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• Guidelines For Good PR
• Getting good press coverage is the easiest thing
  in the world if it is done in the right way. So
  whats the best way to do it?
• There are three main PR tools that you can use
  when publicising your project
• Press Releases
• Case Studies
• Contact
• Press Releases
• A press release is a short concise statement
  detailing the main points that you want to get
  across to the journalist. A press release should
  usually be no longer than one side of A4.
• Your press release should look like this

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Press Release Hints Tips On average
journalists receive hundreds of press releases
per day, most of them dont even get opened. For
example, the finance editor of The Telegraph
receives on average 150 emails a day. She does
not have the time to open them all so she will
delete the email before opening it if the title
doesnt interest her! If the press release is
lucky enough to get opened, the journalist will
decide from reading the first paragraph whether
the story is interesting, if not it gets deleted.
The key to getting your press release read is
to make it stand out, be different, be
interesting, be creative. Your press release
should be a story, not simply a list of
information. Journalists thrive on human
interest stories and as the majority of projects
include people, this is something that you should
strongly focus on. If its about people, people
will be interested. Make your press release
relevant. Link it to popular themes. For example,
if the world cup is running or Harry Potter mania
is in full force, somehow link your press release
to that, it is more likely to get coverage as the
public are interested. If you cannot link the
content of your release you could certainly
include it in the title to grab the journalists
attention. If you are aiming your story at the
local press make sure you emphasise the local
theme. Regional media have to place a certain
amount of local interest stories and people are
nosey, they like to know what people in their
area are doing! So, for example, if your project
was running a football club for the youth in the
village of Nailsea and Harry Potter was your
theme your press release title could be
Muggles Take On Nailseas Best In Magic Football
Tournament Make sure you dont send your press
release out with spelling, grammar or punctuation
mistakes as it implies sloppiness and can give
you a reputation of unprofessionalism. It only
takes a minute to spell check but can make the
world of difference to the journalist first
impressions of you. Always write press releases
in the third person, this makes it sound
objective and unbiased. Finally, local media
love photos of people, if your press release is
about people take some interesting action shots
and in the Notes to Editor simply write, photos
available upon request. This gives the journalist
the option whether to follow it up. Do not send
the photos as a matter of course when emailing
your press release, photos take up a lot of space
and journalists dont take kindly to having their
systems slowed down because of this. Only send
the photos once the journalist has requested
them.
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Press Release
Magic Ball

• (Example Press Release)
• 
  
  
• Muggles Take On Nailseas Best In
• Magic Football Tournament Of The Millennium
• On Sunday 27th April 2003 Magic Ball held its
  first ever football tournament at Scotch Horn
  playing fields in Nailsea.
• Magic Ball is a football club set up to develop
  the football skills of the youth of Nailsea who
  would otherwise be hanging around on the streets.
  Magic Ball seeks to provide a safe and fun
  environment for young people to come together to
  develop their football and team building skills.
• Joe Bloggs, a member of Magic Ball United said
  The tournament was brilliant, it was so much fun
  and really gave our team a chance to show
  everyone what we could do. But winning it was the
  best! I cant wait for the next tournament.
• The next tournament will be held at Scotch Horn
  playing fields on Sunday 25th May. If you would
  like to enter a team please pop into Magic Balls
  office on Nailsea High Street for more
  information.

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Targeting So youve written your press release,
how do you know who to send it to? National
Press It is probably unlikely that you will
want to get national coverage but if you do want
to you must first find the email or postal
address of the relevant editor, for example, if
you want to get coverage in The Daily Mail, phone
the paper and ask the switchboard for the name
and email or postal address of the relevant
editor for your story. Each paper will have
different titles for similar roles. Then simply
send them your email and wait and see if you get
coverage. However, dont be disheartened if you
dont get coverage, remember you are up against a
lot of competition. Local / Regional Press
Again do the same as for the national press.
Generally local journalists have more time so it
would be an idea to ring the journalist after you
have sent the press release as a follow up to see
if they are interested or if you can help them
further in any way. This is good to make contact
and could lead onto further things. Trade Press
/ Specialist Magazines Again the process is the
same but you should probably ring the journalist
first to introduce yourself and tell them about
your story. Often the trade press is understaffed
and they rely on contributions from people in the
sector they need you as much as you need
them. Remember to target the correct press for
your story. For example, if you have a youth
sports project you could target the sports press,
the youth press or the social press. Getting
coverage in a Scottish paper is great but when
you need to get coverage in your local area in
South Wales it is not! Just think about what you
want your coverage to achieve.
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Case Studies A case study is simply a way of
getting free publicity by using a story of
someone who has been affected in some way by what
you are trying to publicise. For example, if you
are trying to publicise your youth sports project
you might use the story of one of the youth who
has benefited in some way from your
scheme. There are two ways you can place a case
study Request - The journalist phones you
requesting specific requirements for their
publication. If the journalist requests a case
study they will conduct a short telephone or face
to face interview with your case study and send a
photographer to take their photo. Your role will
be one of facilitator although this will only
occur when the journalist is aware of your
role. Sell in - You can sell your case study as
an exclusive to one publication by contacting the
journalist to see if your case study may be of
any use to them. Your local press will probably
be very interested as it is a human interest
story. If you sell your case study in, you will
be expected to have written a short account of
the persons story and have a photo already
prepared. Remember, dont use portrait photos but
action shots to represent the project to get the
message across. Publications dont like
duplicating what their rivals have published,
exclusive case studies are always a great
idea. Contact Of course, you can always contact
the journalist and maybe arrange to meet them for
a chat to inform them of your project. You will
have to play this by ear depending on the
journalist. Dont be surprised though if some
seem a little rude, they often have urgent
deadlines to meet. But saying that, the majority
of journalists enjoy meeting people and once you
have established a relationship with them they
can be a great contact which you can utlise as
and when. Good luck in your PR mission and
remember that Unltd are here to help if you need
any further advice or assistance. And enjoy it
is fun!