Three things that annoy journalists, and how to avoid them
By Publicity Heaven’s editor Pete Wadsworth
You’ve got to think of the journalist as the key holder and gate keeper of the media outlet you want to be featured in.
They are the conduit between your business and the buying public so the better you treat them and the more you do to make them happy, the more likely you are to get coverage.
I was a journalist for nearly a decade before joining Publicity Heaven, so I’ve got a long list of best practices when it comes to converting your press release into coverage.
These are the top three things that annoy a journalist. If you can avoid these, you’re taking a big step in the direction towards getting yourself some good coverage.
Writing an article, not a press release
The single most annoying thing for a journalist is to be presented with a press release that has been written as an article.
You might think that writing in this way will make a journalist’s job easier, but that isn’t the case.
All a journalist wants from a press release is clear, concise, simply written information and facts.
The journalist will re-write your copy and the more ‘editorial-like’ you make it the harder it will be to do that and the more work they will have to do. Of course, this reduces the chance of you getting coverage.
The danger of writing a press release in this way is that you end up sending out nothing more than a poorly written article that will become an object of fun in the newsroom, rather than a potential lead in that issue.
Failing to keep your press release short and sweet
You want to get as much information across as early in the press release as possible and as concisely as you can.
A journalist will always scan a press release first and the greater the word count the more likely it is that he or she will miss an important part of the story.
Remember that press releases are just an efficient way to make a story suggestion.
If you are dealing with a long and complicated story, don’t put the explanations between the main points. Get the crucial details out of the way and then write an ‘appendix’ that explains them in depth.
One of the worst press releases I ever got was for one of the most exciting and best cars of 2009. I won’t mention the name of the company but it was over 20 pages long, with the most interesting points spread evenly (and very thinly) across the tome.
It made turning the bumf into a story one of the most tedious experiences of my journalistic life.
There’s nothing wrong with a 20 page press release, in principle. In reality it’s 19 pages too long, no matter how big or important the story is.
Not supplying something a journalist asked for when they needed it
Journalists don’t like to and often won’t ask more than once.
For example, if a journalist asks for a ‘high resolution’ or ‘hi-res’ image, ask them to specify exactly what they want. Remember, high resolution will almost always mean ‘print quality’ and that is very different to what appears to be high resolution on your computer screen. The standard is usually 300dpi.
If a journalist asks for high-resolution and you send low, they might not bother running a picture (you never know how close the deadline is, they might not have time to wait). This can make a huge difference to how much coverage you will get.
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