The Public Relations Blog

6 tips for getting better results with your pitches

How often do you get a call from someone trying to sell you something and the person begins by asking if you have a minute? This is an immediate way to shut down the conversation and end the call. In today’s busy world, no one really has a minute.

As you are pitching, you will discover that the same is true for journalists. You will find that it’s never a good time to pitch a journalist. Journalists may be working on several stories at one time and are often on tight deadlines. This means they are usually far too busy to speak by phone about your pitch idea, especially when others are bombarding them – often with pitches that don’t pertain to the area or topic that they cover.

Let PR show you how to get a reporter’s attention and keep it

Media coverage is an ideal way to educate people about your product, inform them about your events, highlight your company or feature your CEO as a thought leader in your industry. As a result, every business wants to know the secrets for obtaining more media coverage.

While there is no one-size-fits-every-company answer, there are media relations practices and habits you can adopt to increase your chances of coverage success. With help from PR, you can get the media coverage your company needs and deserves.

PR helps you find the best way to distribute company news

Discussion about whether the press release is still relevant has been floating around the public relations community for several years now. Five years ago, a Forbes reporter called it “worthless.” If the press release was worthless five years ago, that’d make it a dinosaur today.

But, for many, thepress/news release remains a critical tool in the PR practitioner’s toolbox. So, is it dead or not?

Axia PR offers tips on media-friendly writing

Your business has made some incredible headway and is on the cusp of launching the next big thing. But how do you share this information with the world?

A basic tool of the public relations trade is the news (or press) release. A well-crafted news release contains all the pertinent details you wish to share, along with factual support, delectable sound bites from valuable resources and company positioning. But too often, companies believe that anyone can write a news release and the news media will go nuts over it.

Media relations are important to your company’s earned media coverage

I recently attended a “Meet the Media” event with a professional PR association. While there, I noticed some common mistakes PR people tend to make that turn off media personnel. Most of the frowned-upon behaviors seemed obvious, but when you’re determined to pitch a story, it’s easy to make the same mistakes.

What could be more important to your publicity than a public relations announcement issued to the media and other key audiences? Yes, we’re talking about a press release, aka a news release: the quickest and easiest way to get publicity for your company. A professionally written press release can result in numerous published articles and blog posts about your company. Therefore, it is very important to avoid these five common mistakes in your press release:

PR explains the top 6 phrases you should never put in a press release or pitch

You want to attract media attention, so you create a dynamite press release announcing your company’s brand new initiative or event. However, you may be sabotaging your great news by using old, tired phrases in your press release and turning off reporters.

Writing press releases is like a balancing act. You must provide enough information to pique a reporter’s interest without divulging too much. It has to have all the pertinent details without being too lengthy. In addition, certain overused phrases can be annoying to reporters and make them stop reading. Experienced PR pros can show you how to avoid this and craft press releases that get results.

You have created a press/news release. It has been edited several times and vetted through all the proper channels. Now what?

Crafting a press releaseor pitch is only half the battle when it comes to attracting media attention and achieving positive news coverage. Where you send a press release is often more important than what you send. Use PR to help you make the right decision for maximum effect.

Turn to PR for the best advice on sending a press release

In today’s age of social mediaand 24-hour news generation, many companies wonder if there are still best and worst times to distribute press releases. Of course, there are some consistent tenets that hold true, such as not sending a press release on a Saturday afternoon just before a major holiday (reporters will not be in the office to see it) or on April 1. However, is one day and time better than another?

How to create newsworthy and reporter-friendly content

As public relations professionals, we follow established guidelines that most business professionals aren’t familiar with. Some of the most commonly asked questions we get are about news releases, which, when written and edited correctly, are a great way to share and promote company news.