The Good Oil - News Exposure You Can't Buy

Thursday, 12 August 2010, 4:40 pm
Column: Alastair Thompson

Dear Bizzone Business Boost Community,

Welcome to Scoop! This is your own special page!

Firstly Scoop extends its deepest sympathies to all those businesses affected by this weeks earthquakes. There will be a hard few months ahead but then hopefully some good times. Our thoughts like those of all small business people in NZ are with you. Kia Kaha.

The lifeblood of business strategy is information - both projecting it - telling people what you are doing and what opportunities there are to work with you - and receiving it - getting the news fast about what your competitors and industry leaders are up to.

But with newspaper downsizing proceeding at pace and with what remains of the print media outsourcing most of their production to small teams in the big cities, it is getting increasingly difficult to do either.

On this page you can learn about:

• News exposure you can't buy
  > > > a free way to boost your business' exposure
• How to get the news you need to make $$$
• 5 simple hints on how to write a press release

The traditional approach to getting news out about your business has been to employ a PR agency who then crafts a press release and phones around their friends in the media too hopefully get your news placed. Unfortunately whether they succeed or not depends a lot on what else happens on the day you choose to make your announcement, how much space the editors have to fill and who they play squash with.

Since 1999 Scoop has been providing an alternative to this hit and most probably miss news market for NZ businesses. If you send us a press release (just email it to editor@scoop.co.nz ) outlining something newsworthy you have done or are planning and it is legible sane and not defamatory then 10 times out of 10 we will publish it.

And once posted to Scoop it will be: -
Available to be read by Scoop's 500,000 monthly readers -
Instantly searchable in Google and Google News
Archived forever so that any reporter/colleague/customer researching your company can find the information you have released.

The only hard bit is writing the release which is why we have written a handy little guide for you: here >>> 5 simple hints on how to write a press release

With upwards of 15,000 New Zealand companies, organisations and government agencies making use of Scoop to project their information Scoop has become a clearing house for useful information.

That is why we set it up in the first place and that is a key way that we make money ourselves.

The truth is that most news is of particular interest to a small number of people. Within any given industry all players are of course intently interested in what other people are doing in their industry.

And if we are in a service industry we are interested in what will be of interest to our clients - if only to earn some brownie points by being the first people to tell them something we know will be useful to them.

News you can use is news you can act on. News you your likely forward to colleagues and news which affects the decisions you make as a business.

And with such news time is of the essence. If you are developing a new product and competitor comes to market with something broadly similar then you want to know as soon as possible.

The problem then is how to get such news without spending all day online or reading magazines.

Scoop's Newsagent Service is a product designed to fulfil this specific need. We enable you to specify the particular news you want to hear with as much precision as you wish. We then send news that matches your criteria to your inbox the instant it is published which is often within minutes of the news being sent to the media - and invariably several hours if not days before it is likely to appear in the regular media.

We have a special offer for Bizzone community members which you can access by clicking HERE or on the image below:

Keep it simple.

The key to communication is simplicity so don't bury the lead. Most people will not read past the headline and first paragraph unless interested in the subject so you need to immediately tell them what's going on. If you have invented/imported a wonderful new cure for sleepless nights then you headline is: "Wonderful Cure for Sleepless Nights Now Available". If you have sold your fencing machine to Eastern Europe your headline should be: "Kiwi manufacturer sells fencing innovation to Bulgaria". This is not rocket science.

Who, What, Where, When Why?

This is the method used by news reporters to construct their stories and the rule applies even more to press releases which are intended to consumption by reporters. Answer all the basic questions in the first two or three paragraphs - before you get to the bit where you include some frilly bits and boasts. Keep your sentences short. Say one thing at a time.

Include the vital information.

Include the words "Press Release", the date, and the name of your company at the top above the headline. In the footer repeat the full name of your company, the name of the contact person, their title/position, and contact details phone and email for reporters to get a hold of your spokesperson for further comment. (NOTE: In Scoop's case we will delete phone numbers and email addresses but will include website URLs if supplied.) It is also worthwhile to try to include relevant search terms in the body of your release which you might expect people searching for your business or products to use.

Keep the frills brief and engaging:

Less is more. Once you have answered the basic questions about your newsworthy announcement you should add some quotes which a reporter can then use if pressed for time to ring you up. This is where you get to be a bit creative. But a cautionary note: Do not use jargon and do not use language which is unlikely to be what you would actually say. Do use pithy, provocative little soundbites. Do say things that are interesting. Say things that if a reporter were to ring you up you would want to say again.

Keep it short.

While there is no word limit for publication on Scoop the best press releases are between 300 and 600 words long. Anything much longer than that will intimidate the reader. If you must write more than that then include additional information in an appendix or an FAQ at the bottom - rather than in the body of the release.

Best regards
Alastair Thompson
Scoop General Manager/Founder

Please send any feedback or questions to alastair@scoop.co.nz. And if you are interested you can see a series of images of Scoop's stand at Bizzone Auckland (and some of the people who visited us) by clicking here.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

Contact Alastair Thompson

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• Email - alastair@scoop.co.nz