Manage your PR & media relations

Among PR pros, the news release is still the most common tool for gaining attention. The success of the classic "news release + email outreach" PR campaigns can be influenced by many and varied factors.

Which factors, exactly? Time of day, day of the week, email distribution lists, customization and so on. Looking for patterns and insights in the PR industry, we asked: What can we learn from 50,000 press releases?

We analyzed the press releases published through pr.co since 2013 and found some statistics that will be helpful to anyone interested in PR.

What's the best day to publish a press release?

Tuesdays and Thursdays are the busiest days with 18% of press releases published. The days in the middle of the week, Tue-Wed-Thu, cover 53% of all the press releases.

Whoever said “PR doesn’t happen on Mondays” was probably wrong, because 16% of our press releases were published on Mondays. We would rather say that PR doesn’t happen on Sundays. Read the full post here.

When do press releases get the most views?

Even if most press releases get published on Tuesdays and Thursdays (18% each), the views in these days are not more than in other days (15% of the views on both Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Another interesting comparison is about weekends. Very few press releases are published on weekends (17% on Saturdays and Sundays together), but 25% of the total views occur on weekends. Read the full post here.

Send fewer emails, get better results

More than half (53%) of all the campaigns sent through pr.co have less than 100 recipients. To be more precise, 21% of all the campaigns has between 2 and 19 recipients. Another 20% has from 20 to 60 recipients.

Campaigns with more than 200 emails sent are way less recurring. Among the ‘big’ campaigns, many have between 600 and 800 recipients. On the other hand, only 17% of all the campaigns has more than 300 sent emails. Read the full post here.

As you may have noticed we have recently moved from using Olark for our instant chat service, to using Intercom.

You can see this difference in the new chat icon:

  Click on that button (or the 'Chat' link in the footer) and you'll get a window on the right side of your screen that looks a bit like this:

What can we learn from 50K press releases? (Infographic)

The success or failure of a news release depends on different factors. Time of day, day of the week, distribution lists, customization and so on.

With that in mind, what can we learn from 50,000 press releases? When do news releases get the most views? How important is the size of the distribution list? Does this affect open rates?

This study was featured on PR Daily.

You may have noticed that the 'Autotweet on @prcofeed' check box on the press release 'Publish' screen is no longer there.

We have moved the setting from a per-pressrelease setting to a per-pressroom setting.

So, every press release published will have the pressroom's setting applied to it. The default setting for this is OFF. The autotweet function is only enabled if all of your previous press releases have been autotweeted.

What can Elmore Leonard teach us about writing?

A lot!

Here's our favourite tip:

Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

This does not apply only to fiction, does it?

A kick-ass title is essential to getting your news out there.

Did you write a press release? A blog post? Something in-between? You'll need a title that makes the readers want more.

A title that is appealing to your audience but doesn't give all away. Something teasing, relevant, consistent and potentially viral.

Just like this shot of Breaking Bad. This doesn't look easy.

How do you create such a title then? Based on the AIDA model - used a lot in marketing and PR - these are the guidelines you can use:

Attention

If there is anyone involved in the project, product or service you are writing about that is well known: mention them!

Write down a few powerful adverbs that are relevant to the release, but also match with your style of communication and use on of them. Don’t overkill.

Be creative, add humor for example.

Create controversy.

Interest

Use keywords that are relevant to the subject and the audience you are trying to reach. Ask yourself what keywords people would type into a search engine to find what they’re looking for (which is your press release ofcourse!).

Make sure the content of your press release is relevant to the title. If expectations aren’t met, people will get disappointed. So make sure the press release does what the title promises.

Desire

Play into people’s wishes and dreams, use your imagination (and theirs).

Be personal. Generic titles won’t do the trick. What kind of sentences would trigger you as a person? What would make you want to read, react or even get involved?

Action

Your title should be actionable and short. Make sure they’re not going anywhere before reading what you have to say. If your title is too long, people will lose interest before even getting to the press release.

