Top 5 PR tips: increasing brand exposure through press releases

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11-01-2023

Press releases are still a highly effective way to reach your target audience and share important news or messages. It’s believed that PR is 4 ties more believable than advertising, which gives coverage authenticity. But crafting a story that the media will want to cover can be difficult. Oxygen’s public relations team bring you their top 5 tips to help you create engaging, relevant content, and how to increase your chances of brand exposure.

1. Keep PR engaging

  • An eye-catching headline will draw in your audience, but you will need to keep them engaged long enough to communicate the full story and message.
  • Break up the copy with quotes, it will make the release more digestible, as well as bring the story to life.
  • Investing in great photography is essential, as it can be the make or break between a press release being published or tossed aside by the editor. Not only this but it will be more attractive for the end reader.
  • Video is also an excellent PR tool. Studies show that 4x as many consumers prefer to watch a video about a product rather than read about it, so add a video to your content to increase engagement and encourage sharing.

2. Know your media

  • Choosing the right publications to reach your target audience is key. Gaining coverage is great, but you need your press releases to get in front of the right people.
  • Once you have selected your publication list, it is always a good idea to research what they tend to publish or reoccurring features, and tailor a press release to suit. This way your story is relevant and more likely to be covered.We work hard to build strong media relations with a number of regional, national and trade publications, but on a more basic level you can often find the contact details for editors online or even on Twitter.
  • Remember PR can be great for your SEO. A link to your site on strong publication’s website, which has good domain authority, can add juice to how Google perceives you – especially if the website is is in your trading sector.

3. Understand your audience

  • When our client came to us wanting to target millennials for a new recruitment campaign, we cherry picked marketing media that we know garners great engagement rates among this age group. Focusing our attention on social media platforms, we generated content that we felt would appeal to our target market.
  • Using both paid for and organic options, we were able to successfully communicate our core message and raise awareness of the brand. Understanding your audience, and how to reach them, will help you to create an engaging and successful piece of PR. What you may find interesting as a business owner might not be what your target audience respond well to.

4. Don’t neglect your follow ups

  • An editor of a popular publication once told us that she receives around 1,000 emails a day with PR stories and pitches. Your story could quite easily get lost in the masses, so following up is always advised if you want to see your story appear.
  • Picking up the phone is the best method and means you can interact on a more personal level with the publication you are trying to get into. It’s always worth noting, though, that some editors prefer different methods of contact, so make sure you check first.

5. Share away

  • Once your press release has been published then share. Not only is this good for engagement but it can also help to reach even more people.
  • For online content you could share links on your social media channels or website, and for a printed publication put a copy in your office reception. However, do be cautious about the use of clippings, as there are legal restraints on sharing certain printed content.

Need some help?

Of course, we provide a full PR service here in Devon alongside our other marketing services. We’ve created regional, national and international campaigns and have the experience to get your PR moving quickly.

Whether you need a well-crafted press release or strategic input in how to get your business noticed give us a call on 01884 255999 and ask for Steve – or see our contact page.

 

Looking for PR on a budget? Then try our PR Centre website which has fixed cost pricing for blog writing, press release writing, and PR distribution.