effectively using press releases for your business

8/2/2019 Effectively Using Press Releases for Your Business

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EFFECTIVELY USING PRESS RELEASES FOR YOUR BUSINESS

WRITING AND SUBMITTING PRESS RELEASES FOR GREAT P.R.

G R E E N B U S I N E S S O W N E R

Business Services

S a n F r a n c i s c o , C A i n f o @ G r e e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r . c o m w w w . G r e e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r . c o m

C o p y r i g h t G r e e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r 2 0 1 0
http://www.greenbusinessvillage.com/http://www.greenbusinessvillage.com/


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Executive Summary! 2Why Use Press Releases to Publicize Your Sustainable Company? ! 2Good Public Relations and Awareness of Your Brand--the Advantages of Being Green ! 2Document Summary! 2

Part 1--Writing Effective Press Releases! 3Press Releases for Green Businesses! 3The Elements of a Successful Press Release! 3Social Media and the Press Release--Dawn of a New Era? ! 4Key Points to Remember! 5Exhibit 1--Sample (Fictitious) Press Release! 6

Part 2--Submitting a Press Release--Where, How and To Whom?! 7Newspapers! 7Community-focused Publications! 7Radio! 7Web Logs (Blogs)! 8News Wire Websites! 9Finding the Appropriate Person to Send Your Press Release To! 10Final Advice! 11Exhibit 2--Sample News Wire for Green Business Publicity! 12

Part 3--External Resources For Green PR! 13Public Relations Firms--What Do They Do?! 13How to Find a Good PR Firm for Your Business! 13

Appendix 1--Glossary of Terms! 15G r e e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r ! E f f e c t i v e l y U s i n g P r e s s R e l e a s e s f o r Y o u r B u s i n e s s

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Executive Summary

Why Use Press Releases to Publicize Your Sustainable Company?

A press release is typically a written communication directed at members of the news corps, intended as a means to

publicize something in the common interest. When newsworthy and appropriate for your businesss field of opera-

tions, press releases can be, in effect, free advertising for your company. If a media outlet (newspaper, blog, maga-

zine, etc.) picks up your press release and decides it newsworthy, it may run a story on the subject, featuring your

company as a leader in that arena. A well-written, timely, and provocative press release, delivered to the right person

at the right publishing agency, has the chance to give your business a tremendous boost without costing you any-

thing but the time required to write it and submit it, and perhaps to conduct a follow-up interview with a writer or

editor.

The additional advantage of a press release over purchased advertising space is that readers see it as a general inter-

est story, rather than a paid advertisement. If an independent, 3rd party organization, like a newspaper, runs an arti-

cle on your business, it has the effect of creating a more favorable impression with readers than a general advertise-ment.

Good Public Relations and Awareness of Your Brand--the Advantages of Being Green

Public Relations are one area where sustainable businesses have a tremendous advantage over conventional counter-

parts. As cutting edge businesses that are selflessly focused not just on their profits but on society, the local economy,

and the environment, sustainable businesses make a great story for news and media organizations.

How successful can a good press release be? Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia and author of Let My People Go

Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, encourages green businesses to use press releases to generate a

lot of good, free, publicity:

PR companies will tell you that a favorable, independent press release is worth 3-8 times the same space paid for in an

advertisement. Using a more conservative 1-1 formula, we calculated that in 1994, the year we came out with

Synchilla fleece made from recycled soda bottles, we generated $5 million worth of free press for the company.

By no means is this process a sure bet. With terrific returns like this, it is understandable that news agencies are

overwhelmed with well-written, relevant press releases every day.

Document Summary

This document will show you how to write an effective press release for a socially responsible, sustainable business,

and how to submit it to the right media companies at the right time, so that you have the best chances of success.

In part 1, we discuss how to write an effective press release including incorporating tweetable lines, hash tags, and

other social media tools, and give you a sample press release for a fictitious company. In part 2, we discuss where

and how to submit press releases to appropriate media companies, including a list of great places to submit sustain-

able press releases. In part 3, we introduce PR as an external resource for your company, profiling how green PR

firms can help you maximize the attention your company gets from the media. The document closes with a glossary

of relevant terms for your reference, both current and future.

G r e e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r ! E f f e c t i v e l y U s i n g P r e s s R e l e a s e s f o r Y o u r B u s i n e s s

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Part 1--Writing Effective Press Releases

Press Releases for Green Businesses

If successfully published, a press release may yield a great deal of free publicity for small green businesses--more so

than they can probably afford to buy in direct advertising. If used by a media outlet, such as a local newspaper, a

press release can turn into a front page article about a topic critical to your business and its operation, and will likely

include a good deal of information about the business as a locally relevant part of the story. Press releases and the

stories that are written from them have the additional benefit of an appearance of impartiality. Readers feel theyre

reading news, rather than advertisements, to which they may generally be less open.

