Media Outlets
You’ve completed researching the interests and needs of appropriate media outlets.  You’ve established relationships with print, broadcast, and Internet journalists—maybe even a media department head.  I mention department heads because a personal salutation is always good…and it doesn’t take much time to prepare individual notes if your contact list isn’t long.  Who knows what a person’s next job may be…or how you might reconnect with them. 

Consider the fact that if you’ve assisted an executive in the past, they should be delighted to hear from you in the future.  That’s why I suggest you keep notes of special interest about both individuals and organizations.  And if you’re presented with an unexpected opportunity to visit with a media specialist personally, you’ll be able to verify previous research and glean new facts about them.

Launching Communication with Media Contacts
After completing your background research, you’re ready to launch regular rounds of communication with your media contacts.  Depending on the interaction you’ve already had, you may need to begin by following up on any leads you’ve developed.  Even if you haven’t had an opportunity to meet the man or woman you’ll be contacting, you can begin generating media releases about your noteworthy work.

What constitutes a newsworthy announcement?  Even when multiple media outlets appeal to the same target market, you must remember that each organization will have its own standards.  Chiefly, the topic must be appropriate to the specific media outlet.  For example, you wouldn’t send a notice about a program for elementary school children to a magazine for Seniors—unless that demographic is notably involved in the activity.  Next is the issue of timeliness.  If there is an element of time involved (such as a holiday event), it’s more likely the media outlet will grant you attention IF you’ve contacted them with sufficient lead time.

There are two simple ways to determine each media outlet’s deadlines:  Pay for a subscription to a detailed media list; or, build your own record for each of your preferred media outlets.  Even if you have an annual subscription to one or more media contact data bases, the information can quickly become outdated, so unless the provider of a list agrees to send you updates, you’ll have to check with each organization periodically. 

If you’re creating a media list yourself, you’ll need to gather the following information:  The names of each organization and their key personnel; a street address for drop-offs; a mailing address if it differs from the physical address; phone and fax numbers and email addresses for pertinent departments.  As you become acquainted with individuals, they may provide you with additional contact information. 

Consider the following scenarios that should motivate you to communicate with local, regional, national, Internet, and even international media outlets:

Win a Contest, Award, or Scholarship?
Media outlets are always interested in stories of success, especially if they address a segment of their niche market.  Make sure you indicate the importance of the organization making the award.

Participating in a Special Event?
Even if the organizers of an event are sending out media releases, you can submit your own in a distinctive format that highlights your particular contribution.

Win a Unique Contract or Commission?
Send out a media release, including copy that demonstrates the stature of the individual, business or organization granting you the commission.  Also, provide periodic releases reporting on significant stages of progress in your work.  Be sure to mention newsworthy persons who may have become involved in the project.  This could include a high profile woman or man whose image will be associated with your final product, be slated to read your text in an audio publication, or perform as the MC at an event you are managing personally.

Is there any way to ensure your media release will receive positive attention and be acted upon as you desire?  Admittedly, it helps if you’re prominent in your field.  The main thing is to avoid being perceived as wasting the media’s time.  Not only does that sour coverage of your current plea for attention, but also minimizes the likelihood that your next outreach will be greeted with joy.

When selecting between two or more potential news items to promote, you should remember that the most popular topics for garnering media attention are connected to children, elders, or non-profit organizations.  That is why it is beneficial to team up with such members of your community on appropriate projects.  Not only will such associations gain media attention, but they will bring loyal followers to whatever you’re doing–and word of mouth promotion is the most beneficial form of advertising.

As in any undertaking, you have one opportunity to make a good first impression.  Regardless of how important you view your message, you must consider how the recipient will judge its potential value to their customers.  As a promotional consultant, I’ve often worked with writers and artists who view their work as being of the utmost significance.  They begin nearly every communication by speaking of themselves and their status.  This is in direct conflict with the media’s desire to serve their patrons.  Rather than opening your plea for coverage with “I” (or even your name if the piece is written in the third person), begin with something that will appeal to your reader and encourage their interest in learning more about you.

Once you’ve sent out your media release you have to await their response.  To increase the number of people who see my releases, I place a note at the end of Faxes and emails stating that hard copy will follow.  Since so few people bother with snail mail today, there’s a good chance several people will read your copy.  Of course, you cannot control how a media outlet will respond.  Even if they decide to publish your message, you cannot be certain of how they will edit your copy, so keep in mind that providing less text gives them less to delete or re-sequence.  If they’re interested in learning more they’ll contact you.

Don’t forget to send out another media release when you’ve completed the project.  Again, make a point of mentioning any noteworthy person or historical context which will distinguish the activity as being of general interest in your community.  You can even send out subsequent releases to announce the results or consequences of your work.

The form of your media releases is important.
Most of the media releases I see are one or two pages of single-spaced paragraphs headed, “For immediate release.”  These releases have no sectioning, no titling, and no use of bold or underscored text.  And if the opening of such a long document is not auspicious, the recipient probably won’t finish reading it.

If you bore the recipient, how have you benefited from the effort…and cost, if you’ve mailed hardcopy?  Even if the release is read, there’s no guarantee that the recipient will act upon the information.  If you’re lucky the bare bones of your information will be published.  However, unless there’s a very slow news day (with a large “ news hole),” the full text of a long release is unlikely to be included.  If only part of your text is published, there’s no assurance that the details you deem pertinent will be included in the news piece.

One way to short-circuit these problems is the use of the classic inverted pyramid for news writing. This means that the most important facts must be placed at the beginning of the release. With each succeeding paragraph, the importance and relevance of the information contained decreases.  Many editors are grateful to receive material they can merely drop into their layout.

With careful research and repeated practice in writing media releases, you will enhance your ability to work efficiently with the media.  A successful program of media blitzing rests on gathering the facts and presenting them in a way that builds interest in what you are promoting.  Many times your challenge is in establishing a rhythm to the words you use to present the facts you have carefully laid out. 

~  As __________’s youth face another summer seeking entertainment.

~  The enclosed image shows reality television personality _____ donating her time at__________.

~  Jane Smith, winner of the 2015 __________ award has been named presiding judge in the forthcoming spelling bee for elementary school children in the __________ School District. 

Remember,  that if you are involved in an event benefiting your community, you might be the ideal guest for an early morning drive time radio talk show—one of the best ways of getting a large number of people to become aware of you and your work.

For examples of concise print and broadcast media releases, please visit:  https://www.imaginingswordpower.com/media/media_release_samples.html

Wishing you the best in your writing endeavors, 
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, wordsmith and design consultant

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower^© and branding, please visit my website:  Https://www.ImaginingsWordpower.com