When Press Releases Just Aren’t Enough – 10 Yetis Insight Blog

Press releases are the metaphorical ‘bread and butter’ of our day to day PR activities here at 10 Yetis Digital; launch releases, company announcement and surveys make up the majority of this output. That being said, there’s more to PR than simply sending out press releases and jumping on the phone to journalists to see if it’s something they might be interested in running. Some examples include…

Features

Whilst these have a longer lead time than press releases, securing exclusive editorial features with journalists are a great win. We speak to journalists to see what’s coming up in their feature calendars, as well as pitching potential angles relevant to their publications audience that our clients can assist with. These are more in-depth than releases, looking further into a topic and often adding in opinion from our expert clients.

Reactive statements

When something breaks in the news that a client can comment on as an expert, it’s worth sending out a reactive statement to all relevant news desks as soon as possible. One of the most popular reactive statements I’ve worked on in recent months involved a story about an air hostess claiming to have made around £650,000 by sleeping with passengers on plane toilets, charging £1,500 a time. A flight-comparison client of mine issued a comment surrounding the story, resulting in coverage on the Daily Mail, Telegraph and more.

Case studies

Sometimes finding a case study that corresponds with a press release you’re working on can really cement the story for a journalist and you can sell it in exclusively to one national publication that fits in best with your clients target audience. For example, if you’re selling in a horror story about how Halloween contact lenses could damage someone’s eyes (like we did for our client Optical Express in recent years), there’s bound to be someone happy to talk about their negative experiences. Some publications will also occasionally pay for a case study, giving them an additional incentive.

Social media

If a client isn’t on social media – make sure they are! Having active social media pages that engage with followers (and fans) will help to boost awareness of a brand and plant the brand into people’s minds when it comes to purchasing. Don’t post solely promotional messages all about the business though; social media is a fun space for sharing great interactive content – if you’re only pushing products and talking about business successes, you’re going to lose followers and have next to no engagement.

Influencer outreach

If a client has hired you to work on a product-based PR campaign, it’s worth having the discussion about whether or not they’d be happy to gift products to journalists and influencers. In return, you may get social media posts and even write-ups online. For those influencers you have a paid agreement with, this can all be decided in advance and you’re likely to get more bang for your buck.

Stunts

In-your-face, out-there and controversial stunts can really position a brand in front of thousands/hundreds of thousands of potential customers. If what you’re doing is unexpected, somewhere populated and eye-catching, it will get people talking.

Stunts don’t just have to be real-life, in front of you; they can also be press-release based. If the angle is strong, it will get great coverage. And we’ve got plenty of experience with both.

Widgets & microsites

We create numerous widgets and microsites for clients on a regular basis; all with an underlying message of sorts. These are typically fun in order to engage an audience, get them to interact and also share across their social channels. The underlying message is what attracts journalists and encourages them to also share your content.

With Christmas less than 15 weeks away, why not check out Social Santa – a highly successful widget we created for ourselves a few years ago that is still going strong, showing users whether they’re naughty or nice based on their most recent tweets; http://socialsanta.co/

Whitepapers

Not all information can be squeezed into a press release, and when talking about something in-depth some may prefer to read a whitepaper with all available information included. These are considered to be effective because they combine a variety of data, from stats to graphs and more outlining the research done, the results and the outcome.

Video & photography

It’s not just children that love pictures; we adults love them too – they help to catch your eye and tell a story. Videos are also a great way to cover a large quantity of information in one file without expecting someone to read 750+ words (ironic, I know, that I’ve written this instead of doing a video).

So there you have it... just a few examples of different avenues you can take and options to explore when you're looking to boost your campaign.