A benefit of being a sustainable business is that the media loves stories that feature feel good, or underdog aspects.

A story about climate change has a broad general interest topic, and if your company is carbon neutral, for example, a

local news outlet may localize the global issue of climate change by featuring locally owned companies like yours

that are creating jobs and doing their part to fight climate change. To the reader, this combination of attributes makes

them feel positive about their world, your business, and the newspaper covering the story. Its a true win-win all theway around.

However, as mentioned in the Executive Summary above, the odds of your press release being picked up are small.

There are many reasons for this. First off, media outlets receive many more press releases than they can feasibly use.

Its not a big secret that a successful press release is good for business, so the competition is fierce. Secondly, luck

plays a large factor. If a reporter or other writer has been covering clean water supplies in the third world in a series,

and your press release covers an aspect of that that the writer finds interesting, you may be in luck. If your press re-

lease is about energy efficiency, that same writer may find it interesting, but not worthy of his or her full attention.

Another major consideration is that bloggers, reporters, writers, managers, and editors can be sensitive to the feeling

of exploitation if they feel you are trying to simply use them for free advertising. The trick is to make it appear

timely, newsworthy, or in some other way compelling enough that someone will want to publicize it. And then, with

a little luck and a slow news day, you may well get very, very lucky.

The Elements of a Successful Press Release

Writing and releasing a good press release takes a certain amount of know-how, but a degree in journalism is cer-

tainly not necessary. The reward, should one be successful, is certainly worth the price of spending some time learn-

ing how to write one, including researching it, writing it, and sending it to the appropriate agents.

1. A headline that grabs. You have one chance to grab your readers attention. An editor at a magazine may see a

hundred or more press releases every day. The headline needs to entice further attention and justify the time that

would be required to read the rest of the document. Creativity is not the only factor, however. Web crawler index-

ing has made it such that it is very important to have your company name and some keywords in your headline.

We advise that you try to do both: creativity AND keywords. Limit your headline to 15 words, 18 for subheadings.

2. Keywords. Youll want to make sure you include keywords in your press release, especially in the headline and

introductory paragraph where most search engines focus. This is becoming increasingly important for search en-

gine optimization (SEO), as press releases are increasingly targeted to online media that are searchable by keyword.

For instance, in Exhibit 1, below, Hemingway, Inc. uses the keywords Youth, Social Media, Sustainable,


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Restaurants, and Retail. Keywords are often searched for by people looking for a product or service, and they

give your release the chance of popping up when they do so. Purchasing distribution through a newswire often

allows you the opportunity to also purchase a hyperlink, which will allow you to embed a link to your website

within one of the keywords in your headline or body of your release.

3. Contact information and date. Usually located in the upper left header, you should make it easy for someone in-

terested in the story to contact you at first glance. Including your company logo, name, phone number and websiteis fairly common here. Make sure to include the date so that the reader knows that it is relevant and timely.

4. First paragraph summary. Make sure that the news item is the main subject of the first paragraph--what has hap-

pened to make this newsworthy? Why now? Why today? The first paragraph needs to summarize not only the

timeliness of the subject but also the overall big picture as it applies to society, or some larger social issue.

5. Body of the press release. The remaining paragraphs should provide some real world insights, unusual perspec-

tives, and additionally address the larger implications of your newsworthy topic. Try not to exceed one page, as

your readers have limited time to spend reading press releases, and may simply discard any that are too large to be

read quickly.

6. A paragraph summarizing your companys relevance to the subject and potential expertise. Who are you? What

do you do? Why is your company relevant to this bigger picture youve just painted?

7. Contact information. Underneath a line with a couple of pound signs (#), include your contact information, evenif it is repeating what is above in the top-left header. Make it easy for someone to reach you for an interview!

Social Media and the Press Release--Dawn of a New Era?

Social media, as it is called, is reframing the traditional field of Public Relations. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,Yelp

and other social media outlets provide good additions to press releases. Using a multi-media format (email, elec-

tronic submissions of press releases, etc.) that allows embedded links and social media applications allows you to

provide numerous resources to media outlets that a fax or paper copy of your press release wont.

