Social media platforms and AI have ushered in new tools and strategies designed to help schools and nonprofits get their newsworthy press releases and pitches covered by reporters.

Yet schools and nonprofits continue to send press releases to dozens, sometimes hundreds, of editors, reporters, bloggers, and podcasters without receiving any response. 

Journalists who have weighed in on the matter—those who receive dozens and, in some cases, hundreds of press releases each day—say they need a break from sifting through garbage in search of gold.  Journalists’ biggest complaint is against those who send them press releases about topics they do not cover, often as a result of blanket email blasts.

To ensure your press release rises to the top, you must immediately grab the reporter’s attention. To get their attention, you need to know what interests them. Once you know what interests them, you must develop headline hooks and first paragraphs that sound like packaged news pieces.

And so, if you are targeting the right reporters but not getting pick-ups, you might want to analyze your approach. You need to ensure the email subject line conveys that the contents are “gold, not garbage.”

With that in mind, let’s look at five tactics to get your press release noticed by busy reporters.

Make your story relevant to reporters

The first step in making your story relevant to reporters is to make your story relevant, period. It’s got to be newsworthy. Then make sure the press release is pertinent to the media’s audience. Most importantly, only target reporters covering your press release’s topic.

Look for crossover opportunities as well. Suppose you are a nonprofit focused on raising awareness about a particular disease. In that case, you generally will not get an education reporter to cover your events that are not held at a school. But if you are doing an event at a school, you can now pitch education reporters as well as those who follow the medical issue you address. Relevance is key.

Speaking of relevance, here are a few areas reporters always welcome:

• Offer Exclusive Research: Reporters like press releases that include facts, data, and citations they can easily verify. Give journalists a press release that includes surveys, polls, and unique research, and they may give you a story. The more your press release sounds like a summary of what will be the reporter’s finished work, the more likely your piece will get picked up.
• Bring them breaking news: Most media venues want the latest news as it emerges. Be the first to share information, and you’ll have coverage.
• Develop Emotionally Charged Content: Journalists know that topics that tug at the heartstrings resonate with their audiences and drive social media traction. Your press release is more likely to be covered if it stirs up strong feelings, whether good, bad, happy, or sad.

Create an Attention-Grabbing Headline

An intriguing headline that effectively and briefly summarizes the story will get your press release to the top of the pile.  As we pointed out above, help reporters separate your gold from the garbage with a targeted headline. And don’t get bogged down in being creative at this point—you just need to get in the door. Get to the point and get in. Use a straightforward, brief headline that tells them what is going on.

Sound like a News Story

Under the pressure of daily converging deadlines, reporters and editors are always strapped for time. If you can get them to visualize a news story in just a sentence or three, you are on your way to a media hit. The more your press release sounds like a news story, the more likely you will be covered. One old, simple, but tried-and-true rule is to build your press release on the “5 Ws of a news story.” Doing so will enable journalists to quickly determine whether they are interested, because you will have built your press release using the same framework on which they build their coverage. Putting facts upfront saves a reporter time, and if your work is the ticket to the journalist meeting a deadline, you will likely have coverage. You will reap what you sow.

Include Quotes

Quotes liven up news releases as they add personality to the story—provided those being quoted have something to say—and a good PR executive can make the most mundane shop talk sound interesting. It just takes a little work. Make sure your quotes support your story. Choose the best quotes that add the perfect touch.  Reporters are always looking for someone to whom they can attribute the press release’s key points. Give them that, and you are yet another inch closer to publication.

Include Boilerplate Plugs

Add an organization boilerplate to the end of your press release. A boilerplate provides information about the organization that might not be part of the story but should be known. A boilerplate contains approximately 30 words about the company’s size, location, and founding date, etc., and the remaining 120 words should focus on what makes it unique. Make sure to mention anything that makes your school or nonprofit stand out from others

Include these five steps in your press releases and watch your media hit ratio skyrocket.

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