For Immediate Release
Getting Media Attention
by Robert Barnett

It buzzes, it itches. The urge is to either scratch it or kill it. No, it's not a bug, it's your press release waiting on the desk or in the e-mail inbox of a newspaper, radio or television editor. In the minds of many editors, press releases could be compared to a mosquito, a pest that breeds prodigiously but doesn't survive for long. In fact, the lifespan of most press releases is much shorter than a mosquitos. Most of them live just long enough to be taken from the fax machine to the shredder, or for a swamped editor to click Delete, the pressroom equivalent of death by squashing.
   From the media’s point of view, press releases are both an irritant and a primary way to find out what’s going on in their communities, and that includes what’s going on at your coffeehouse. Most media get more press releases than they know what to do with, but how do editors evaluate them? Which get noticed and which don’t? How do you make sure that yours gets some mention in the media, or at least gets read before getting shot into the mini-basketball hoop over the circular file?

A crash course in press release-ology
A press release is a one-page document that businesses use to communicate with the media, from the smallest free weekly to the corporate news conglomerate. As a business, you’ve got something you want them to know, and a press release is the form you use to (with any luck) get them to pay attention and help publicize your business.
   If your press release is distributed on paper, use your company letterhead and good quality paper.
   Put “For Immediate Release” at the top left corner, capitalized. For e-mail releases, this goes top left in the body of the e-mail. Write something in the subject line that won’t be mistaken for a virus and deleted without opening.
   Directly below that, put your name, name of the business, contact info and day and evening phone numbers. They must be clear and easy to see.
   Start strong with the main information in the first paragraph. Use active verbs. Be short and clear rather than artsy and cute. What are you announcing? Where is it? When? Who’s involved and how? Why is it happening?
   Less important details go into the second paragraph. Your business, what you do and how long you’ve been around all go here. Peripheral details can go into a third paragraph, if necessary.
   Keep it to one page, no more. Try to stay under 400 words, avoid jargon or unnecessary words. If someone wants to know more, they’ll call.
   Don’t use exclamation points or you’ll look like a rube!
   Proofread extremely carefully for typos, mistakes and bad grammar.
   Give it to a friend to read for 10 seconds, then take it back and quiz him or her. Can he or she tell you what it said?
   Use the Web to find examples of good press releases and other tips, there are some great free resources out there, including www.freshcup.com.
   Now that you’ve written the most beautiful press release that’s ever been, where does it go?

Newsworthy? Well, maybe…
The writing is the easy part. Knowing where to send it, and how, is 90 percent of the battle.
   Press releases for coffeehouses are likely going to be one of two types: the kind that announce real news and the kind that announce an event, like you see in the food section or the calendar listings of a newspaper. An event is usually localized within your business. Real news is, “something that’s changed, that’s making a difference, something that’s never been done before, something that affects a large group of people or a neighborhood as a whole,” according to Amber Shoebridge, night-time assignment editor at KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., an NBC affiliate.
   Event news: “Love’s Coffee announces new Friday open-mic night.”
   Real news: “Schoolchildren paint mural on Love’s Coffee to benefit homeless.”
   Either might get mentioned in the media, but one press release should go to the news editor, the other belongs with the food, calendar or culture editor.