Presuming your press release is available on a page of your website, it is a good idea to include a Tweetable line that

allows readers to simply click and send your information out to their network of followers on Twitter. Twitter allows

140 characters per tweet. Your Tweetable line should be roughly 15-20 characters less than this, to allow personal

additions if people choose to re-tweet you. For example, our Tweetable line might be, Press Release document

from Green Business Owner saves Cafe Organico $1000s! http://3bl.me/q73thf . #Organics. The link allows peo-

ple to go to your site where they can find the full text of the press release, and the hash tag (#Organics) allows the

comment to join a thread of others with the same hash tag, so that someone could follow all comments with #Or-

ganics in them. Choose a popular hash tag (try searching a couple of keywords to see whats hot in Twitter-land),

and youll be able to piggyback on its popularity. Youll also likely need to shorten a URL in order to fit it into your

Tweet. Its very easy: simply go to www.3bl.me and follow the instructions.

If you have a Facebook page associated with your business or your event youre promoting in your press release,

include a link to it in the release. Once again, if its an online version that someone is reading, this makes it easy for

them to just click on the link, and assuming they are logged in to their Facebook account already, they will be brought

to the social networking site, and if they become a fan of your business or RSVP for your event, all of their friends

will see that theyve joined....and you may have the beginnings of a social epidemic as your brand goes viral! There

is no major content change necessary for making a press release social media-friendly--the basic elements remain

the same. Its simply the medium of transmission that changes.


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Key Points to Remember

There are many elements to writing an effective press release, and as mentioned, luck is a big one. However, you

should give yourself every chance of success by following these guidelines as you write your press release.

1. Be succinct. If you can get it done in one page, do so. Resist the urge to overstate your case and add so many de-

tails that the main point becomes drowned out, oversold, or simply diluted.2. Stick to your point.

3. Write from a third person perspective. Do not use I or We, and do not express your own opinion directly.

4. Steer clear of overstating your case with expressions that seem like hype. If you find yourself using words like

Extreme, cutting edge or breakthrough, try to tone it down a bit. If you can, play devils advocate with

yourself, or at least have a friend or coworker do it for you. Would an average reader believe what youre saying?

5. Use business-style writing, with block paragraphs and no indentation. The tone should also be business. Cold-

hard facts, bottom line numbers, and just meat and bones, no fat.

No matter how well you write your press release, how funny or interesting it is, or how relevant the topic, it has a

very good chance of never seeing the light of day. This may not be a reflection at all on your business or your

writing, but could have something to do with any number of factors that are beyond your control, or the press

agents control. The key is to keep trying. Rome wasnt built in a day, as they say, nor should you assume that

your very first press release, no matter how great, will get any publicity. Dont let it get you down!

If you can make a journalists job of covering your story easier, they will appreciate it. Enough, in fact, that it just

might help your story clear some final hurdles to publication. One major consideration is that newspapers in particu-

lar, and all media in general, want high quality pictures to include in their stories. You may consider hiring a profes-

sional photographer to cover your events or to take a variety of pictures of your business or the current project youre

working on. If you are emailing a writer at a particular media group, and you have professional photos, particular

contacts in the industry that are of value to a writer looking for suitable quotes, access to a research report (such as

the one on which the sample press release in Exhibit 1 is based), or other resources, mention it in the body of youremail. Have it handy to email to a writer as an attachment, and if possible, put them on your website or one of the

other free web resources (create a YouTube user account if you have videos to share, for example), so that theyre easy

to get if a writer wants them. A good general guiding principle for you is to be resourceful and keep good track of

the resources at your disposal so that you can readily share them with a writer interested in covering your story.

Another consideration to keep in mind is when NOT to send a press release. Some entrepreneurs take the shotgun

approach with their PR campaigns, including their press releases: they send out as many as possible, in as many di-

rections as possible, hoping that one or several may find their target and get published. This can actually have the

effect of becoming noise and causing regular readers of newswires and journalists who receive your releases directly

to begin ignoring your work. Its the Boy who cried wolf phenomenon. So how can you find balance in when to

send a press release and when not to? The answer, according to marketing consulting firm Red Fly Marketing, is to

send a release when you have something newsworthy. Whats newsworthy to you might not be newsworthy to oth-

ers, though. The best way to know is to regularly read the publications youre submitting to, so that you have an idea

of what THEY believe is newsworthy. If your company has something newsworthy four times per month, then it is

justifiable to send as many press releases. But if your release is not newsworthy, youre not doing yourself much

good in sending it out, and you may, in fact, be doing your companys reputation not insubstantial harm.


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Exhibit 1--Sample (Fictitious) Press Release

Contact: John Hemingway! ! ! ! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOffice: 415-222-2222Email: [email protected] Francisco, CA,April 28, 2009

MAJORITY OF YOUTH NOW USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO FIND

SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANTS AND RETAIL OUTLETSHemingway Software Helping 18-30 Year Old Demographic UnderstandSustainability and Health--And Theyre Choosing Sustainable Options

Twitter: Hemingway driving business away from fast food and toward local, sustainable restaurants.http://3bl.me/3hgq77 #Rowdies!

