Do Press Releases Still Work?

A few years ago I was at a marketing seminar when the discussion turned to whether press releases are still useful. Most of the attendees shook their heads no, and a few vocalized their scorn with comments like “are you kidding?”

Well, I’ve got news for you (pun intended). As a trained journalist who still appreciates receiving press releases, and as a marketing specialist who writes and distributes them on behalf of clients, press releases still work—and they can work well when they are done right.

If you’ve got news to share, don’t overlook the power of a well-written press release that offers “one-stop-shopping” for today’s media outlets, which tend to be understaffed, overworked, underpaid and grateful for a helping hand to keep audiences informed.

It reminds me a comment I heard from a marketing expert once. “If you have a message that matters, it’s your responsibility to make sure that message is heard, remembered and acted upon.”

Here are my top 10 tips to help you get more media coverage (think free publicity!) when you have a message that matters:

1. Think like a journalist. Not sure what to talk about? What news have you been sharing with friends, family and current customers? Have an event coming up? Tell the media about it. Also, don’t be afraid to time your news releases with events in the wider world. I recently listened to a radio interview with a local florist in early February. This small business owner said Valentine’s Day is like the Super Bowl of the flower business. What a great news hook!

2. Craft a clear, compelling headline and subhead. This is the most important part of your press release, so spend some time on this. (Hint—the headline can also be the subject line of your email to send the press release.) Imagine you have $1 to spend on a press release. Invest 95 cents of that dollar in a strong headline. While you want your headline to grab attention, it’s important that it does so while also explaining exactly what your announcement is about. It’s at this point the editor or reporter will decide to continue reading or not.
This isn’t the time to be overly creative or vague. Your headline should appear in bold followed by a sub-headline in italics. For example, in a recent story I wrote about an Iowa distillery, the headline read Cheers to Iowa Ag, while the sub-head read: Century Farms Distillery in Spencer Makes High-Quality Bourbon, Whiskey from Customers’ Corn.

3. Don’t forget to add your contact information. Put this right up front, below the headline, so people know exactly who to contact for more details. Here’s a simple example: Contact: Joe Smith, general manager, 515-555-5555, jsmith@xyzcoop.com/.
4. Grab attention from the opening paragraph or two. This section should answer the five Ws and one H: who, what, where, why, when and how. Even if readers stopped here, they’d have all the necessary information you’re trying to communicate. Here’s an example from a corporate press release I wrote a few years ago:

A new soybean crushing plant that will be built at the Butler Logistics Park northwest of Shell Rock, pending state and local approvals, will propel value-added agriculture forward in Iowa. Mid-Iowa Cooperative, a farmer-owned cooperative based in east-central Iowa, is leading the effort to create Shell Rock Soy Processing (SRSP), LLC. When operational in 2022, this plant will crush 38.5 million bushels of soybeans annually, or 110,000 bushels daily and will create 50 to 60 high-quality jobs.

5. Include a compelling quote early on. Following the lead paragraph(s), include a quote from whoever is the most relevant spokesperson. If you’re a small-business owner, it’s most likely to be you. This is a great opportunity to “speak human” and add key insights that go beyond “just the facts.” Here’s an example for a press release I wrote for a small business in Madison County, Iowa, that was showcasing succulents and container gardens at her business:

“What’s old is new again when you focus on recycling and repurposing,” said Susan Appleget Hurst, who was recently featured in Country Gardens ®magazine. “Growing hardy succulents in broken pots way is a fun way to go green in more ways than one.”

6. Add additional details to round out the basics of the story. These additional paragraphs can provide key details that help the audience understand the story better. It might take only three or four additional paragraphs to cover the pertinent information, or it could take a dozen. Each news release is unique, so use your best judgment. Remember, think like a journalist or someone in the audience who is hearing this news for the first time. What questions might they have? What details would be useful to help them understand why your story is important?

7. Include the boilerplate. This is a paragraph goes at the end of the press release and contains essential background information about your company. Think of the boilerplate as your elevator pitch, or a shorter version of your “About Us” page.” Make sure it includes a link to your website. Here’s an example from that Shell Rock Soy Processing press release:

About Mid-Iowa Cooperative: We know trust is earned, never given. Since the merger of area farmer-owned cooperatives in 1996 that created Mid-Iowa Cooperative, we have experienced record growth, putting us into the top 10% of all Iowa cooperatives in terms of sales and profitability. For more than 75 years, generations of farmers have counted on Mid-Iowa Cooperative, which is rooted in Iowa agriculture. Our diverse client portfolio reaches across the state to serve more than 1,400 members. We are also the largest direct-ship farm-to-market grain procurement company in the Midwest. As a farmer-owned cooperative, we offer products and services in grain management, marketing, insurance and feed. For more information, visit www.midiowacooperative.com.