Make it easy to understand. If your title is too complex, there’s a chance people will not even understand what the press release is about and will go right on to the next best thing.

Find the essence of your message. Delete all words that can be left out without changing the core of your message and still be relevant and triggering.

Now come up with 10 titles that match all essentials mentioned above.

Yes, write 10 different titles you would want to read.

Ernest Hemingway never wrote anything on the art of writing.

He did, however, leave behind many passages in letters, articles and books with his opinions and advice on writing. 

Since we love him and his work, here are a few of our favorite Hemingway's quotes about writing.

5 Writing tips by Ernest Hemingway from pr.co

Not sure what he meant? Here's the original article with all his quotes.

The next time you're stuck in front of an empty page, remember this:

Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made.

I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say.

How do you get press as an early-stage company? What steps will make you get covered by your favourite journalists and media outlets?

Unfortunately, there's no silver bullet and you need to do some homework and spend time on these tasks. Here's a step-by-step guide you can follow to keep up with influencers, run your media relations and pitch successfully.

Read the full Online PR for Startups guide.

1. Get your story straight

Startups' assets usually considered as news are: company launches, product launches, fundraising events, acquisitions, milestones, data insights, newsjacking.

What is your product? How will it affect others? Who will care? Positioning statements combine these three key factors into two sentences that are used to market the product and pitch it to the media.

Renée Warren, Co-Founder of Onboardly 

Get clear on what your company stands for.  What is your philosophy or unique approach to tackling the problem in your market? Offer the press a fresh perspective. Be consistent and vocal about relevant issues in your space that are open for debate. Draw a line between your past experiences and why you’re in a special position to comment on these problems.

Jennifer Maloney, Co-Founder of Yulu PR

2. Take the RIBS test

To make it "stick to your ribs", your story has to be:

Relevant. Who is your audience, and is your company solving a problem that they care about? What matters to them about that problem? Inevitable. You want people to feel that whatever you’re developing is inevitable. This is like having a gust of wind at your company’s back. Believable. You can be relevant, and your product may even seem inevitable, but you still may not be believed. Being believable isn't just convincing people you can win, it's convincing them that they want you to win.  Simple. People are torn in so many directions these days — somehow you have to break through, and the way to do this is to keep things simple.

Caryn Marooney, Head of Technology Communications for Facebook

3. Set up your pressroom

Your pressroom is everything you need to back up your custom pitch. Keep your online pressroom up-to-date: it features your press releases, presskit, contacts and company info. When someone gets interested in your story, you want to have all the necessary back-up information just one click away. 

Moreover, you can add social proof to your pressroom. All the previous articles about you can be added as clippings to your pressroom. You can also start asking your clients for a quote - you don’t need celebrities, just experts or people who share your users’ pain. Be as precise as possible and feature them all in your pressroom.

4. Get in the media radar

Make a habit of reading your favourite reporters to stay on top of the news. Moreover, this will increase your chances of getting a reply.

Figure out who’s covering your industry — then there will be those few reporters who cover that specific area you’re in. Make sure you read everything they write. The reporters covering tech want to hear your story. They’re actively looking to build relationships with entrepreneurs.

Brooke Hammerling, Founder of Brew Media Relations

5. Build your presslist

Yes, this is going to take time. You can start by defining your goals and audiences. Start following selected journalists, bloggers and influencers on Social Media. 

You can add their publications to your feed reader and take some time every week to keep up-to-date with their articles. Share the articles, leave comments, ask them questions on Twitter, connect them with other people. You'll find unexpected ways to be helpful. 

Let them remember your name, so you'll be more likely to get a reply when you pitch them. Get more details about building your presslist on this page.

6. Avoid mass distribution

Traditional wire services allow you to distribute your press releases to a pre-compiled list of selected journalists.  This approach is hardly effective anymore, for different reasons. A campaign made of fewer, shorter and very customized emails can go a long way, if you invest time and resources in it.