A survey conducted on consumer spending choices amongst the young adult group by Harris Conductive,

Inc., found that a majority of these customers use social media as their primary means of deciding whereand how to spend their disposable income. The change from the 2006 poll represents a dramatic shift asthis generation has crossed the tipping point in seeking unbiased information from their peers as opposedto advertising sponsored media such as traditional phone books, magazines, and newspapers.

Its been a tremendous boon to my business, said Trevor Price, restaurateur in San Francisco s bustling

Mission District at Chez Treve, which serves mostly local, sustainable, and organic products, and has asmaller ad budget than its competitors. If we had to spend as much on advertising as our conventional

counterparts, wed have to use lower quality ingredients in order to stay price competitive, Price said.

The trend has given rise to social media campaigns and other grassroots efforts at trying to optimize agiven establishments social media ranking. One group, which has taken to calling themselves the RealFood Rowdies, seek out, sample, and, if deserved, drive very positive social media reviews toward

locally-owned, sustainable food (and retail) enterprises like Chez Treve.

The Rowdies came in here en masse one day, about 25 of them, said Price. They were sharp kids.They asked me some questions, ate and drank, and then spent some time on their phones, and when

they left, our Yelp ranking had 25 new five star ratings. Business has been very good since then.

The potential for groups like this to counterbalance the tremendous advantage enjoyed by chain fast

food stores in terms of ad budgets bodes really well for the future of sustainable food, local livingeconomies, job creation, and the health of our countrys citizens, said Jamella Harris, Public Health

professional for San Francisco County. We have struggled for years with figuring out how to counter theoverwhelming disparity between the ads for junk food with the real message of healthy and sustainable

food, and the Rowdies are simply doing our jobs for us. Its terrific!

Hemingway, Inc. educates, organizes, and provides virtual meeting space for youth enthusiasts of healthyand sustainable foods at www.Hemingway.com, where the Real Food Rowdies organize. Hemingwaysmission is to level the playing field for small, locally owned retail stores and restaurants competing with

large multinationals by using social media to encourage the use of peer-to-peer information over milliondollar advertising budgets.

# # #

For more information, visit www.Hemingway.com, or to schedule a follow-up interview with Mr.

Hemingway, contact Patricia Allen at 415-222-2222.


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Part 2--Submitting a Press Release--Where,

How and To Whom?

Newspapers

Newspapers are generalists in the media: reporting the news nationally and from the local area. This contrasts to

magazines, radio, and other outlets that may have different niches (i.e., a magazine that focuses on brides, hobbyists,

or a particular industry and radio stations that cater to a certain demographic because of the music they play). Thus,

if your company is focusing locally, and has a broad potential audience, newspapers make a good outlet for press

releases. A good example would be a local dry cleaner offering the first non-perchloroethylene dry cleaning service

in a town, a restaurant started by a local celebrity, or a bakery that is producing sustainable breads using a lot of local

ingredients. The more local, the better in terms of garnering attention from newspapers, whose readership tends to

be people who want to find out what is going on in their community.

Press desks at newspapers are just as inundated with press releases as they have ever been, perhaps more so, and

meanwhile are perhaps busier than theyve ever been, due to the downturn in the newspaper industry and the lay-

offs that have left many short-staffed. Needless to say your odds of success in getting a newspaper to pick up your

press release and use it for a story are slim, for these and many other reasons. However, several factors make news-

papers a good potential source of publicity for your business. First, newspapers tend to have the highest readership

of any publication in a particular geographic area, meaning more potential customers. Second, newspapers publish

daily, as opposed to magazines that may publish once a month. Thus, there may be slow news days where your

press release may just be the most exciting thing the writers have going! And third, newspapers are very accustomed

to receiving press releases, analyzing them, investigating them and writing them up. Non-traditional news sources,

like blogs (see below), operate differently in terms of their production model.

Community-focused Publications

In addition to newspapers, there are many publications that service small geographic areas, such as free community

papers, periodic newsletters, community bulletins, and publications of local business associations. Your odds of suc-

cess in publishing a press release with one of these publications is much higher, typically, than with your citys news-

paper. Of course, the readership is likely to be far less.

This avenue of publicity is highly recommended. You are likely to reach active citizens concerned about local

economies, interested in local issues, and who like to support local businesses as opposed to chain stores. Youre also

likely to raise awareness of your brand with other local business owners, who may be likely to send you customers of

theirs (assuming theyre not direct competitors), and who may be terrific contacts for you when dealing with local

issues such as zoning ordinances, taxes, and local policies.

