Promote your business

Jun 27 2006 By Evening Gazette

The most effective technique for getting free publicity is to get "good news" stories about your business published in newspapers and magazines, or broadcast on radio or television.

There are tried and tested ways of achieving this through news releases, and if you are successful it can considerably boost your marketing efforts.

Why news stories count

News stories about businesses are more widely read and believed than advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

The stories are prepared by journalists who are independent of the people and the organisations. This gives the stories more credibility than advertisements - whose paid for content is by its nature biased and may contain misleading information.

The publicity news stories generate can be more valuable, and contribute more to the image and reputation of your business, than thousands of pounds spent on advertising.

The type of stories that get covered

Journalists are on the lookout for "newsworthy" stories that will be interesting, informative or entertaining to their readers, listeners or viewers. So your press release should grab their attention with information about something new, different, unusual or revelatory.

The most widely used kind of stories are those with "human interest". People like to read about what other people are doing. So you should, ideally, put together a press release that communicates information with human interest appeal.

Newsworthy stories should include:

* Your business or staff winning an award or raising a large amount for a local charity.

* Details of your great new product, a ground-breaking service - make a special offer of the product or service to readers.

* Your business gaining a big new order, or creating jobs.

* Your business launching an award, or sponsoring a community project.

* A competition involving local people, or a special event.

* A customer survey that comes up with some surprise findings.

* An unusual or interesting customer or member of staff for example, if you own a bicycle shop, is one of your customers a champion racer?

Preparing your press releases

Press releases can be prepared for you and put out to the media by a public relations consultant or agency, but this will incur a cost and can vary depending on who is used.

If you don't have the money to spare it can be worthwhile producing and issuing your own press releases. The following guidelines will enable you to try to tackle the process on your own.

Your releases should contain the answers to basic questions that journalists ask of any kind of news story:

* What is the story about?

* Who is involved?

* Where has it happened?

* When did it happen?

* Why did it happen?

* How did it happen?

In order to prepare a good, well written release, there are some rules that should be followed:

* First and foremost, give each release an attention-grabbing headline, then summarise the key points of your story in a short snappy first paragraph.

* A release should be no more that two pages long. Keep it concise and to the point, and ensure that the content is as objective as possible.

* Write your release with the assumption that the reader knows nothing about the subject. Do not use abbreviations and technical jargon.

* Write the release so that it still makes sense even when paragraphs are removed. Journalists frequently do this when space is tight.

* Releases should be customised to the style and interests of a particular media to which they are being sent.

* You should ensure the words "Press Release" are written in bold at the top of the page, followed on the next line by the date on which it has been issued.

* Write releases on A4 paper, but on one side only, and use double line spacing and wide margins. If the release goes on to two pages, you should write "more follows" at the bottom of the first page. Make sure you number all pages and include the word "Ends" at the end of every release.

* At the end of your release include a name and contact details - telephone and mobile numbers, email and the address of your office - so that journalist can get in touch with you to check details.

Photographs

Where possible you should include a good quality photograph with your release. Journalists often run stories on the merits of a photograph, even when the story itself may not be of great interest.

The more striking the image, the more chance there is that your photograph will get used. Photographs of presentations or line-ups of people, however, are generally regarded as dull and boring by most journalists.

It is a good idea to use a professional photographer to ensure the quality of your pictures. Some photographers will charge you a copyright fee for using their images in a media promotion.

Other ways of generating free publicity:

* Offering to write articles or a column on a particular subject for your local newspaper or chamber of trade newsletter.

* Creating your own free electronic newsletter or e-zine that you can send out to your customers on a regular basis with stories about your business.

* Offering to give a talk to your local chamber of trade, trade associate or community groups about an aspect of you business or a topical issue.

* Offering free classes or demonstrations of a particular product or service to local community groups at your business.

* Hosting an event, seminar or talk at your business.

Business Link can work with you to gain a better understanding of your business needs and can work alongside you to ensure that you promote your business effectively and can, if appropriate, help with the identification of funding to ensure you achieve your objectives.

Call Business Link on 0845 600 9 006 or email info@tees.businesslink.co.uk to see how you can get the most from your business.