Good morning, podcaster. Press releases are a really easy concept to understand, but they can be daunting if you’ve never written one. Let’s talk about what press releases are, what they’re not, who they get sent to, and what you should do when they get picked up by a journalist.
What is a press release?
Quite simply, a press release is a very formulaic letter that is designed to announce something newsworthy to the media. This could be a new partnership, a big milestone, let’s say your podcast got picked up by a big network or something, it could be to announce a very famous guest, a rebuttal to something horrible you said on your show, or even the announcement of a new season.
Press releases are formulaic for a reason. There is certain information that journalists are looking for, and there is a pretty standard format that they expect when they see one.
Let’s talk about the elements of a press release.
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Media Contact: Be sure to prominently include your name, title, organization, email address, and phone number on any release that you send. Some put this on the top of the page. Others put it at the bottom under a “Media Contact” header.
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For Immediate Release: This is a statement you put into your release to let journalists know it’s okay to release the information right away. There is another format called “embargo,” but that’s something that is used very, very rarely, and only in instances where releasing the news early would do something like impact stock prices.
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Headline: This is where you place the main theme of the article. Put it in H1 (heading 1) format if you’re using an email builder.
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Subhead (optional): Some choose to put a subheading underneath the headline to pay off the theme of the release.
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Highlights: We typically add a section called “highlights” before the body paragraph. This section includes 2-4 bullet points about what the reader can expect in the press release. We try to write these in a way that a journalist could easily copy and tweet with a link to their news story.
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Dateline: This is where you put the date and city from which the news is coming (ex: MILWAUKEE, November 8, 2022).
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Body: This is where you put your news. Write this as though you are writing about your podcast as a journalist. It should be in the third person.
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CTA: You should drop a “for more information” link at the bottom of the release where readers can learn more about your information.
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Boilerplate: The boilerplate is a short, 5-6 sentence paragraph about your podcast. It will read:
“About XYZ Show
XYZ show explores the last three letters of the English alphabet and hosts, Xavier, Yella, and Zak dig into…” (etc.)
Again, write it in a way that is in the third person in case a journalist decides to pick it up and drop it into their publication verbatim.
Press releases are sent to news editors, reporters, producers, other podcasters, bloggers, etc., usually via email - sometimes attached as a Word doc, sometimes attached as a PDF - though a PDF is not recommended because you want to make it easy for the reporter to copy and paste your information. Sometimes people post press releases as screenshots in their Twitter feeds. Sometimes they get faxed. Sometimes people spend 60 cents on a stamp and mail it.
But I recommend just sending all of your press releases as a text email with an image or two (and links to the high-res version of those images).
What a press release is NOT
Let’s talk quick about what a press release IS NOT.
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A press release is not an ad.
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A press. release. is. not. an. ad.
If you want a publication to run an ad for you, buy an ad.
A press release, again, is something newsworthy. Yes, sometimes those lines blur. If you have a question about what is or isn’t news, ask someone who is outside your circle and see what they think. My DMs @fuzzmartin are open - I'm more than welcome to give you my opinion.
Where should you send press releases?
I mentioned some of the job titles of WHO you send press releases to earlier, but let’s talk about where or which outlets you should be sending your press release to. What you want to do is find the publications that will find your piece of news newsworthy to THEIR audience.
Let’s say you have a podcast about comic books. You probably already know the websites that write about comic books. You probably listen to some podcasts about comic books. You may even get a paper magazine about comic books since usually comic books are still printed on paper and you like to stay true to your cause.
That’s great! Find the editors, producers, reporters, etc. who write specifically about what your news is about and start a list. A lot of times you can find their email addresses on the internet or in the case of magazines, they will likely have that information listed on one of the pages.
There are list building services available online. My agency uses Cision. It costs about $15,000 per year. That said, you may be able to reach out to an agency or PR freelancer and ask them to build you a list for a fee if you don’t feel like doing the work organically with tried and true Google searching.
Once your press release is written and proofread, send it to the people on your list.
Who shouldn’t you send a press release to?
Who should you NOT put on your list? I recommend NOT aiming too high. Sending a press release about your comic book podcast reaching its 1,000th listen isn’t going to make it into the New York Times. But a comic book podcast or publication might think that’s great. Think about who will find your news interesting in your audience and send to them only.
Also, be sure to include your contact information in your email and on your press release. Make it very easy for someone to get in touch with you.
And when an editor, producer, or reporter does reach out to you, get back to them as fast as you are able. Your window of opportunity is short and writers are overworked.
To recap
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Your press release should be newsworthy
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It is not an Ad
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Send it as a text email with a photo and link to the high res version of the photo
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Send it to news outlets and shows that typically carry your kind of content - specifically in your niche
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Don’t bother the Washington Post or New York Times unless your story is worthy
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Always include your contact info
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And respond quickly to requests from the people to whom you sent your release
One last one - use press releases like salt. You don’t want to be the boy who cried “news” by sending something every other week.