Choosing your outlets
Let’s face it, the really big media outlets like the New York Times aren’t going to report on your local business unless it burns down. In fact, even medium-sized media don’t have much reason to mention your coffeehouse, because on an average day, nothing happens there except the selling and drinking of coffee. That’s important news to you, but not to a major news corporation trying to get a handle on wars, plagues, environmental devastation and the occasional random act of kindness. So getting an editor to talk to you can be tough. To research this article, I called four large newspapers, and never got a call-back. Several smaller newspapers transferred me around till a J. Jonah Jameson-type snapped, “I don’t have time for this. Call back next week.” And even some smaller outlets listened to my “I’m a writer working on an article—” and just tuned me out completely, until they put me on hold and went to lunch. But persistence pays off, and so does the redial button. Eventually, someone will talk to you. Why? Because for most local media, small businesses like yours are natural allies. Local media like to report on local color, which means you. Whether you’ve tricked kids into painting murals on your walls or whether you stage events at your coffeehouse, your story piques local interest. Author readings, game nights, local musicians and artists displaying their work all qualify. Check out your local newsweeklies and magazines and see what they write about, and where you might fit in. Then write a great press release, tailored to these areas of focus.
   So let’s say you’ve got an interesting event planned, and now it’s time to let the media know via press release. What gets read, what gets trashed?
   According to Lesa Griffith, editor of The Honolulu Weekly, “Anything from a big chain winds up in the trash. A press release from a local coffeehouse has a better shot, independent coffeehouses that are having interesting or unusual events, like a poetry slam or performance thing. But, just having a guy promoting his new vanilla flavor line isn’t going to impress me.”
   For Bob Whitby, editor of the Orlando Weekly, the focus is on, “relevance to what the paper does. Is [the press release] directed to this paper specifically? It has to be relevant to the paper’s focus. We don’t have that many coffeehouses [in Orlando], but we’d definitely cover something going on at them. Readings and live music are the types of events we cover at this paper.”
   Gwenyth Doland, food editor at The Alibi, a weekly newspaper in Albuquerque, N.M., wants “local companies with local stuff,” and cautions against “not giving me the basic info: what is it, where is it, who are the people, how can I contact them, what are they doing, phone, Web site—that’s all I really need.”
   Editors aren’t monsters, it just seems that way. If you ignore the horns and robotic bloodshot stare, you’ll see they are overwhelmed.
   Newspapers and magazines get dozens of press releases each week, larger publications receive hundreds or even thousands. While they aren’t in the business of ignoring your press release on purpose, they’ve got a lot to keep track of and a deadline to meet. You can help make their jobs easier. Here’s how:
   Before you send anything, start with a phone call. Find out who handles press releases, and what format they prefer—snail mail, fax or e-mail. Get a first and last name, and a position at the paper. Gwenyth Doland in Albuquerque prefers e-mail so she can organize the ones she keeps. Bob Whitby in Orlando prefers regular mail. A computer voice at the LA Weekly gives a fax number for press releases, and no option to talk to a real person at all. Don’t assume you can notify a paper any way you please, though more and more want press releases via e-mail. There’s a preferred protocol, and it differs from paper to paper.
   Half the editors I interviewed said they prefer to get press releases by e-mail, but I suspect they told me this because it makes releases easier to delete. Of at least a dozen nicely written e-mails I sent out, only one elicited a response. Nobody cared until I began making phone calls. So, my success rate at e-mailing editors was about 5–10 percent, roughly the same for traditional releases, according to traditional wisdom.
   Sheila Hamilton notes, “The major stumbling block for most businesses and nonprofits is getting through our SPAM filter. One way to beat the filter is to put something personal in the slugline, such as ‘Release for Sheila Hamilton.’ A contact for a phone interview or an interview on an MP3 file ups your chances of getting information on the air.”
   Timing is also important. Hamilton says, “If you do put a contact number on the press release, it’s always a good idea to alert that person that they may be called in the early morning hours. Most morning-show [TV] talent comes in around 3:00 a.m. and goes home around 10:00 a.m. A press release that comes in around 3:00 a.m. is likely to be ignored until the next day.”
   Find out how far in advance they need to know about your event or “real news” item in order to make it into print. Usually it’s a week to 10 days at a weekly, longer for less frequently published papers.
   Make sure you send your press release to the right person. It shows professionalism on your part; it shows that you did your homework, and helps separate your mail from junk mail that just says ‘Editor’ on the front and nothing more. At the Seattle Weekly, all mail not addressed to a specific person ends up in the basement with the mail clerk, which isn’t where you want the announcement of your new artist’s exhibit to land.
   Look over your press release again and make sure it’s clear and to the point. Recognize that your press release, no matter how good, might get a 10- second lookover (if you’re lucky), and if it looks like something that needs to be deciphered, well, an editor has better things to do.
   Look at your press release from an editor’s point of view, and think about it critically. Is it actual news, or is it an advertisement pretending to be news? John B. Saul, deputy metro editor at the Seattle Weekly, explains: “It’s a fine line between real news and adverts. In general, 90 percent of press releases go in the trash because there’s limited space in the newspaper. Try to frame it in a way that, if this is something that is legitimately news that the general public is interested in, makes that point pretty high in your press release. Not: ‘Company X is releasing a new product.’ If it says: ‘This new product will help baristas make coffee faster,’ it’s got a much better chance of becoming either a mention or a story.”
   In other words, make sure you are offering something besides a blatant plug for your business.
   At the risk of beating a point into the ground, you really can’t proofread enough. Your press release is going into the hands of busy people who deal with words and information for a living. Misspelled words, poor grammar, typos (especially the cruelly funny kind) will draw a derisive chuckle, or at best a sad shake of the head as your exhaustively prepared document drifts into the trash. It needs to be professional, impeccable and precise. When you talk to an editor or reporter on the phone, you can be a flawed, imperfect human, but your press release doesn’t have that luxury.
   A few days after you send off a press release, follow it up with a polite phone call. This time you know whom to ask for, since you know to whom you sent it. Ask if it was received, and don’t be surprised if nobody has any idea what you’re talking about. Be polite, but persistent. Ask if you can send it again. The chances are higher that it will be noticed this time. This also gives you a chance to introduce yourself and your coffeehouse to whomever you’re talking to. Maybe you’ll discover that you’re talking to one of your customers.

