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Ok, you have some news, BIG news... now what? Well, if you have a PR or marketing person or department then no doubt you'll be sending out a press release. The following are 5 tips for a better press release, some useful tips from experts, and some related "how to" tools.
Before you do that though, make sure that your press release doesn't suck! Well, maybe it won't suck, however, there are a number of ways to make sure your PR is even better. Here's 5 small things that should help:
Have Something to Say - Sounds like a no brainer, but seriously, unless you have something new, earth shattering, and/or down-right cool then you might as well save your time. Some announcements may be idea for certain publications and others might be of interest to all journalists... you might want to hand-pick who gets which release.
Get Visual - Many industry, particularly Geo tech industries, are visual, very visual. So, if you have a new solution, app, service or ?? then use graphics that enable the reader to visualize exactly what your talking about. Include an image (just one) and provide links to where high-resolution images can be seen on your supporting website along with supporting information. Don't bother distributing your PR releases with 10 image files attached, a ZIP file or other large media files. Ideally you should simply provide a link to where the images can be accessed.
Make A Movie - Video is all the rage and if your PR folks haven't clued into that yet then you may want to ask them why? If appropriate, consider creating a short video to complement your news. Now this won't be applicable to some announcements, however, if you have a new app, solution, project win or the like then I'm sure your team can put together a short video about it. If video isn't your thing then you can always use still photos and images, mash them up and drop some nice music in with them. Don't have movie mixing software? Sorry, that's no longer a valid excuse as Windows PCs come bundled with Movie Maker software, there's freebies galore online, and YouTube even provides basic movie mixing. Lastly, keep it under 3 minutes!
Let Them Find You - Again another no brainer, however, you'd be amazed at how many companies fail to include detailed contact information with their PR. Include a valid email address, phone number, website URL, and Social Media resources (Twitter and facebook page at a minimum).
Track It - Creating and distributing a good PR takes time and effort so don't let it all be for nothing. Create custom short url we blinks using a service like bit.ly. Include these unique links in your PR then follow up to see how effective your press has been. If you send your PR via a number of different channels then consider unique urls for each site/source that will be running your PR.
Finally, if you have GIS/Geo/Mobile press, be sure to send it to press @GISuser.com for consideration. Need more help or advice on building and distributing your PR? Feel free to contact us for help. See also @GISuser or reach yours truly directly @gletham
5 Ways to Make Sure Your Press Release Doesn't Suckbit.ly/wuJ7ln
