What is a media release anyway?

If you’ve never had to send a media release before, it might seem like a bit of a mysterious concept. The good thing is, it’s not actually very complicated at all. It’s really just a document making an announcement of some sort, with the ultimate goal of attracting a journalist or editor’s attention so they want to cover your story.

The key is in the word ‘announcement’. It needs to have a newsworthy element to it. But before you panic because you can’t see your product or service ever being front page news, let me explain a little more. For something to be newsworthy, means it needs to be of interest to someone. This might mean local media, this might mean industry media, this might mean national, or international media. It just needs to be interesting to someone, somewhere. If it’s not, there’s not a lot of point writing it.

In the case of big companies, the news may be a merger or acquisition, a huge change in the way they do business or a statement to clear up something contentious. But for smaller companies it might be the release of a new product, a good news story and about something they’re doing in the local community, a quirky or interesting campaign or something interesting related to a customer. It can also just be the story of your business, written with a newsy hook. Other angles for media releases can be expert comment on a current issue, new statistics that link to your product and service or advice (the 5/7/10 tips style is very popular at the moment).

The main thing is trying to visualise who might be interested in it before you even start writing. Once you’ve worked out what your future customers read/watch/listen to, you need to start reading/watching/listening to the same thing. It will give you much better shot at writing a media release that will be picked up.

The other less-obvious benefit of a media release is more internal. The process of writing it makes you really distil, and sometimes actually decide, what you’re trying to say. There’s no room to ramble on so you need to be succinct and writing it down so others can read it can force you into organising your thoughts. By taking the time to get it right, you know you have it all there when approaching the media – rather than trying to remember it all under pressure.

Basically it’s the document you would want to receive as a journalist writing up your news. The who/what/where/when/how with dates, prices, venues, explanations, quotes (or whatever is relevant to your release) presented in a clear, logical and relevant way.