You are a young company, and you want to communicate with the media without the services of a press officer, without investing sums that will jeopardize your cash flow. This solution is quite possible, but beware of the many pitfalls that await you. In this forum, we will present you the most common errors in press relations.
right time
A press release needs to be timely first. When everyone’s attention is turned to No. 1 news stories like the resignation of Jean Casteux or the appointment of Prime Minister, there’s no need to move on. If an announcement such as imprisonment or a vaccination pass is the center of all attention then it is useless to attract the attention of journalists … so it is often appropriate to be aware of the timing and sometimes report information to journalists.
Send a Press Release When You Have Nothing Interesting to Say
It is important not to confuse advertising and information! In this sense, sending out press releases as soon as your company changes, the arrival of a new employee or partnership with Company “X” is certainly important information for you but not necessarily for journalists.
Mention your brand in your entire press release
As we know, it is important for you that the media remember your brand as a whole. However, this is not a reason to put the name of your company/product/service on all lines of your press release. Two or three quotes should suffice. Plus, journalists can have nightmares of your brand, and unless I’m mistaken, it doesn’t matter.
brag all the way
You are writing a press release for journalists, so customizing your speech is essential. Forget overly bombastic headlines, overly marketing phrases that give journalists the impression that you’re advertising and you absolutely want to make them believe you’re the best. Let the journalists form their own opinion.
using too many technical terms
It’s not because you’re communicating with expert journalists that you have to integrate words that are too technical. quite the contrary! Remember that journalists are talking to the general public, and it’s better to make it simple to better understand what you’re doing.
Get your press release accessible to all journalists in the world
Better to send it to all the journalists, there are one or two people interested in speaking about my service. If you think so, I invite you to forget about this technology which is bad for you and the journalists. I assure you, it is better to have 20 qualified journalists than 100 unqualified journalists.
Thinking that your press release needs to be processed
I have a great service/product so why don’t journalists talk about it? That’s the sentence you think about regularly, you tell yourself that journalists don’t understand anything about it and they should write about you! Remember that journalists are free to choose the topics that interest them, even if you have the service that will revolutionize the world.
It is entirely possible, even recommended, to contact journalists to find out what they think of your press release. But don’t push too hard! You run the risk of ending up in the trash box or with a bad review.
Want to control the mindset of journalists
You have given references, statistics and key information to journalists, the rest is no longer in your hands. In general, articles are complimentary, but it sometimes happens that journalists issue an opinion that doesn’t meet your expectations. You have no control over it at this time. After all, would you accept someone to tell you what to write?