Dozens of new startups launch each day. Everyone thinks they have a story to tell. Reporters are bombarded with pitches every day.  No one wants to write about companies that are here today and gone tomorrow. They want to write about disruptors that have market longevity.

Taryn Langer, Founder of Moxie Communications Group

7. Craft your subject line

In order to increase the chances to get your emails opened, you need to work on your subject line. You also may want to spend about half the time you have in crafting your title: there’s a rule about that. The Golden Rule? Don’t sell what’s inside, tell what’s inside.

I think how a journalist would think. And so my subject line is a headline. I write my pitch like a small version of what their story is going to be. It takes practice, it takes writing iterations. That’s how I approach PR.

Johnny Brackett, Communications Manager at Square

8. Make sure there is CEO visibility

Often CEO visibility is required to get the best results. This person may need some media training to deliver key messages, to answer common questions in a meaningful way and to avoid dangerous pitfalls. Also, numbers and data to support your claims and back up your story are usually appreciated.

Your CEO or founder is your mouthpiece that plays an instrumental role in shaping your company’s image, brand and culture. Therefore he or she needs to be accessible and visible to the public.  This means they must have a presence on social media, a positive relationship with the press and the ability to share your story flawlessly. Not only will their visibility create credibility and leadership in your industry, but it will also get them in front of the right people to help expand the business.

Shana Starr, Managing Partner at LFPR

9. Pitch!

Many sources agree about the preferred way to pitch: email. Emails are still one of the most powerful tools and journalists love them. Some may prefer different engagement tools, but when you get to know them you will know. How do you craft emails for the journalists and influencers you want to get in, then?

When writing your emails it’s tempting to just write one message and send it to all your contacts in one go. What I do instead is write a very short paragraph explaining my announcement, just a couple of sentences long. I then send every individual a personalized email with a personal salutation and a short explanation why I think this news is relevant for their audience. If they have written about your company before this can be included as well. The short description and link to the press release can be the same for everyone.

Marc Köhlbrugge, Founder of Betalist.

10. Time your news to perfection

Timing is often very important for media outlets. Sometimes, they may be interested in your story unless it's just been covered by someone else.

Last year when one of my companies was featured on TechCrunch, I emailed TheNextWeb that day to see if they wanted to write about the announcement. A journalist from the outlet wrote saying that she would have written about the story, but TechCrunch had already covered it and she was no longer interested.  To combat an incident such as this occurring, entrepreneurs implement something called an “embargo”.

Conrad Egusa, Founder of Brownstein & Egusa

11. Measure your results

In order to improve, you need to measure the right metrics. Quantitative metrics can help you adjust your overall strategy. Open and click rates, for example, are good indicators of the quality of your email campaign. 

A qualitative feedback can help you understand your strengths and weaknesses. Once you exchange a few emails with someone, it’s ok to ask for their preferences.

Is it true they prefer to be pitched in the morning? Is email the best way? How should you link to additional resources like presskit, press releases, etc?

The Social Media strategy for your company should always be data-driven. Make educated guesses according to your goals, run campaigns, measure results, adjust, repeat.

When you define your marketing budget, there's no point in considering the reputation of a social network, nor other people's reviews. The only thing that matters is if it makes sense to your business.

That's why it doesn't really help to read discussions like:

Is Facebook Marketing dead?

Of course it isn't. But this is not your problem. The point is: does this make sense to my business? To the marketing goals I have? To my Social Media strategy? And what data can I bring to support my answer?

We also decided to put our Facebook page on hold. We will not update it anymore.

A few reasons for this choice. You may find some of these reasonable enough to consider doing the same.

1. Facebook is not what it used to be

Organic reach for pages was about 16% in 2012.

It hasn't increased since. A study by social@Ogilvy in early 2014 shows a huge decrease instead. Facebook explains it here.

Brands are reacting in different ways, which can be summed up in 2 main branches: either you put a lot more time creating and sharing your content, or you pay to boost it. A few ideas on the former option.

