instense scrutiny of what your company really does (Or offers your community) will provide an enormous range of marketing opportunities. It's very important that you make the investment in time.

If you have trouble and simply cannot find your company's unique local angle you can contact us at Michael Hart Speaks LLC and we will do it for you. We will even write the release it you like. We offer this service for only $199.00.

Simply call us at 205.678.9661 or drop us an email at info@MichaelHartSpeaks.com

But never forget: FIND THE LARGER STORY!

Good Luck
MH