Public Relations: Creating Newsworthy Material
 by: Ken Bidgood

Public Relations: Crafting News Pieces

To effectively market your product or service, you need to reach out to the public (your target market) with exciting compelling news about your company. Larger corporations have a bigger handle on this area of PR than small business owners. Often there is a whole department dedicated to "getting the news out". The small business owner is left with his own devises to generate news and that could become a tedious task.

Larger corporations are better suited for this task as some of them have entire departments dedicated solely to the production and release of news stories to help sell their products. A small business owner must accomplish this same task with significantly fewer resources or the expertise to do so.

Generating real news is not always an easy thing to do. There may be only one or two hot ideas worthy of attention in the course of an entire year. Newsworthy achievements and new product launches are rarely an everyday occurrence in business.

Creating a Story

The 'Hall of Fame' is a classic publicity stunt. Creating a public relations Hall of Fame is the first step towards generating newsworthy stories. Find some people within your field that are experts and send out a press release.

There are websites such as www.publicityinsider.com/Hallof Fame.asp that are great for learning more about using the Public Relations Hall of Fame as a public communication outlet.

There are websites on the Internet like www.publicityinsider.com/HallofFame.asp that can help you get started towards using the Hall of Fame for your public relations needs.

The Internet is a great venue for businesses to implement their own petition. If there is some hot issue within your field or even something people might like to see happen, a petition is a great way to raise awareness for your business.

It may not seem like the best way to generate publicity, but petition drives a great way to raise awareness in the public about issues within your industry.

This is a real PR coup because there are so few businesses using petitions as a tool for getting information out about their products or services. It really is a great tool for this very reason.

Make a List.

What is so impressive about a list? Honestly, it is a wonder. The media just adore lists. They are the most publicized year after year. So make yourself a list. The Most Annoying People of the Year from AmIAnnoying.com is a perfect example of a newsworthy list. Lists like these are partially to blame for the growth of people columns in newspapers today!

Hints to Keep In Mind

Sometimes it pays to outsource your marketing needs to a professional. Writing a press release might just be one of those tasks you choose to let out of the office. Small business owners working on a tight budget must be selective in what they send out, but also realistic about their own abilities. Time management plays a huge roll when you make the decision to market yourself.

If, however, you have committed yourself to writing your own press release, here are some ideas to keep in mind that may be useful.

KISS (keep it simple and stupid). There has to be a "slant" or "angle" to what you're asking journalists to print. Journalists are very smart and know exactly where you're going with your request. We all think highly of our ideas and endeavors, but don't over inflate your ego and try to impress a journalist with earthshaking news.

Remain Positive: You do not want to be known as someone who is overly critical of people and goes around ridiculing and embarrassing others. Positive commentary will generally produce positive results. Do not let the piece degenerate into gossip column fodder.

Stay Focused: Whatever your piece is supposedly about, you must remember that it is intended to generate a buzz about your company. Make certain that any lists or petition drives you initiate are somehow related to your business and will therefore raise awareness. If your focus wanders, you may concentrate more on getting the piece published than on accomplishing what your originally set out to do.

The ideas mentioned here are a minute part of the overall process involved in creating a story that will help fuel interest in your company. You will want to tell an honest story about your business so utilize the resources on the web and any of those mentioned in this article to help you create the most accurate picture of your company possible.

About The Author

Ken Bidgood is the chief writer for, and editor of Advertising XP, visit there today for the latest Business advice, and why not sign up for the free Business newsletter. Read many more interesting articles on Business at: http://www.advertisingxp.com/articles You can also find out where to get the cheapest, most profitable pay-per-click traffic on the net. http://www.advertisingxp.com