2. Lots of opportunities, but no control

Just like any other social network, Facebook allows brands to rent a space on its platform. Insights about your fans are available, but are not yours. Nothing you do on Facebook actually belongs to you.

Facebook can (and does) use those insights for its own marketing purposes. When Facebook decides to change the platform, you have no way to stop it. This is a weak spot.

3. That story about the advertising fraud

A few months ago, this video was released:

It shows a short experiment where regular Facebook advertising actually decreases the average engagement for a business page.

The story involves some like-farms in developing countries and the suspect that the whole Facebook advertising model is flawed.

Of course, this is not enough to stop using Facebook advertising. You may want to start some tests to check out how it works for your page.

4. Trolling your followers

In October 2014, Taco Bell hid its Social Media history to launch its new app. It was a temporary move, since their tweets and Facebook posts came back slightly afterwards. They were not actually deleted.

Nonetheless, they got a huge press coverage for this bold move.

5. A simple truth: it's not worth it for us

Following Eat24's example, Copyblogger left Facebook in October.

Here's how Erika Napoletano put it:

We all might love Facebook for a wide variety of reasons, but that means jack if our audiences don’t interact with us on Facebook. It’s not our job to tell our audience where we live. It’s to grow communities where they live.

We are also following a similar path: our Facebook page is indefinitely on hold.

The reason is not only in the points we make above. It's just not worth it from any perspective. Not the conversations. Not the visits to our site. Not the new business.

We've recently added the ability to search through your media library. In the past it has been a massive hassle scrolling through hundreds of photos and videos just to find the one that you are looking for, but no more. Now to find that single picture you need you can simply search through your files using words that are in the name of the file you're looking for.

For people with many files in their media library this will help you find the file you want faster than ever.

We're happy to be introducing this search to the pressroom overview page as well. Now you can search through your press releases by title, and in combination with the other filters provided (as you can see below).

What can Mark Twain tell us about telling stories?

Writing, at the most basic level, is the art of creating a more suitable reality. You learn to do that, and you can change things.

Here is some advice for you, to guide us on a satisfying adventure - of breathing new life through old words.

You can read the full guide about Startup PR here.

PR is not only about media relations, or publicity. There are many others channels you can explore.

Inbound marketing, content marketing, Social Media marketing are all related to your online presence and can help you raise brand awareness and potential leads.

This is not a quick process, though. It takes time and effort to convert your blog readers into leads. Rand Fishkin can help with this.

How can you leverage your online activities to develop relationships, become an authority and reach your goals? Let's ask some experts in the field.

Become an authority

Make them come at you.

If you're passionate about what you do, and you've been working on your field for some time, you are already an expert. There are tips you can share, expertise you can talk about, statements you can make.

And even if you don't feel you're an expert yet, you can still find ways to help people out. 

Turn your passion into your credentials and become an “expert” in your field. Find industry trade publications or blogs that cover your turf, and reach out to them about contributing educational guest articles, or perhaps doing an interview Q/A about your experience.  This is a great way to build up your expert profile, while also linking back to your company’s website and potentially, putting yourself in front of a valuable customer or contact.

Alyson Roy, Co-Founder of AMP3 Public Relations 

If you have time, try to build relationships with the most influential voices in your field well ahead of your launch. Send them useful resources, messages and information prior to pushing your own project.

Kate Harrison, Forbes contributor

Engage people on Twitter

Twitter is often the easiest way to engage relevant people. Start by refining your queries, learn how to organize contacts in public lists, and engage influencers on a regular basis. 

How do you create good relationships with key influencers? Here’s how Jeff Bullas, one of the main experts in the field, put it:

“Show through your actions that you respect their work, business, time, and privacy”.

Listening to your shortlist of people, reading the articles they share, understanding the way they think, will take you closer to your goals. You’ll find unexpected ways to help out. 

