BEN Autumn Workshop December 2012 - Hitting the Headlines
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Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12 Hitting the headlines: how to get effective, accurate press coverage for your company Bristol, 6 December 2012
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Slides from NAdya Anscombe's workshop - Hitting the Headlines
Transcript of BEN Autumn Workshop December 2012 - Hitting the Headlines
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Hitting the headlines:how to get effective, accurate
press coverage for your company
Bristol, 6 December 2012
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Agenda
• Introduction (5 min)• Why are press releases so important? (10 min)• What makes a good press release? (20 min)• Exercise – writing a press release (60 min)• Distributing a press release (10 min)• Conclusions (5 min)
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Where do journalists get their stories?• 70% - 100% of stories in consumer and trade
press originate from press releases
• Other sources include:- other publications- conferences- reviewed journals- gossip, anonymous tip-offs- competitor magazines
• Journalists often create their own news
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
NewsflashJournalists are lazy
Many journalists have become “churnalists”
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Churnalism:the art of spreading news by simply
copy-and-pasting a press release
Get your press release right and you can get your message out in a very
efficient way
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
The press release….
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Source: Iran Daily
Verbatim
copy of
press
release
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
The story:Researchers at Cambridge
University are working on a project that aims to put RFID tags on every
product in a supermarket
How would the press release/ story be different in each case?
What sorts of readers would be interested in this story?
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Target readerships• Supermarket manager, warehouse managers, logistics
companies (“Know where everything is instantly”)• Consumers, children (“No more queuing at the
checkout”; “What is an RFID tag?”)• Human rights interest groups, politicians, police,
consumers (“The human rights issues”)• RF engineers, software engineers, researchers (“This is
how it works”)• Product and packaging manufacturers (“How to
integrate an RFID chip into your product”)• Bar code scanner manufacturers (“RFID is coming”)• Other University of Cambridge researchers (“This is
what we are doing”)
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Once you have decided your target readership…
• …you know what that reader is interested in and you know what the most important points are
• … you know what vocabulary to use and how to pitch the level of information you use
Now you need to convince the editor that his/her readers will be interested
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Structure of a news storyor press release
Punchy clear headlineMost important fact
Next important factBackground blurb and quotes
Unimportant facts to fill
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
A press release should….
• …be targeted at a specific audience• …tell the editor what has happened (or is about
to happen), who did it and why it is important• …also tell the editor when, where and how it
happened• …not be longer than two pages of A4• …have a photograph with it• …contain contact details (for the press and the
reader, if these are different)
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Something needs to have happened
• Not “this is our product”, but “Company A has launched product X” or “At Exhibition X company A will be exhibiting product B”
• Not “our product is fab”, but “Customer X has bought product Y because it does something no other product does”
• Not “We are focussed on providing quality products and first class service to our customers”, but “100th customer in Asia”
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Writing a press release
When writing a press release, ask yourself:• What is the one main point I need to get
across? What has happened?• Why is my product/technology/service better
than what other companies are doing?• What were the challenges we faced and how
did we overcome them?• Why has this happened now?
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Distributing a press release
• Identify target publications and send the press release directly to them
• Ask a consultant or media company (eg Marketwire) to build a list for you
• Use a web-based repository where journalists come and find stories (eg PR Newswire, Businesswire, Free Press release, PRWeb Direct, 1888Press release, Eurekalert, Alphagalileo)
• Get a PR company to write and/or distribute the press release for you
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Summary• A press release is the best way of getting
attention from the press• Target your press release at a specific
audience• Get your press release right and the publicity
will generate itself• A press release is not an advert. Something
needs to have happened• An accurate, complete press release will
ensure journalists do not make mistakes
Nadya Anscombe BEN workshop 6/12/12
Thank you!
Nadya AnscombeFreelance science and technology
0797 079 3127