8. Include visuals to help illustrate your story. These can include photos, artist’s renderings, logos, charts and other illustrations. The media love these graphics. They make it easy for a print outlet like a newspaper or magazine to offer a complete story. Don’t think pictures are just for print, though. Radio stations also want relevant visuals to include on their social media posts when they share news. You can either send these as attachments in the email announcing your press release, or note that visuals are available upon request (and include the appropriate contact info so the media can follow up). You can also have the graphics in a special section of your website or a cloud-based file like Google Drive and share that link when you email the press release.

9. Think about creating a Q&A, or FAQ to go along with your news release. This can be a separate document you send along with your press release. It can be especially helpful if the news you’re announcing is fairly complex or detailed. A Q&A (which could also be considered a Frequently Asked Questions resource) can help supply key background info about your business, not only to the media, but to potential customers. Consider adding this Q&A or FAQ to your website, or create a handout, brochure or sales sheet to give to prospects. Also consider posting this info. bit by bit over time on your social media page to get your message out.

10. Be available to the media. This sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed at how hard it can be to get ahold of some sources, even when they send out a press release and invite followup from the media. If a reporter contacts you, get back to them as soon as possible. It’s okay to buy a little time, if necessary. Just say, “Thanks for reaching out. I’d love to chat with you, but I’m busy right now. I’ll get back in touch by (TIME OR DATE) so we can find a time to visit.”

Here are a few examples of press releases I’ve worked on through the years to give you an idea of how to structure these properly:

EXAMPLE 1: 

Madison County Entrepreneur Picks Up the Pieces:
Applehurst in Winterset Showcases Succulents, Container Gardens
Contact: Susan Appleget Hurst, phone 555-555-5555, email@email.com

WINTERSET, Iowa – Aug. 14, 20XX—Forget everything you know about picking up the pieces. Susan Appleget Hurst is offering an inspiring new spin, thanks to her distinctive tabletop succulent displays made from discarded and broken terra cotta pots.

“What’s old is new again when you focus on recycling and repurposing,” said Appleget Hurst, who was recently featured in Country Gardens ®magazine. “Growing hardy succulents in broken pots way is a fun way to go green in more ways than one.”

As the succulents grow, they fill in the spaces between the shards, said Appleget Hurst, who traded in a career at Meredith publishing to run her own business, Applehurst, in Winterset, Iowa (home of the famous Bridges of Madison County).

These distinctive cracked-pot creations become an expression of creativity, thanks to six simple steps that turn broken pots into unique container gardens. Even better, the hardy succulents can be overwintered to provide years of enjoyment.

Appleget Hurst shares her secrets for designing cracked-pot succulent gardens not only in fall 2013 issue of Country Gardens magazine, but in the classes she offers at Applehurst, which is housed in the historic 1903 Madison County Jail. Visitors can also purchase ready-made cracked-pot succulent gardens at Applehurst.

Can’t travel to central Iowa? Appleget Hurst welcomes media interview requests and enjoys sharing her simple tips for making cracked pot creations.

*** The attached photos can be used with this release. High-resolution versions of all the images are available upon request. E-mail susan@applehurst.com for details.

About Applehurst
Applehurst brings the garden, the table and the soul together. Visitors can shop from a selection of kitchen garden plants and tools, wild-bird supplies, award-winning local wines, and Midwest artistry. For more information, visit www.applehurst.com.

EXAMPLE 2

New Soy Processing Plant to Break Ground in Butler County
Contact: Mike Kinley, 555-555-5555, email@email.com
Note: High-resolution images of Mike Kinley, the SRSP logo, artists’ renderings of the SRSP plant and more are available upon request from Sam Smith (email address goes here, 555-555-5555, email@email.com)

SHELL ROCK, Iowa –Oct. 13, 2020—A new soybean crushing plant that will be built at the Butler Logistics Park northwest of Shell Rock, pending state and local approvals, will propel value-added agriculture forward in Iowa.

Mid-Iowa Cooperative, a farmer-owned cooperative based in east-central Iowa, and Mike Kinley, Mid-Iowa’s CEO, are leading the effort to create Shell Rock Soy Processing (SRSP), LLC. When operational in 2022, this plant will crush 38.5 million bushels of soybeans annually, or 110,000 bushels daily and will create 50 to 60 high-quality jobs.

“We’re positioned to extract all the value possible from locally-grown soybeans,” Kinley said. “This plant can supply both food and fuel needs, and it will bring Butler County and surrounding areas into the center of the global ag economy.”

Mid-Iowa will own a portion of SRSP, which will cost approximately $270 million, and is currently seeking investors for the project. Mid-Iowa will also help originate soybeans for the plant, where groundbreaking is slated for late October 2020.