When you see a new way you can provide assistance to someone else, just do it. You’re building credibility for yourself while helping someone else.

Reshare news

Do you think you're done when you hit "Publish"? Think again.

Just because your story has gone "live," it doesn't mean the work is over. This can be a good time to try getting an extra boost from your announcement.  Share some of the media stories on your social media channels. If you have an email list, send an update to your supporters and ask them to share your news.

Zach Kitschke, Head of Communications for Canva

Promote others

Are you scared of your competitors? You shouldn't be. First off, because with no competitors there's no market. Moreover, from time to time, you may also find ways to work together with them.

Now, isn't it a collaborative approach?

I try to mention as many other tools and services when promoting Bitrix24 as possible, even when these services partially compete with us.  Most social media managers are happy to retweet any article that mentions their brand. A lot of time they’ll link to the article from their website or social media pages too. The more qualified traffic, the better!

Dmitry Davydov, CMO for Bitrix24

There’s no silver bullet

Forget about the silver bullet you were looking for. Busy people's attention is hard to get, and harder to maintain.

Editors’ inboxes are usually crowded - only a few pitches get a response (read a story about this). For this reason, it’s important you find a way to stand out. 

What will it take to grab attention? A pitch that’s customized, interesting and enticing. Be bold, be daring, and be weird.

News flash: In all my years, a reporter has never contacted me solely because they saw a startup’s press release on a wire-service. Never.

Jennifer L. Jacobson, Founder of Jacobson Communication

Avoid wrong expectations

Finding anyone's email address is quite easy nowadays - it just takes time - and because this is not the hard part, you should make sure to focus on the right things.

The hardest part of getting press for your startup isn’t getting reporter’s contact information at all. In fact, many reporters in the startup world provide emails in their Twitter bios. While startup PR is and should be part of your launch strategy, do not rely on press to sell your product. Instead, startup press should help tell your company’s story, the product you’re solving and drive traffic to your website.

Katie Burke, Director of Media and Analyst Relations at HubSpot

It's easy to find anyone's email address. Really, it just takes some time. The real problem is: 

Why would you need an email address you don't have?

You obviously want to cold email someone. This is the hard part, then. Being able to craft a pitch that is interesting enough to get opened / clicked / replied to / even when the receiver doesn't know you. This usually takes some homework.

Since finding an email is easy, don't abuse it. Inboxes are crowded places. If you really need to find someone's email address, here's what you can do: 

1. Google them

This may sound like a no-brainer: google them. Find their personal profile in their company's website, check their Twitter bio, scan their About.me page. If they share their address publicly, you'll find it in one of those pages.

2. Mention them in a tweet

Unless you're addressing a VIP, or some other very busy person, Twitter is a good way to get in touch. Ask nicely for an email address and you will probably get it.

3. Email them via LinkedIn

If you have a PRO account, LinkedIn is the fastest way to get in touch with people out of your network. Just find their profile and send them inmail.

Even if you don't have a paid account, you can still ask for an introduction if you share a connection. After the first email, you can move the conversation towards your regular inbox.

4. Guess their email address

No luck with Social Media? There's still something you can try.

Rapportive is a Gmail extension run by LinkedIn. It shows you additional information about the contact you select. Rapportive checks if the email address you select is used all over the Internet and gets back to you with some contact information.

Ok, but what does it mean?

It means that if you guess an email address and Rapportive shows you a face, you guessed right.

5. Check all the possibilities

If they work for a startup, their email is probably name@website. Other common criteria to create email addresses are:

surname@company name.surname@company namesurname@company name(first letter of surname)@company

Rob Ousbey from Distilled created an online spreadsheet which comes in handy when in need of suggestions. Check it out.

As you can see, it's very easy to get in touch with strangers on the Internet. It's quite harder to pique their interest for good reasons.

Here's what Barack Obama stated about Ben Bradlee, after honoring him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom:

For Benjamin Bradlee, journalism was more than a profession – it was a public good vital to our democracy.