Radio

Browse radio stations websites and you will likely find a page on their site for press or contacts. You may wish to

start sending press releases to your local National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate. The audience of NPR is usually a

little older, highly educated, and has higher than average disposable income. This makes a good target market for

green businesses, as this demographic tends to choose healthy, environmentally friendly products over conventional

alternatives.G r e e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r ! E f f e c t i v e l y U s i n g P r e s s R e l e a s e s f o r Y o u r B u s i n e s s

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Usually, press releases given to a local radio station are uploaded through their website without being directed to

anyone in particular. However, there may be a particular DJ or talk show host that covers issues relevant to your

business, or is the business and/or environmental reporter at the station, and if thats the case, try to direct the press

release directly to that person.

Besides NPR, there may be college radio stations or progressive radio stations in your area, both of which might be

fertile ground for your businesss press release. Dont discount other radio stations by any means, but realize that

stations that are not locally owned are not likely to have much staff locally that pays attention to local press releases.

This is one of the many reasons that many people dont like media consolidation--the media company based in Dal-

las, Texas, that operates radio stations all over the country is not likely to lose much sleep over your town and its in-

terests, and that includes your business and its press release!

Web Logs (Blogs)

A web log (blog) is effectively an online magazine that publishes articles of interest to a particular set of readers, and

derives its revenues mostly from advertising placed next to the articles its users are reading. Many operate in much

the same way as traditional magazines, where stories are published based on their relevance, timeliness, and rele-

vance to a particular industry. In this way, green business blogs present a terrific opportunity for green businesses to

reach a targeted market of readers and by-pass the traditional media. Most green blogs will have

There are a good many green blogs that employ writers whose interests may coincide with the values inherent in

your press release. In no particular order:

TriplePundit.com: Triple Pundit (3p) is one of the world's most well-read and fastest growing websites featuring

news and information on business and technology that leave the world better off. The site is read by more than

100,000 corporate decision makers, experts, professionals, and social entrepreneurs per month. 3p accepts pressreleases to [email protected] prefers to maximize communications impact with creative affiliate part-

nerships described on their affiliate page here - http://www.triplepundit.com/affiliates/

TreeHugger.com: General interest green living that is now part of the Discovery Channel family of companies.Separate links allow you to post your press release or story tip under Business and Politics, Culture and Celeb-

rity, Design and Architecture, Fashion and Beauty, Food and Health, Home and Garden, Science and

Technology, Cars and Transportation, Travel and Nature, and Work and Community. If your story doesnt

fit any of these categories, general tips go to [email protected].

GreenBiz.com: Well-read business blog headed by Joel Makower, author of a number of green business books,

including Strategies for the Green Economy. Parent company Greener World Media encourages users to submit

press releases but makes no guarantees of publication and cautions that they are most likely to succeed if they fit in

with the companys editorial guidelines, which can be found at

http://www.greenerworldmedia.com/about/guidelines.html

GreenOptions.com: A family of sustainability-related blogs, Green Options Media includes Red Green and Blue

(environment politics), EcoLocalizer (local economy), Eat Drink Better (sustainable food), Ecopreneurist (Small

Business) and several others--15 in total as of this writing. To submit a press release to the Green Options press

desk, email [email protected](for news and opinion), [email protected](for family and life-

style), or [email protected](for business and technology).


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Grist.org: A fairly sophisticated blog covering Politics, Community, Green Living, Climate and Energy, Grist is

well respected and known for its straight talk. You can submit a press release or news tip through an online form

at http://www.grist.org/contact/contact-us

In general, blogs are similar to traditional media, but there are a variety of very distinct differences. First, there is

much less editorial control in blogs than in traditional media. A writer, therefore, usually has much greater flexibility

in the stories they choose to write and how they present the material. For you, that means you can probably find the

writer who covers topics similar to the story youre looking to promote, and who has a writing style you like, and

contact them directly with an email introducing your story. To do this, simply read the blog roll until you find writ-

ers you like and follow the links to reach them (most blogs will have the writers name hyperlinked, so you can di-

rectly click on their link and see a bio and contact info). The second major difference is that these outlets tend to be

more plugged-in than their traditional counterparts. Thus, your press release or email to writers should include so-

cial media links, allowing writers to see information youve created on a Facebook account, or tweet-able links al-

lowing Twitter users to follow your story as it is published.

News Wire Websites

There are a variety of websites that offer news wire services that operate on the pay-for-play model. In effect, you

simply write up your press release and submit it to these services, pay a fee, and you are guaranteed of publication.