Fuzz Martin 0:00
Good morning, podcasters! Today we're talking about press releases. Hello, good morning. Guten Tag. Good morning, podcasters. This is a short, semi weekly podcast about podcasting. My name is Fuzz Martin, I'm a partner and the Chief Strategy Officer at EPIC Creative near Milwaukee. And being a Chief Strategy Officer means that I help clients build their best marketing and advertising strategies to meet the audience's that they're trying to reach. I oversee our account management team, our social media team, our media buying and planning team, content, SEO, and public relations teams. We've got 85 employees, there's a lot to oversee. I tell you all that for a reason. And today that reason is because we're talking about press releases.
Fuzz Martin 0:51
This will be a bit of a level 101 course on press releases. However, from my experience, a lot of people are interested in knowing about what a press release is, and when they should send one. So I thought I'd break it down a bit for you. Just to give us a little starter, let's talk about what a press release actually is. Okay. A press release is a very, very formulaic letter that is designed to announce something newsworthy to the media. This could be a new partnership, a big milestone, let's say your podcast got picked up by a big network or something. It could be to announce a very famous guests that you're having on the show. It could be a rebuttal to something horrible. You said on your show, or your Twitter accounts, or even the announcement of a new season of your show.
Fuzz Martin 1:43
Press releases are sent to news editors, reporters, producers, other podcasters bloggers, et cetera, usually via email, sometimes attached as a Word doc, sometimes unfortunately, attached as a PDF file. Don't do that. I don't recommend you do that. Because it makes it hard for the reporter to copy and paste that into whatever CMS they're using to file their news. Sometimes people post press releases as screenshots and their Twitter feeds. Sometimes they get faxed. Sometimes people spend 60 cents on a stamp and mail it. But I recommend sending all of your press releases as a text email, perhaps with an image or two and links, definitely links to the high res version of the images that you would like to appear next to your news story, when a journalist picks up your press release.
Fuzz Martin 2:42
So now let's have a quick conversation about what a press release is not. And this is very important. A press release is not an ad, I will repeat that a press release is not an ad. If you want a publication to run an ad for you buy an ad, a press release is something newsworthy. It's got to be something that this publication, whether it's a website, whether it's a magazine, whether it's a podcast that talks about news about podcasting, the news that you send them has to be something that their audience would like to listen to, and not something that would be considered an advertisement. And yes, sometimes those lines blur a bit, but be a good citizen. And in the end, you'll be fine. Where do you send press releases to I mentioned some of the job titles of who you send press releases to earlier. So that would be again, reporters, editors, publishers, assignment desk editors, producers, hosts of different podcasts that don't necessarily have a producer.
Fuzz Martin 3:55
Let's talk about where or to which outlets, you should be sending your press release. What you want to do is find the publications that will find your piece of news newsworthy to their audience. So if you have a podcast about, let's say comic books, you probably already know the websites that write about comic books, you probably even listen to some podcasts about comic books. You may even get a paper magazine about comic books, since usually comic books are still printed on paper, and you'd like to stay true to your cause. And that's great. Find the editors, producers, reporters, et cetera, who will write specifically about what your news is about and start a list. You may be able to reach out to an agency or PR freelancer and ask them to build you a list for a fee if you don't feel like doing the work organically or with tried and true Google sleuthing.
Fuzz Martin 4:48
So once you have your press release written and it's been proof read, you take that list that you've developed, and you blind carbon, copy it to all the people on the list now Let's quick talk about who you should not put on the list.
Fuzz Martin 5:03
Number one, I recommend not aiming unfathomably high. This isn't the Air Force. Sending a press release about your comic book podcast reaching its 1000. Listen isn't going to make it into the New York Times. Think about who will find your news interesting in your audience and send that to them only. This is a tight curated list, you don't want to be spam.
Fuzz Martin 5:28
Also, be sure to include your contact information in your email and on your press release. Make it very easy for someone to get in touch with you.
Fuzz Martin 5:37
And this is very important. When an editor producer or reporter does reach out to you get back to them as soon as you are possibly able. Your window of opportunity is very short. Writers are overworked and you want to have them do you a favor, so you need to be there for them when they get in touch with you. So to recap, your press release should be newsworthy. your press release is not an ad. Send it as a text email with a photo and link to the high res version of the photo. Send it to news outlets and shows that typically carry the kind of content and news that you are sending to them specifically in your niche. Don't bother sending it to the Washington Post or New York Times unless your story is truly newsworthy to them. Always include your contact info, and respond quickly to requests from the people to whom You sent your release. And one last one. Use press releases like salt. You don't want to be The Boy Who Cried "news" by sending something every other week to an overburdened editor.
Fuzz Martin 6:47
We're getting dangerously close on getting the website up and running. I will create a sample press release for you that you can download and use as a template soon. And I will let you know on this show and on the Twitter page. Once that's live, and you will be able to look at a sample press release. And I will give you a written version of this podcast so you can use some of the steps when you're creating your public relations lists and sending out that really important news to editors in your niche.
Fuzz Martin 7:16
And that'll do it for today's episode of Good Morning, Podcasters. If you have a question for the show, you can reach out by going to podinbox.com/GMP that is podinbox.com/gmp. If you'd rather not leave an audio message my DMs are always open on Twitter for as long as Twitter hasn't burned down. You can reach me @gmpodcasters or @FuzzMartin. So again @GMpodcasters or Fuzz Martin and we will talk to you tomorrow morning right here on Good Morning podcasters.
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