Crafting an Effective Press Release

A press release has one purpose – to gain press coverage, whether that be newspaper, radio, television, or online media.  

So, your primary goal must be to create a release that immediately engages the reporter, editor, or other gate keeper at the media organization, one that is instantly recognizable as worthy of coverage by them for whatever their audience is.  Realizing if you’re lucky you have five to ten seconds of their time to engage them enough to make that decision.

As part of that engagement, you must also prepare it in a format that at a minimum the gatekeeper can use as close to verbatim as possible, with a stretch goal being that a reporter/camera crew is dispatched to cover your event in person.

And finally, while accomplishing these goals, the release puts the event in as positive a light as possible – so long as you accomplish the first three items.

Fortunately, there is a fairly standard format to do so.  One that meets the needs of both the media and your organization.  All you need to do is craft the specifics to that format.  And distribute it.

I like to distribute press releases by email.  I will put the press release in the body of the email, and I will attach a word document.  That makes it easy for the press to both review quickly and to cut and paste from (which they will, so be sure to proofread). 

To distribute, you will need a current list of media contacts.  I like to send to both the editors of a media organization, but also reporters that I know may be interested in the topic.

Below is a press release we put together at the City of Lancaster.  It is an instantly recognizable format by the media.  It provides clearly and succinctly what is happening, and why it is important (to the media’s audience). It provides short and punchy quotes that are easily used.  And it provides a contact should the media wish to follow up.

I have commented on the various sections of the press release so that you can see how we accomplished our goals.

The Press is not your Friend – But they can be your Ally – Some thoughts on Municipalities Relationship with their Local Press

Having worked with over 100 small municipalities on a variety of projects, I think it is reasonably common for municipal government types to dislike or even distrust the press.  Press coverage is seen as focusing too much on the negative.  It doesn’t present a full view of the picture.  As such, the relationship can become adversarial, or at least feel adversarial.

It doesn’t have to be.

I think there are some basic steps any municipality can take to increase the positive reporting of the local press, and even limit the negative coverage (at least occasionally).

Step one – recognize the press does not hate you.  The press is there to provide coverage of events that their readers are interested in.  Yes, that sometimes means they cover mistakes you made, or events that are not occurring the way you want them to.  So what?  They are professionals, they have a job, and they will work to the best of their ability to accomplish that.  Their coverage is not personal (at least not usually).  

Step two – They are professionals – you need to be a professional in your dealings with them.  If they call, answer their questions (even if the answer is I cannot comment on that at this time).  If they leave a message, return their calls promptly.  If you have a weekly paper, are you making their going to press deadlines?  Are you agreeing to appear on tv or for a radio interview if they ask?  Unless you can’t publicly speak on an issue, you should.

Step three – Be proactive - If they are not covering positive things, are you telling them about positive things?  Are you putting out good press releases (ahead of their publication deadlines)?  Is your social media covering positive things (yes, the press will watch your Facebook posts).  This of course assumes you are active as a community on social media – you are, aren’t you?   Are you giving the press good quotes that you have thought ahead of to be ready?  Are you linking their articles on your social media pages?  Don’t treat them like mushrooms.

Step four – Press Releases are your friend.  At least, good press releases are.  Your press release will form the press coverage.  Quotes in the release will be used.  In a negative event situation where you may be constrained from answering certain (or even most) questions, your quote will be used – make it a good one.  Press releases will get the press to show up for events that you want publicized.  Sending one out after the event is wasting the press release.

None of these activities will make the press your friend.  But if you are a professional, your goal is not friendship, but a mutually beneficial relationship.  You provide good stories the public will be interested in, the press publishes good stories the public is interested in.

Thinking about QA/QC for Small Municipalities

Quality Assurance/Quality Control - QA/QC 

Everyone hates it and everyone needs it. 

Fundamentally, QA/QC in local government is a process to assure documents are produced without defect (or as little defect as possible) 

Time is seldom allotted to do it, people hate criticism of their work, it is seen as a waste of time. 

However, as the saying goes, there is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over. (attributed to John Bergman) 

The process of QA/QC is to get the document right the first time and not have to do it over.

I am (in this post) not going to go through and create documents and checklists - that will vary based on community, task, and in particular staffing levels. But every small community should focus on four things when they put their QA/QC process together. 

1. Checklists that guide how to complete tasks

2. Templates for documents to ensure consistency 

3. Clear proofreading guidelines 

4. Supervisor review procedures 

 The side benefit of QA/QC is that you are providing the tools to bring new staff quickly into productive team members - if you have documented all your processes, produced templates and checklists, and established a method of review of work, you are more than 50% of the way there in on-boarding new staff.