If your budget permits, this is the easiest and most effective way of getting your information published on the web on

a variety of websites. Weve recommended a few newswires below, but have not included prices for most of them, as

prices will inevitably change over time and current prices are easy enough to find on the sites themselves.

Two problems arise from this approach. First, these services may or may not be well-respected. If companies are

paying for publicity on these sites, there is an obvious question of quality. Are these releases necessarily newswor-

thy? Wont readers feel they are simply being advertised to? Second, with no editor or writer choosing to pick up

your press release (instead it is just picked up because youve paid for it), there is no quality control once it leaves

your desk. You may think youve written a fantastic press release, but the ultimate judge is an independent third

party who works in the news. An editor or news writer who picks up your press release and publishes it does so

because they deem it newsworthy, exciting, relevant, and timely. These people work in this industry every day, and

therefore their selection of your release is a pseudo-certification of its credibility. Without this filter, what you think is

a good press release may simply go dud because of something youve forgotten to address, a statistic you misinter-

pret, a competitor who beats you to the punch, etc.

With that in mind, this approach still guarantees you coverage on a website that is not yours. Dont discount this

exposure! It can be important for search engine optimization, as well as for future reference, when a potential cus-

tomer researches your company or your industry and encounters multiple stories referring to you out on the web.

Many customers simply wont know that you had to pay for this exposure, and may assume that these sites are inde-

pendent media and that the story is credible.

If you decide to follow this path, there are a few important pieces of advice wed offer. First, have someone who is asindependent as possible read through your release and make sure that it is exciting, relevant, and packed with useful

information. More importantly, ask them to make sure it reads AS IF it were covered by an independent news

agency, and not blatant self-promotion. Second, find a site that is reputable and relevant to your industry. If, for ex-

ample, your release on wind energy is covered by a fashion website, not only will it lose most of its regular readers, it

will turn off anyone who stumbles upon it because theyre looking for relevant information on wind energy and un-

derstandably might find the juxtaposition with fashion to be disconcerting in terms of the validity of the information.


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If you have any nagging doubts, many of these sites offer writing and editing services for a fee, which is very worth-

while if you have the budget for it. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

See Exhibit 2 for an example of a newswire for green business enthusiasts. There are several good things covered,

such as the fact that this is an established site (since 1996), with good traffic (300,000 visits per month), and the nu-

merous places where your news item will be featured. As mentioned, however, there is no filter, so quality control

(Your press release will go online within minutes of your posting date) is completely up to you. Regular readers of

this kind of newswire may be quick to judge you on the first spelling or grammatical error, knowing full well that

theyve seen other releases on this site that were less than professional due to the pay-for-play format and thus limit-

ing their trust. So write as well as you can, follow the steps above to make the release appear as professional as pos-

sible, and make sure to get someone else to take a look at it for you!

Several recommended triple bottom line news wires you might want to consider:

SustainableBusiness.com (see Exhibit 2)

ENN.com (short for Environmental News Network, this outlet is very consumer focused)

CSRWire.com

3BLMedia.com (this service is different in that you pay for a campaign, not for individual releases)

Ascribe.org

There are a variety of other, more generally focused business news wires available. These will have a more general

audience that may or may not be interested in sustainable business ventures like yours, but regardless offer an addi-

tional opportunity for distribution if your budget allows.

PRWeb.com

PRNewsWire.com

BusinessWire.com

Finding the Appropriate Person to Send Your Press Release To

In order to avoid having your well-written, well-timed press release end up in an editors circular file (industry

lingo for trash can or recycle bin), it is crucial to get it into the hands of the person most likely to cover your story or

event. If you happen to read the particular news media that you are sending the release to, you may simply know

which writers and reporters cover sustainability, business, and any other areas that are directly relevant to your com-

pany. If so, address your press release directly to that person, either through their email that they may post in each

article, or by calling their company and finding out how to address your press release to that person. Odds are, a few

moments of internet research will yield results for you in terms of finding a writer most likely to pick up your story.

The bottom line, though, is: address your press release to the right person, and your odds of success have just got-

ten much better. The better you know the writer, the better pitch to them you can make.

You may be tempted, especially for important events, to send your press release to someone a little higher up, such as

a manager or editor. While its possible this person will get your story to the front page, its also a lot more likely that

it will go nowhere (but the circular file). Editors and managers are even busier and more distracted than writers.

Our advice, at least for your first couple of press releases, is to start with the writers themselves. Once youve be-


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come a Patagonia, you may enjoy the undivided attention of managers and editors, but until then, youre likely to

waste your time and effort should you choose to try to land the big fish.