You never know until you try
What about freebies? Sending your press release along with a pound of coffee or some other gift might help you get noticed, but it won’t necessarily increase the chances that you’ll get mentioned in the paper. Some papers have a code of ethics that prevent them from accepting gifts, and such gifts are usually donated to charity. The policies differ from company to company, but, all things being equal, there is no reason not to include coffee with your press release. It’s your main business after all, and if you’ve got it, why not flaunt it?
   If you run a coffeehouse, you probably have a few freelance writers slurping up lattes right under your nose. Find out who they are (ratty clothes, hollow-eyed, undernourished-looking, that’s them) and talk to them. Aside from gleaning some advice on dealing with the media, you might make a mutual deal. Maybe they can sell an article about your unique and wonderful coffeehouse, with inside advice from you. They make a sale, you get publicity. Bribe them with coffee, they don’t have any defense against it.

Last word?
If you have more money than time or patience, you may want to consider hiring a professional to write your press releases for you. If you know someone with a background in public relations or marketing—and as a coffee supplier, you probably do—you would be delinquent to not at least pick their brains for tips. But you may also wish to explore the possibility of a deeper creative partnership. Because press releases should never be a one-shot deal. By bombarding a press room regularly, you build name recognition, even if your releases aren’t being printed.
   If these reflect the personality of your business with a recognizable tone, you communicate a sense of identity, continuity and success. A professional PR veteran can help establish this unique tone, and give advice on how to maintain it.
   Writing, journalism or marketing students from your local university or community college, generally a well-caffeinated cadre of creative individuals, are also a good source of talent, and are likely to need such projects to build their resumes. Many have already done internships, and in today’s market, expect to “pay their dues” before landing a job (or two) that will enable them to put food on the table or advance their careers. You can help in that regard.
   There is a wide world of companies that, for a fee, will compose and distribute your press releases. In selecting one, you should be concerned about cost and conscience, but also about relevance. It might sound tantalizing when ereleases.com pledges to write and distribute your press release to 30,000 journalists at 17,500 media outlets for only $399. But unless you are hoping for a massive influx of tourists, do you really care if your release is picked up by a newspaper half a continent away? On the other hand, this particular service also sends your release to 4000 Web databases, including Google and Yahoo! That’s nothing to snort at. Imagine your company popping up every time someone types in the word “coffee.”
   The best advice may be to remain as skeptical and as selective as possible. What matters is not always the number of sources, but the degree of likelihood that your release will actually appear. Can a service guarantee this? Of course not. You may increase your odds by finding a service that targets editors in “food & drink” categories, but even this may not be enough to make the outlay worthwhile.
   A compromise between doing it yourself and having a down-on-her-luck Pulitzer prizewinner with an inch-thick black book write it for you would appear to be those package deals that combine press release templates with distribution lists, on-call customer service or some other means of providing an informed, useful and current list of targets.
   If you don’t make use of these services, you are putting yourself in direct competition with them, and the immense resources at their disposal. This fact should not necessarily frighten you into hiring a pro, but should inspire you to put your own best foot forward. You have several things going for you that others vying for media attention cannot offer. You’re local, you’re unique and you serve really good coffee.

Robert Barnett is a freelance writer and politics junkie who lives in Southeast Portland. He can be reached at wmilkis2@yahoo.com.