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One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to get media publicity for their business is having the belief that writing and sending press releases is all that’s required.

For those new to the media game, press releases are like stories you see in newspapers, but they are sent to journalists to encourage them to produce their own stories on the topics covered.

While press releases are important and must be written correctly, there are many other things that are equally important.

The first is the need to find your target media. Many people send their information to the wrong place, or don’t send it to others who are more likely to be interested. The best home for many press releases is niche media, rather than metropolitan daily newspapers.

For example, if a business is looking to target pharmacists, a magazine like Pharmacy Today would be a better bet than their local newspaper. Or if a target was small businesses across New Zealand, New Zealand Business would be a better bet than a local newspaper.  This is really commonsense, but something many people overlook in their search for media publicity.

The next thing is to understand what journalists want. Most press releases received by the media are advertisements dressed up as news stories. These are destined for the bin because they don’t have a news angle that would interest readers, viewers and listeners of the particular media outlet. For example, if you are opening a new business, that is not news. But if you business has some unique feature that would interest people, that is news.

When to send the press release is another important consideration. There is little point sending things on Friday afternoon when journalists are winding down for the week and are not interested in news ideas, unless they are big enough. Politicians, for example, often flood the media with information they don’t want published on a Friday afternoon. This is material they must release, but hope it will get buried or ignored by journalists. It also pays to keep well away from media deadlines.

Identifying what else is going on in the news is important. If there is lots of competition, it is often a good idea to hold back your release. For example, September 12, 2001 would not have been a good time to send your news to the New York Times. That paper would have been full of stories about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. There would have been little, if any room left for other stories. Even if there was room, few people would have been interested.

Another thing most people ignore is how to prepare and handle media interviews. If the media is interested in your press release, they may want to interview you. This could be for print, radio or Television. Media interviews are a wonderful opportunity to promote your business and create priceless credibility. But without the knowledge you require to shine, the opportunity will be lost forever. It is common for people to do interviews with journalists and give the wrong impression of their business and fail to get their key messages across to their audience, which is usually their target market.

These points highlight there is far more to receiving successful media coverage than writing press releases.  They are important, but there are many more pieces to the puzzle.