Remember, youre not trying to sell a writer on your story. You are providing them resources that will help make

them a more successful journalist. Try to put yourself in the journalists shoes: what would make you want to write

this up as a story? Make their job easier and provide them with good materials, and you have a better chance of suc-

cess. In addition, if you present your company, your press release, and yourself in a highly organized, highly profes-

sional manner and have shown that you do your homework, you have a good chance of entering their rolodex of

experts they will interview when other stories are relevant to your industry.

Once youve determined the right person to send your press release to, you may increase your chances of success

with a (brief) personalized email. You may address the writer directly in a formal email (using surnames and the

same professional writing style you used in the press release itself). If so, do a little research on them first. Read their

last couple of articles, and in your letter, you can let them know that you thought their work was interesting for a

variety of reasons (use specific examples). Follow that with a lead-in to your topic, showing how closely connected

their usual articles are with your press release, and then let the press release do the rest. If you are emailing, you

should copy and paste the text of the press release directly into the body of the email, as many email servers will have

spam filters protecting against unknown contacts with attachments, and many people wont open attachments for

fear of viruses. Always have those attachments (documents, pictures, etc.) available to send to someone upon request

or previous arrangement, but as a general rule, it is not a good idea to send unsolicited emails with attachments. If

you do want to include a picture in your email, make sure the file size is very small (


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Exhibit 2--Sample News Wire for Green Business Publicity

SustainableBusiness.com NewsWireWant to raise awareness of your company news, conference, book, awards or

public information campaign?

Post your press release on SustainableBusiness.com JUST $95!!

Our mission is to help green businesses grow, so we're offering you an easy, inexpensive way toreach our visitors and get coverage on Google News, greatly expanding your reach.

Where Your Press Release Will

Appear:

on our Home Page, in the

Daily News section on a separate News Releases

page, with RSS syndication permanently searchable and

archived on our website announced in our

SustainableBusiness.com e-newsletter

available for "sharing," Send toa Colleague

in Google News, and codedwith keywords for other search engines

Your press release will go online within minutes of your posting date.

Pricing:

Press release posted on SustainableBusiness.com: $95Press release posted ($95) plus Featured Ad on our site: Add $100/week

Why SustainableBusiness.com?

Online since 1996, SustainableBusiness.com is aleading website in our field, with 300,000 visitsand over 700,000 page views a month.

Your news will quickly reach news media,corporations, investors and the wide variety ofprofessionals interested in green business andsustainability.

With daily updated content and an active onlinecommunity, we attract a deep green audience in allgreen business sectors: renewable energy, greenbuilding, green investing, recycling and organics.


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Persistence also pays with individual writers. If you send a release to a writer and he or she does not write about it,

realize its likely because they had something else on their plate that day, or it simply didnt fit into the editorial

guidelines they were currently working under. However, that same writer may pick your story up the next time,

especially once they have name recognition of your company after seeing your previous press release.

Another major key to the success of your press release in generating publicity for your business is that it is simply

interesting and fun. A writer wants readers to see a headline and immediately get drawn into reading the rest of the

article. If you can offer them something interesting and fun, youve made their work easier and reduced the creativ-

ity they need to show in coming up with a story. Since many newspaper writers have to come up with stories every

day, their creative energy can sometimes use an external boost, which is why press releases have a chance at success

in the first place. Make yours fun and interesting, and you have that chance. In order to make them fun and interest-

ing, wed suggest you get the basic storyline down on paper, then let it sit for a few hours. Come back to the story

with a fresh set of eyes and try to view it as if you were the writer receiving the release. Would you write about it?

What would grab your attention? What interesting way can you present the information? Thus, one of our major

takeaways we want you to have after using this document is to simply have fun. This is your business. You should

love it, and having fun promoting it will not only make your job more enjoyable, itll likely also be more effective.

And finally, as much as we joke about the circular file, many journalists, editors, and bloggers have a place they

keep really interesting press releases, and it may surprise you how often a writer will follow up with you on a press

release you sent 3 months ago, because now the subject is relevant again.

Part 3--External Resources For Green PR

Public Relations Firms--What Do They Do?

Public Relations essentially means the management of communication between an entity (e.g., your business) and itsstakeholders (e.g., current customers, potential customers, employees, etc.). It is fundamentally different from adver-

tising in that there is no tangible advertisement--it is simply communications. There is little simple about it, how-

ever. It is such a potential boon (and bust) for small businesses, that many entrepreneurs choose to hire a Public Rela-

tions firm to handle their PR campaign. It is not inexpensive to do so, with many PR firms charging in excess of $100

per hour for even their junior associates. The potential reward, however, is good enough that this may, in fact, be a

good option for your business at some point.

