Ms. Gendron

Social Media & PR

Hotel PR: The News Release Revisited

By Mary Gendron, President, Middleton & Gendron, Inc.

The news release has been around for 100 years (that milestone passed in October 2006), conceived by public relations pioneer Ivy Lee who used it to convey to the media details of a fatal train accident on behalf of his client, the Pennsylvania Railroad. For much of its history, the news release (a.k.a. press release) remained unchanged, taking the form of a written statement of news, facts or information on behalf of a company or a cause.

Typically, the release would be sent via what is now referred to as "snail mail." In special instances, it might be handed to media at a press conference or similar event. With the dawn of email, releases were sent, initially, as attachments, then as imbedded copy. The latter method developed to avoid the possibility of instantaneous deletion by a firewall, a spam filter or a skittish recipient reluctant to open an attachment sent by anyone other than a family member or close friend.

The 2001 anthrax scare eliminated the snail mail option almost overnight (saving countless trees in the process). Since then, the news release has evolved into a primarily electronic conveyance, a development that has caused public relations professionals and their clients to rethink its use and potential for effectiveness.

One thing that hasn't changed is its purpose. Since Mr. Lee saw his release printed verbatim in the October 30, 1906 edition of The New York Times as a "Statement from the Road", news releases have been used to convey news, facts, ideas, story angles, officials statement, points-of-view, trends, information, explanations, retractions, and clarifications. The bane of certain reporters' existences, due to the sheer volume received and, too often, lack of targeted direction, it serves an important role to others, particularly legions of journalists whose organizations are short-staffed and unable to send writers to get the stories that their readers and viewers might be interested in.

Our goal - and yours, I hope - is to better understand how and when to use this basic public relations tool, and how and when not to use it.

Retooling PR's Most Basic Tool

Let's start by reviewing the most commonly used news release formats:

Narrative Release:
Most often used, this format typically includes a headline, perhaps a subhead (if the news angle is complex or complicated), a dateline, and one or more paragraphs describing and supporting the angle put forth in the headline. A "boilerplate" paragraph of "mandatory copy" about the issuing organization concludes the document. This includes a description of the company, address, phone, fax, web address and other pertinent information. Follow-up contact information for an official spokesperson for the release (name, company, phone, email - fax, if relevant) is provided at the very top or very bottom of the release (At Middleton & Gendron, we prefer to put it at the top, for easy reference).

For hospitality industry clients, this format is most commonly used to disseminate news, feature angles, package or program information, personnel changes, construction or renovation information and topical matter that is of interest to a mass audience.

Media Alert:
Typically used to announce or remind media of an upcoming event, this brief provides a newsy headline and subheads of Who, What, When, Where, and Why (and, sometimes, How). Information may be presented in bullet-point or similarly succinct format. Boilerplate and contact information is included.

Statement:
The headline flags this document as an "official statement", includes contact information, and may or may not provide boilerplate information on the issuer. It is most often used in crisis as a way to respond to unfortunate occurrences, included, but not limited to, deaths, accidents, explosions, poor financial reports, or other matters involving loss to a related individual, group, area, or organization.

Communicating Effectively Via News Release

Regardless the format used, there are a number of useful tips for effective writing for today's media; these include the following:

Use inverted pyramid style:
This traditional tenet of good journalistic writing still holds: put the most important information first, followed by supporting information, leaving the least significant details to the end, and culminating with the boilerplate paragraph. There are two good reasons for adhering to this: 1) if your goal is to appeal to journalists, then you should write in a style they can appreciate; and 2) if the news is omitted from the head and lead and, instead, buried in the release, the document is likely to be deleted without being read.

Be succinct:
Attention deficit is a reality today, an understandable downside of the instant-messaging, instant communication, let's-move-on-quickly mentality that pervades (nay dictates) the world of computer users. Be succinct in your communication and you will be more effective in gaining the interest of the media you seek to reach.

Write an attention-grabbing subject line in your email:
Journalists tell me that most of the unsolicited emails they receive are deleted without ever even being opened. This is due to the volume of emails they receive daily, and the chronic issue (as mentioned earlier) of releases distributed en masse without regard to the subject's relevance to the receiving editor. In order to be read, your release must be opened, so spend some time on the subject line, making it as newsy, relevant and compelling as you can. If you know the journalist personally, you may want to include your name in the subject line. If you met the journalist recently, and are responding to stated interest in a topic, reference that meeting in the subject line to jog the recipient's memory.

Use News Releases Judiciously:
In all cases, news releases, whether narrative, media alert, or statement, are used when information needs to be conveyed to a group of media simultaneously. For better results in daily media relations, adopt a one-on-one, targeted approach, matching the angle to the needs and interests of a particular journalist.

Imbed accompanying photos into the release:
All releases should be sent as imbedded copy, and this goes for photos, too. Providing the journalist with an appropriately illustrated release is effective as long as the photo or graphic is available to the journalist in a downloadable format. We recommend establishing a photo library on your organization's website.

Comb your media database regularly and tailor distribution to each news release:
Creating and maintaining an accurate media database is an ongoing job. Once the baseline database is in place, institute a system for ongoing maintenance to ensure that it is up-to-date and accurate. Beyond that, we recommend tailoring the database to each specific release, handpicking only those journalists who may have interest in the particular angle. This takes time and effort, but it can go a long way in developing positive relationships with important press whose highest compliment may be: "Those folks only contact me when they have something I'm interested in."

Take advantage of the growing availability of web distribution services:
In addition to traditional print, broadcast and online media, you can tap into the growing number of targeted news distribution services offered on line. Many of these are yours to use for free or at nominal cost. Most will run your release verbatim and you'll see it show up on the news alerts provided by Google, Yahoo!, AOL and others. Since the press use these news services for reference, and are literally pulling the information off of the Web, you have the potential of gaining increased exposure for your release.

Understand the recipient's preference:
As you get to know members of the media on an individual basis, you are likely to find that certain editors and reporters prefer receiving information via email, while others do not. Be prepared to use fax, messenger or snail mail upon request. And respect the wishes of journalists who don't want to receive releases electronically.

Add and maintain a Press Room on your website:
Once a release has been disseminated, include it on your organization's website, first as news (until the immediate news value has passed) and then as archived material. Let the media know they can download releases from your site by including this information in your company boilerplate or as a line of mandatory copy at the bottom of each release.

Keep abreast of new tools for dissemination:
The proliferation of social websites and targeted bloggers provide additional potential means of conveying news. Understanding the opportunities and potential pitfalls of navigating newer media is essential, and the subject of another article.

Mary Gendron is president of Middleton & Gendron, Inc. Brand Communications, a public relations and branding firm specializing in travel and hospitality for three decades. Prior to moving into public relations, Gendron was editor of Hotel & Motel Management magazine and engineered its redesign. Prior to that, she was part of Gralla Publications. Where she was instrumental in the launch of Meeting News magazine, and was the magazine's first managing editor. Her writing, as a journalist and on behalf of agency clients, has appeared in a wide range of media. Ms. Gendron can be contacted at 212-990-9065 or mgendron@mg-pr.com Extended Bio...

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