Whether you have launched a new product, conducted an event, won a prestigious award or signed up a heavyweight client, you would want the world to know about it. Making a press announcement is the easiest way to get the news out.
However, before connecting with the press, following are the 3 questions that a corporate communications manager should answer:
1) Who is my audience?
If you are a boot strapping start-up who is looking for funding, most announcements will aim to establish visibility in the market, particularly in front of the investor community. Thus, even though the announcement may be about the launch of a new product, a paragraph specifying how the earlier products have been successful and the firm is on a growth trajectory could be included. Alternately, the aim could be to increase sign-ups and in that case the consumer will be the key target audience.
On the other hand, if you are a well established FMCG brand and have won the Most trusted brand of the year award, your primary audience will be the consumers because it enhances the factor of trust and safety. The investors of the company might not find this news as critical as the financial results and the consumers won't find financial stories as important as knowing that the product quality is reliable.
Thus, it is important to decide your audience in order to target the announcement. Once you have established the target audience, you can then explore the modes of taking the story to it.
2) What should be the format?
A technology start-up from India bags a contract from a French company and wants more french organisations to know about them. They then make a press announcement in France in English because the tech-guys are most comfortable with writing in English.
Now, will this announcement have the desired impact in the market? Probably not. The French would want to read news in french and no one is going to bother translating the news unless the start-up themselves have bothered to do so. Thus, it is important to establish what is the format in which your audience consumes stories.
In order to meet your audience's eye, it is critical that you send out stories in the format that it is comfortable with. It can be the language of the article or the images and videos to be included in it.
3) When should I send it?
News is relevant basis the time frame. If you have an upcoming event, then what is the right time for the press announcement. In case of an open event that requires you to invite participants, you may want to announce it at least a month prior to the event date. If it is a closed event and you only want to do a post-event announcement, then this release could be done within a week after the event is over.
If there is a major national event taking place on a particular day, the media will be busy covering that story and there is little scope for a start-up announcement to get its due. Hence, it is also important that you time the press release such that there is a fair opportunity to garner attention.
Timing will also matter based on the geography. If your target market with a particular announcement is the United States, 9 am IST is not a good time for distribution since most people in US will be sleeping at that time.
Thus, specifying the main objective of the press release, every corporate communications manager must take their stories to the Right Audience in the Right Format at the Right Time.
