I was reading a post about press releases on the Small Business Brief forum where I’m a moderator. The poster was referencing something she’d read which said announcements about new products or new contracts should not be considered newsworthy. Then she asked what makes a news release newsworthy? Good question! Here’s how I responded:
Well, the new product announcement *can* be a good reason to send a release if it’s something truly unique. If you’re producing yet another generic printer cartridge that does the same thing all the other 10,000 generic printer cartridges do, nobody will care. There’s nothing unique, better or different about it.
But, if you have developed a generic printer cartridge that has some special feature (new type of ink, lasts way longer than usual, only costs a penny, etc.) then that’s something newsworthy.
Then there are industry-related topics. Subjects that would not necessarily appeal to the general population might be of significance to someone else in the same industry. For instance, a new manufacturing process for gears and cogs. Joe Public probably won’t give a hoot about it, but industries who use these types of cogs absolutely would.
For most of us, a good test is to look at the newspaper. If you can’t find a story in the newspaper that’s similar to what you’re thinking about sending a press release about, it’s probably not newsworthy. Likewise, look at industry-specific news sources (newsletters, official websites, etc.) If they don’t run stories about what you’re releasing, your PR most likely will not be well received.
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