Submitted by Sabina Hitchen on | 0 Comments
Nearly every day we hear your stories about the great press you're getting, and after we see your great hits we are inevitably asked "what do I do now?"
In order to make this easier for you here's a handy checklist of what to do when you get press - whether it's a blog or a magazine or television.
SCAN THE PRESS MENTION AND SAVE TO YOUR COMPUTER
Once your press comes out be sure you scan a copy place immediately in your press folder on your computer so you can save this for future reference. I recommend you have a press folder for every month every year, i.e., "August 2014". This will help for easy reference in the future.
INCLUDE THE PRESS IN YOUR MEDIA KIT
Place a copy of the placement in your hard copy media kit. Your electronic media kit should include a logo of where your business was covered. If the press placement is small, you can include that in a press section. It's great to include press, but it's not necessary to send it all electronically, it's too large for someone to read. Keep it instead in your hard copy press kit and just keep logos on the electronic version. If you have placement from a large national hit, show it in the electronic version as well, but be sure you keep this press section to only 1-2 pages. That means including the any press blurbs in the electronic version in a smaller size, not listing them like you would in the hard copy version.
SHARE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS & FANS
Share your press in your company newsletter, Facebook, and link to it via Twitter. If it's in a magazine, scan the placement and link to that via a picture on Twitter. A visual appealing and socially sexy way of sharing your press with others is to pin all of your press into a pin board on Pinterest, as described here.
LEVERAGE THAT PRESS WITH OTHER OUTLETS...CAREFULLY
When you are pitching your story and you've received great press - share it with non-competing outlets. In other words, don't call Lucky Magazine and tell them your business was just featured in InStyle. Don't call the Today Show and say "as seen on Good Morning America". National and local outlets both want fresh stories, and they don't want to know that you've been recently featured by their competitors.
If your business has been featured online, include that in the press kit you share with a magazine. Maybe your business was labeled a "Top Businesses to Follow" by Fast Company. Share that press mention with a television outlet. Did your local press do a story on your business? Share that with national press outlets. By doing pitching in this manner, it shows other media outlets that your business has been validated. Just be sure that when leveraging press, you "share up" with larger outlets and other forms of media, but don't share with their direct competition.
CELEBRITY MENTIONS CAN BECOME "AS SEEN ON"
If your business was featured on a celebrity, send out a quick announcement with a photo of the placement. If you are sharing via a pitch, be sure the pitch is moreso about your product or service and include the "as seen in" in the subject line. Even a longer subject line may work, like this: "Today Show says that Sabina Les scarves are a must have for fall". But be sure you don't forget to include your elevator pitch in the main portion of your email to a reporter or producer. You must say why you or your product are a must have!
SHARE IT WITH TIN SHINGLE!
Businesses who are part of Tin Shingle's Membership Program get their own press portfolio, and can upload their press into it for the world to see. Check out the designated section of this website, Tin Shinglers In the News to see who got press! This is also great for SEO for people finding your business more ways than one in Google!
Remember, getting press is not the end of your pr journey, instead it's often the beginning of turning your press into something larger!