“Not only will SRSP create more than 50 high-quality jobs, but it allows our area to build on its strong agricultural heritage,” said Jeff Kolb, executive director of the Butler-Grundy Development Alliance. “This will help expand farm income potential, and it will diversify the economy, which can benefit everyone.”

SRSP, by the numbers
The facility will produce 847,000 tons of soybean meal per year (2,420 tons per day) for livestock feed markets, 462 million pounds of crude soybean oil per year (1.32 million pounds per day), and 77,000 tons of pelleted soybean hulls per year (220 tons per day). The soymeal and soy hulls (which contain highly digestible fiber) will be used in livestock feed rations.

“SRSP will add tremendous value to soybeans in the eastern part of Iowa,” said Mike Knobbe, an SRSP developing partner with Kinley. “This plant will also benefit the livestock sector by providing high-quality, 48 percent protein soymeal.”

The soybean oil from SRSP can be used for a variety of applications, including the human food industry. Approximately 25 percent of SRSP’s products will be used within Iowa, while 75 percent will be exported outside of Iowa.

SRSP will be able to unload trucks quickly, saving farmers and truckers a great deal of time when they deliver soybeans to the plant. “This soybean crush plant is a farmer’s dream,” said Jeff Reints, who farms in the Shell Rock area with his son, Clay. “Our closest plant is more than an hour away, and it’s notorious for having 3- to 4-hour waits. SRSP will increase demand for soybeans in our area. More profit potential means farmers will likely add more soybeans to their crop rotation.”

Assuming a 50-50 mix of beans by rail or truck, vehicle traffic to and from SRSP will include soybean deliveries from area farmers, as well soybean oil and meal transport. At peak capacity, approximately 150 trucks will access the plant per day. The plant’s close proximity to the Iowa Northern Railway will contribute to efficient traffic-flow patterns around the logistics park.

“Iowa Northern is honored to have a key role in connecting Iowa agricultural communities direct to the North American transportation network,” said Dan Sabin, president of Iowa Northern Railway Company, a Class III, shortline railroad based in Waterloo that serves industries throughout north-central and eastern Iowa. “We’re pleased to partner with Mid-Iowa Cooperative on this dynamic project and look forward to fulfilling our role in its future success.”

Rail cars will also be loaded out with crude soybean meal or oil. At peak capacity, the plant will load/unload approximately 35 railcars per day.

The plant will be built by Minnesota-based Fagen, Inc., the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) design builder and development partner for SRSP. “It’s a pleasure to work with the Fagen team,” Kinley said. “They are the premiere design-build partner in value-added ag processing.”

This extensive experience will enhance the opportunities generated through the Butler Logistics Park.

“This plant fits so well with this area, since the Flint Hills Resources ethanol plant and TrinityRail Maintenance are already here,” Reints said. “Anytime you can add jobs that keep our rural communities and schools strong, it’s a win-win. We’re really looking forward to the ways this plant will grow the economic base in our rural area for generations to come.”

Plant promotes partnerships, responsible growth
Other farmers agree. “SRSP offers a big opportunity to add value to local soybeans and boost the economy,” said Bob Hogle, a Beaman-area farmer who serves as Mid-Iowa Cooperative’s board president. “It will also help farmers save a lot of time. When you’ve waited in line at a soy processor for four, five or six hours to dump grain, it’s such a waste. MIC knows there has to be a better way. SRSP is a great fit for our area, especially since we’ve unified with East Central Iowa Co-op.”

The right leadership is key to this project, Hogle added.

“Mike Kinley, MIC’s CEO, is a next-generation co-op leader who brings a wealth of experience with projects like this,” Hogle said. “He has the right connections in the industry and management skills that are second-to-none.”

A project of this scale requires a team effort. “Creating SRSP has taken a lot of stakeholders, including local farmers, ag cooperatives, economic development leaders, county zoning officials, the Butler County supervisors and many others,” Knobbe said. “It’s rewarding to see so many people working together to make this plant a reality.”

SRSP will benefit the region for decades to come. “Providing soybean growers with a new option through SRSP isn’t just for today’s farmers,” Hogle added. “It will benefit the next generation, too.”

For more information, log onto www.midiowacooperative.com.

About Mid-Iowa Cooperative: We know trust is earned, never given. Since the merger of area farmer-owned cooperatives in 1996 that created Mid-Iowa Cooperative, we have experienced record growth, putting us into the top 10% of all Iowa cooperatives in terms of sales and profitability. For more than 75 years, generations of farmers have counted on Mid-Iowa Cooperative, which is rooted in Iowa agriculture. Our diverse client portfolio reaches across the state to serve more than 1,400 members. We are also the largest direct-ship farm-to-market grain procurement company in the Midwest. As a farmer-owned cooperative, we offer products and services in grain management, marketing, insurance and feed. For more information, visit www.midiowacooperative.com.