There’s a lot of noise out there in the digital stratosphere these days. With social media everyone is their own publisher. So how do you create and distribute successful press releases that catch the attention of the channels and platforms you need, to get your messages to your audience? Here are our Top 10 Tips we’ve gleaned from 25+ years in the financial services PR space:
- Have a story: Don’t simply push product. Make your “announcement” or message relatable. How does what you have to say benefit the people you are saying it to? You have to show your audience you understand the issues they face.
- Build trust: Brand awareness is important. Instant familiarity and consistency. The name of your company should be immediately apparent. ‘No names’ companies rarely get coverage. Editors will decide within a second if they’re going to open a release based on who it’s from. You want to build trust each time you speak.
- Optimise your content (SEO): Taking the time to make sure your content is optimised means that a publication can create threads around keywords, and this becomes even more important on social media where there’s ongoing feedback to editorial content within a community of readers.
- Research and understand your keywords: Understand what keywords are being used by your audience to search for the answers they’re seeking, and make efforts to align your content and keywords to provide solutions to your audiences’ problems.
- Understand your niche: Niche (B2B) publications are searched according to the most common keywords being used by readers and communities. It’s important for online publications to ensure their content is relevant and SEO (search engine optimised).
- Usability: Don’t embed a release as an attachment only (for example, a PDF document); it must open easily within the viewing screen of a range of devices.
- Relevance: A newsworthy release must be brand new, and relevant to the broader readership of the media you are targeting. You must be saying something new and of interest – if it’s not then you’re targeting the wrong media. 95% of coverage provided by financial services media is sourced directly from releases.
- The channel: A growing number of readers will digest their news content in transit (at least they did pre-COVID19). That means the form of delivery is becoming less computer screen-oriented and more mobile-friendly. Editors are fully aware of this and as a result more content is being designed for use on smartphones, tablets and wearable devices. Keep your content concise, well-written, clear, and always avoid double negatives, passive text and jargon.
- Current: Dated releases almost never get a run.
- Avoid ambiguity: Don’t try to cover too many topics. Keep it simple and stay ‘on-message’. Better to successfully deliver one or two key messages than over-reach and confuse.
Stay tuned for our next Top Ten tips next week.