Writing News Releases for Business
The media can be a valuable channel through which to reach a large audience quickly and persuasively.
Unfortunately, many organisations, who might have a good story to tell, may not have the skills in-house to prepare and send a news release that will help get media coverage.
News releases are often written more like an advertisement than a release, which can mean that they are ignored by editors and other journalists.
A release is basically an invitation to a journalist to cover an event, conduct an interview or write a story about an organisation. It is not the article itself, nor is it the entire written history of the organisation sending it.
In-house PR teams that don’t know how to deliver its message in terms that are meaningful and persuasive to journalists will not get coverage.
To help companies build better Public Relations campaigns and boost their brands, Reputation Australia has developed the Writing Media Releases workshop, an interactive seminar designed to give participants knowledge and practice in how to write for media and take advantage of valuable media opportunities for their organisation.
Outcomes
By the end of the program, participants will:
- Be better informed about what makes news.
- Have an understanding of journalists’ requirements and therefore understand how to frame news stories within their own organisation.
- Be able to identify a news angle and prepare a usable media release that is much more likely to get used on air, in print or online.
Rundown of Sessions
This 4-hour workshop contains the following. However, programs can be designed specifically to meet your requirements.
- The Australian media and Australian journalists
- Generating Coverage – what constitutes a news story?
- Elements for media attention to ensure your release is newsworthy
- Finding the best ‘hook’ or ‘angle’ for your target media
- Tailoring your story for different media; ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ news
- Guidelines for writing effective media releases – content, style, structure, formatting
- Addressing the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How
- Avoiding common mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of your media release
- Writing effectively within time constraints
- Participants complete a series of written exercises either by hand on paper, or they can bring a laptop with them if they wish.
- Each participant has a private over-the-phone follow-up meeting with their consultant to discuss any issues and to receive feedback on a news release that they have completed since the session.
Our Approach to Training
- We research your business, your industry or business sector and your issues before each program to make the role-play exercises relevant and realistic.
- Each course is structured to meet the needs of each individual. This means that you get the maximum return on the time spent in the program.
- Our Trainers are committed to providing individualised coaching in a small group environment.
The Reputation Australia team has been supporting companies and other organisations in a range of communication functions, including building opportunities for stakeholder engagement, for more than 30 years.
Our people are all seasoned veterans with a well-earned reputation in the field.
We have people on the ground in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. However increasingly, we are delivering programs in an online virtual environment opening up our training solutions and services to a broader audience spread across Australia and around the world.
Contact us to find out more about our solutions.