How to Find a Good PR Firm for Your Business

There are no shortage of PR firms capable of handling the account for your small business. Finding a good one can

be a challenge, so before you invest your time, energy and money with a PR firm, consider these principles of select-ing the PR firm that is right for your business.

Consideration 1--How well do they know your industry? A PR firm that has a successful track record han-

dling accounts in the metalworking industry may fall completely flat if hired by a green carpet cleaning

service. Whether a firm has expertise in your industry should be fairly easy to ascertain by looking at their

website, reading the company profile, history, and testimonials.


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Consideration 2--How fluent are they in the issues of sustainability? Your business is a sustainable one.

Even if you find a PR firm that handles your industry (Consideration 1), if they dont speak the language of

sustainability, how likely are they to really emphasize the value of your company and the brand that it of-

fers? Once again, a cursory look at their website should give you an idea of how good companies are in this

regard, and a followup conversation with the principles at the firm should help you determine if they areright for you.

Consideration 3--How successful are they? This may seem obvious, but PR firms are in the business of

communications, and they can likely tell a great story, regardless of whether theyve been successful or not,

about what they can do for your business. If a PR firm doesnt have a page on their website specifically

dedicated to the clients they serve and the success theyve achieved in getting those clients into the news, it

likely means they havent had much! This does not mean that this may not be a good PR firm. Everyone

has to start somewhere. However, without a track record of success, a PR firm cant demand quite the same

price as a firm with said track record, so if you are a risk-taker and are considering using a PR firm that is

relatively new, you can expect a much lower cost.

Consideration 4--How social media savvy are they? These days, social media is changing the face of the

PR game. Any PR firm that is not keeping up with this growing and fast-changing trend will miss great

opportunities to generate viral, word-of-mouth PR for your company through social media such as Face-

book, Twitter, and mobile web applications.

Consideration 5--What is their metric of success? If a PR company has a track record of getting stories into

the media, thats a good thing, right? Well, yes. But if those stories dont translate into increased sales of

your product, it does you little good as a small business. For a larger company, the increased brand aware-

ness might be enough to justify the cost of a PR firm, but for small businesses with limited budgets, sales are

king. If your PR campaign doesnt increase your sales enough to offset the cost of your PR expenditure, it

may not be worthwhile for you to pursue it. It is important, therefore that a PR firm not just get your story

out to the media, but also help you tailor your message so that its an effective sales platform, and to strate-

gically align those stories with media outlets whose readers are likely to become your customers.

When working with a PR firm, be as open with them as you possibly can about your goals, intentions, and needs for

your outreach. Pretend they are your companys therapist. The better they know you, the more likely they will be to

get at the heart of the issue, and find ways to solve it. After a good back and forth, a PR firm will typically send you a

detailed proposal of what kind of campaign they think will work for you and how much it will cost. This will at least

give you a starting point, and you can revise the plan as needed to fit your budget.

Green Business Owner maintains a list of trusted consultants. If you would like a referral for a PR firm thatwould be appropriate for your business, we would be happy to recommend one for you. Contact us with an email

to [email protected], with the subject line Trusted Consultant--Public Relations. In the body of

the email, tell us a little about your business, your industry, and your goals for your PR campaign, and well do

our best to line you up with a great PR company.


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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Appendix 1--Glossary of Terms

Devils Advocate--An expression that is used to describe a person who takes the opposite viewpoint from someoneelse, just for arguments sake. Having a devils advocate try to counter your arguments about why your press re-

lease is newsworthy is a great way to test whether what youre saying is actually newsworthy, and whether journal-

ists and readers alike will be interested in it.

News Wire (a.k.a.: Wire Service, News Agency, News Service)--These organizations serve to provide news feeds

directly to journalists and media organizations. These days, many of these simply accept press releases for a fee and

redirect them through their channel of media organizations and online subscribers. You may submit a press release

to these organizations for your business, and be assured that it will be sent out to a lot of potential writers. Whether

any of them pick up the story is more dependent on the subject matter and the quality of your press release.

Public Relations--The management of the flow of information between an organization and its stakeholders.

Social Media--A term used to describe the growing phenomenon of media generated by and for many people. As

opposed to traditional media that is a unidirectional flow of information (e.g., a newspaper that is read by many peo-

ple), social media is created by many people writing, commenting, editing, and reposting information. Primary ex-

amples of social media are Yelp, Facebook and Twitter, though the field is growing exponentially.


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effectively using press releases for your business

Documents