picture of new home
new homes week
New-Homes Search

Maximise your PR

The Basics

It's up to all of us to tell the media what's going on during New Homes Week 2006 and to ensure that we raise the profile of our industry and everything it is achieving in terms of the developments in design, sustainability and the wider community.

This guide should give you all the advice you need to get the ball rolling for your event and/or PR, however, if you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us

To Top

What is PR and why bother

Put simply, it's about effective communication. Telling people both what they want to know and what you want them to know about your business/developments innovations and community work and the wider industry.

We are aware that you are already extremely busy people and so this begs the question "why should I bother with PR?"

There are a number of reasons why you should take a step back every so often and take a look at how you could promote yourself. You could look at the work of your team, local events and donations as a good starting point. PR can make a real impact for you and can be used to:

  • Promote the benefits of your business to the wider local community
  • Become a 'good neighbour'
  • Attract the right employees
  • Motivate current employees
  • Aid Sales!

To Top

Prioritising PR

We are aware of just how valuable your time is, and that you are working within the constraints of a high-pressure industry, however, there are a number of small measures which, if adopted, could help boost your PR enormously:

  • Get other people involved - including customers and suppliers.
  • Make PR a regular agenda item at team meetings
  • Set targets/plan ahead - future events
  • Delegate tasks
  • Work to people's strengths - perhaps someone in your team is good at photography?
  • Keep everyone informed - this is a team effort.

To Top

Who do you want to read your story

You need to 1) identify your audience, and 2) establish what media they read/listen to/watch/log on to - because by sending your press releases out to them, this is how you are going to reach them.

For example, you may want to reach:

  • Local councillors
  • MP's
  • Neighbouring residents
  • Potential customers

To Top

What makes a good press release

Make sure the information is newsworthy - what do you want people to know, do they want to know and is it interesting enough for them to read/listen to/watch?

Give them all the key information - make sure you have answered:

  • WHO?
  • WHAT?
  • WHERE?
  • WHY?
  • WHEN?
  • HOW?

How about thinking about the following for starters:

  • Planned NHW 2006 events
  • Business successes
  • Customer testimonials
  • Community relations
  • Design initiatives
  • Training initiatives
  • Charitable events

To Top

How to write it

Newsworthy or not?

  • Use an eye-catching headline that gets straight to the point (EG: LOCAL DEVELOPER GIVES KIDS A LIFT UP THE CAREER LADDER)
  • Make sure your release is no more than 500 words long - any more than this and the journalist will lose interest
  • Make it concise and to the point - deal with the facts only and don't make anything up!
  • Avoid flowery adjectives and fancy language - keep it simple
  • Don't make any claims you can't substantiate - is it REALLY unique?!!!!!!
  • Tell the story in the first paragraph - but make it a short paragraph
  • Provide as much contact information as possible - individual to contact (tel, fax ,email)
  • Give them as little work to do as possible

Your press release has just three seconds to avoid the bin!

Elaborate your story in subsequent paragraphs, but remember journalists cut stories to fit from the bottom up - bear this in mind when you are prioritising your information! Tell the journalist everything they may need to know according to the checklist above. Also make sure that you:

  • Spell everything correctly
  • Explain it carefully
  • Provide a contact name and number - just in case they want to call you for further details

To Top

A picture is worth a thousand words

...so it is worth investing in a good one. Hourly costs for a photographer can range from £60 to £130 and costs for travel and processing are added to this. So, you will not necessarily have to invest a lot of cash into this but more a fair bit of creative thought. Try to include movement, life and interesting angles.

Upload your pictures and press releases in the media zone

To Top

Approvals

Local interest stories should be sent specifically to the correct media in the relevant region/town only. If you are sending a story to national publications make sure you identify the correct journalists to receive it. If you have mentioned or quoted a third party you must gain their written approval before issuing the piece out to the media, a simple signature will suffice.

To Top

Building relationships

In order to build up a rapport/build a relationship with your local media and have more of a chance of getting into the papers or on the radio/tv you will need to keep up a regular flow of information. However, target all your material carefully, not all your stories will be relevant to all your journalists. Try to bear in mind that newspapers want up-to-the-minute stories and that regional publications need a regional angle. Tailor stories if you need to, use the one basic story but do more than one version.

To Top

Your local media

By this we mean all the local television stations that you watch and the radio stations that you listen to as well as local newspapers and magazines.

To Top

TV

If you feel that you have a story good/visual enough for TV, you should send a briefing sheet to the newsroom containing details of your event including:

  • Date, time & location
  • Contact details
  • A few lines on what the event is, who will be there and why it is being held.

To Top

Radio

A radio story is likely to involve an interview from a relevant member of staff with someone from the radio station. This can be done in the studio, on your premises and even on the phone. To be considered for use on the radio you will need to provide:

  • Contact details (name, experience relevant to story, telephone number etc)
  • A few lines about what you want to say and how it is relevant to the local community.
  • You could also send any relevant press releases to back up your brief.

To Top

Site powered by SQN Solutions