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Business Tips

5 opportunities to write a press release

getting inspiration for your press releases, especially on a long-term scale can be challenging. Seasons and trends and help, the key is to identify the opportunities.

 

Many small businesses that start using PR already have their marketing opportunity in place, but others struggle after their first press release, and need inspiration for future releases.

Like any other form of marketing, public relations is about consistency. You should try to balance between sending too many press releases in a short space of time, and sending nothing for a long time.

Generally we recommend that our businesses send an average of one press release a month, and no more than one per week.

From our experience, lots of SME’s will write their first release, and either wont have a plan for their long term PR strategy, or will have a plan to write consistently but won’t know what to write about.

So if you have writers block, or simply need inspiration for what to write about, here are some potential opportunities to give you inspiration for your press release.

 

1) Upcoming news and events:

One of the best, and easiest, ways to get into the news is to use upcoming news or events. Think about what is going on in and around your sector. What trade shows are coming up? What key industry news is being released over the next few weeks? 

If you are a small retailer, is any inflation or retail price data being released?

Do you run a business in the fashion industry? What do the latest Associated British Foods (the company that owns Primark) figures represent for the industry?

An online PR calendar will go some way to providing you with lots of ideas for things coming up in the news, but you should also seek to create your own calendar as part of your PR plan.

Along with key news dates and events happening, online calendars can provide a list of award programmes to apply for. If you’re shortlisted for, and especially if you win, an award, you should definitely make a ‘song and dance’ about it.

 

2) Seasonal opportunities:

Think about how the time of year might affect your business too.

If it’s January, and you have a product that is mainly aimed at the Christmas market, now is not the best time to promote that product.

However, if it’s getting closer to the summer and you sell beachwear, think about running a PR campaign in the run up to the better weather.

Similarly, if you are in the fitness business, the start of January is a good time to promote losing the Christmas weight.

 

3) Your new product launch:

If you are just launching your business, or have a new product that is going to market, you want to get as much exposure as you can for it. If no one knows about your new product or service, how are you going to sell any?

Use your launch to gain some press coverage. Either invite journalists to a launch event, or give them the information about the event along with a high-res image.

An important thing to remember though is that lots of businesses launch new products or improve their offering. The difference between those that get coverage and those that don’t is the story.

What is interesting about your product? Why should your potential customers want to read about your launch and new product?

 

4) You raised investment:

In today’s economy, with lots of tech start-ups especially, gaining investment can be a great opportunity for a press release.

One of the key things to remember when promoting your successful investment round is to ask the investor(s) for their permission. In a lot of cases press releases announcing investment mention the people/person investing, so they may receive coverage as well.

 

5) A new partnership:

In business, partnerships can be a very effective way of increasing your visibility, so when you launch a new partnership be sure to promote it as much as possible.

In your release include a quote from you or a member of your team, along with a quote from your new partner too.

 

Every small business has a story to tell- whether that’s the new product you’re launching, the backstory of the business owner, the reason the business was set up or countless other reasons.

As outlined throughout this blog, it’s important to remember that journalists only care about exciting stories that will interest their readers, so always ask yourself ‘what is interesting about this story?’ before writing. Importantly, it doesn’t even need to be news about you or your business. It could simply be a comment on what’s going on and how it would affect you.

If you would like to hear more of our business tips or would like more information about how you can get more media coverage for your business contact the JournoLink team on mailto:sales@journolink.com

 

 

 

 

 

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