How to get better press coverage

Arts and culture organisations can always do more to improve press coverage of events, exhibitions and performances. Creative Boom give their top tips for getting yours in the news
woman reading paper in the sea
Writing a decent press release and avoiding PDFs are two of the tips from Creative Boom for getting better media coverage. Photograph: Getty

Getting your news into the local paper, your favourite trade media or e-zine can be tricky, especially as there are so many other businesses out there competing against you. So how do you get yourself noticed and ensure that journalists pick out your story above everyone else?

Well, one of the interesting things about running both a PR firm and an online magazine is that we get to see both sides of the coin. So whether we're issuing press releases to journalists or receiving them to be considered for publication, we at Creative Boom have some insider intelligence that we'd like to share with you. Here's our top tips on how to get media coverage for your arts or culture organisation:

Establish a relationship

Call up the newspaper, magazine or publication you'd like to be pubished in and find out who the main contact is. Speak to them and get to know them. Find out what makes them tick. By understanding what the journalist requires, you'll have a much better chance of securing media coverage.

Write a decent press release

Press releases are basically a presentation of facts to send to a journalist. You have to consider the who, what, when, where, why and how of your story and draft a release that presents the information in a clear and concise way. The right spelling and grammar is important, and always include contact details should the journalist wish to contact you. Read our How to write a press release article for some extra pointers.

Getting your email subject lines right

When sifting through the hundreds of emails we receive for Creative Boom magazine, we often notice the titles of press releases or features in the email subject line. If the title sounds interesting or catchy, we'll be more likely to open the email. If it sounds irrelevant and dull - or if it looks like spam - we'll just immediately delete. Get your emails right and the journalist will more likely see what you have to offer.

Avoid PDFs

All too often we receive emails that have nicely presented PDF press releases as attachments with images embedded in them. While this might look the business, they're hugely irritating and a waste of our time. Even if the story looks half decent, I'm inclined to immediately "move to trash". PDFs tend to be difficult to extract information from quickly and easily without having to edit the text and images manually. Keep things simple and copy and paste the press release copy into the body of the email while attaching any image files. It will be so much easier for the journalist overall.

Provide the right images

Always consider the publication to which you're sending your story with images. If it's printed media, they'll want a Jpeg image file that's at least 500KB and 300dpi. If you're targeting online media, provide a web-ready image that can be immediately uploaded without the journalist having to resize manually.

In terms of emailing images, as most newspapers or print based media will only need images that are at least 300dpi and no less than 500kb in size, it shouldn't be a problem sending them. For online publications, remember to save for web your images and ensure they're at least 500 pixels wide.

If you'd like the journalist to have access to the original image file sizes, provide a link to a website such as Flickr and allow them to download from there. Just make sure you make it obvious in your email where the images are available to download.

Don't make the journalist chase

When sending your press release, try to include everything the journalist might need, including the press release and suitable images. Don't make journalists chase. Send everything they need first time.

Create a media list

Using all of the above information, create a media list that includes notes on each publication and journalist. This will help you the next time you issue a press release or story.

By following our top tips you'll have a much better chance of securing media coverage for your arts or culture organisation. Media coverage will bring you a wealth of benefits as you'll be raising your profile, boosting credibility and attracting lots more clients and customer enquiries. Plus, if your story gets published online, there's a chance you'll be adding to your own search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts as well.

If you've got any of your own top tips for getting better press coverage, please add them in the comments section below

This content was originally published by Creative Boom

Katy Cowan runs the Creative Boom website voluntarily - she is a trained journalist, writer and PR professional. Follow her and Creative Boom on Twitter @Creative_Boom


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