There’s a school of thought which says the media release – as a way of communicating news to journalists - is dead. Or at least dying a slow death.
We think the reality is far more nuanced than that.
It is true that time poor journalists, who are under pressure to create a higher volume of stories per day, do not have the time or inclination to wade through formulaic media releases to find a relevant angle or story. And there is no doubt the days of ‘spray and pray’ media releases are behind us.
But it’s also true that time poor journalists actively welcome pitches, story narratives and media releases which have been carefully constructed and appropriately targeted.
It’s all about knowing the media and what they need.
In some instances a tailored pitch and story narrative developed for specific publications is the better way to package news and it can lead to a more in depth article.
However for broader or breaking news stories the media release continues to be the best vehicle. With one caveat - a traditional corporate release simply won’t generate good results anymore.
We counsel our clients to approach their media release with a totally different perspective. It begins with leaning into a more journalistic style and actively modifying corporate release templates to something more appropriate. The narrative is condensed with sharp editing and a punchy one or two paragraph synthesis of the news is placed upfront. Lengthy company descriptors no longer have a place in the first paragraph (did they ever?). And interesting quotes the journalists can lift and load are mandatory. These should not lean on filler language or corporate jargon, rather they should be written as you might speak and provide a meaningful insight or perspective.
Next the headline - say goodbye to making the client name centre stage - instead mirror the sort that appear in the publication being targeted.
There’s no denying all these changes are a significant shift from previous media release styles (and indeed many current corporate global templates) so for some clients it can be tricky to align with global when their templates may still be fit for purpose in different markets. However those that have allowed us to evolve their media releases to meet the market are achieving excellent media coverage results.
If you’d like to find out more about our approach, please get in touch and we’ll be delighted to share some examples of best practice and the results we’re achieving.