Bradlee spent his career in pursuit of the truth, and his words serve as an ispiration for anyone in or around a newsroom.

PR is about delivering the right message, to the right audience, at the right time via the right channel. Your business can't avoid PR - you can call it different names, but you have to face it. Better sooner than later.

How can you define your PR strategy then?

Let's ask some of the experts in the field how you can deal with the first approach to Public Relations. You can read the full guide here.

Are you ready for PR?

Many companies are not ready for the attention of the media. If you run or work for a startup, in particular, there are times you don't want to be in the limelight.

You may not be ready.

If you don’t have a product-market fit, or if you don’t have an MVP, chances are you’re not ready yet. 

Have you invested time and effort in building a narrative, fine-tuning brand messaging, and outlining key talking points?  How will you position your brand among industry trends, and what makes you stand out from competitors?  Take the time to really think about your positioning before your big PR push.

Leta Soza, PR engineer at AirPR

What about a PR firm?

PR pros bring an industry expertise you probably lack. They have connections, they know about storytelling and can help with crafting the best outreach strategy for your business. 

On the other hand, nobody can tell your story better than you. There are pros and cons both in DYI and in hiring a professional. 

When you contract your storytelling efforts to a third party, your story is immediately diluted. But when you’re telling your own story, you can make it bold, you can make it interesting, and you can even make it sexy.

Stephen Robert Morse, Co-Founder Skill Bridge

Don’t count on traditional PR

What is "traditional" PR?

Boring, self-centered press releases. Paying to buy and pitch pre-compiled media lists. The good old spray & pray.

None of these work anymore. Not only they're spammy, they won't make you reach your goals in any way. 

Many startup CEOs assume that announcing their new service or app with a press release is key to their launch, but as I must often explain to them, press releases per se rarely drive actual user conversions.  This problem is compounded by the sheer excess of tech press releases put out on the wires every day, choked over with generic product descriptions and executive quotes which sound like no human ever, and blatant SEO keyword scheming.

Vanessa Camones, founder and CEO of theMix agency

Why you do need PR

You have some homework to do. It's necessary because, if you don't tell your story, someone else will in your place. You need to set the frame for your business in a public space.

If you don't take this opportunity, you'll miss the chance to influence the way others talk about you. 

Whether or not your startup story is mundane, magical, or entirely made up, the media will craft its own narrative for your company if you don't persistently reiterate who you are.  PR strategy is contingent on approaching objectives differently from the norm. A simple press release, while necessary, is not going to catapult you to success. Coupling that press release with a roll-out strategy across five different platforms, with timing contingent on audience reach? That's where PR professionals truly shine.

Sheena Tahilramani and Denise Gitsham, Co-Founders of 7 Second Strategies

What if there’s no budget

Often, startups have little to no budget to invest in PR. You can craft your PR strategy according to your budget.

Even at zero budget there’s a lot you can do. 

Most of the time there is a well-known competitor you can compare yourself to, and in a way that shows off what you do better. The idea behind Newsjacking is that journalists are always on the lookout for breaking news - or for a way to extend an existing story.

Clément Delangue, Head of marketing at Mention

Your PR tactic is not a strategy

Your goals and the ways you use to achieve them are two separate things. Here's why. 

A public relations strategy is a playbook that will deliver your company to its goals. A variety of public relations tactics must be deployed in order to make your company the most attractive option to your prospects. Each represents a different form of visibility and exposure for your company. But if you don’t have a public relations strategy you can’t know if the tactics you’ve employed are actually helping or not.

Chikodi Chima, journalist and entrepreneur

That Storytelling stuff [Webinar]

How exactly can you start building the story of your company? How do you define your story? How do you make interesting?

Are you struggling with storytelling?

We are running a webinar on Wednesday, Oct 8 at 3pm CEST (9am EDT). It will last approx. 30' + Q&A.

Join this webinar and learn how you can show the real value of your startup by telling your story the right way.