The hustle and bustle of the holidays are here! As you are making your list and checking it twice, make sure that the reporters you need to reach are on that list. While kids may want a new video game console and friends and family have their eyes on that latest smartphone, reporters around the globe are hoping this season brings them a good holiday story.
And they don’t want just any story. Reporters working through the holiday season often face heavier workloads, covering multiple beats while colleagues take time off. That is why it is more important than ever to give reporters what they need to cover your news, without any extra work.
Reporters look for specific things in a news release when determining if they want to write about it. These include:
- A relevant story, something that appeals to their outlet and readers, often identified by a highly relevant and interesting headline
- Multimedia – A photo, video, or infographic that helps tell the story visually
- Interactivity – Multimedia that uses flashing icons to attract attention and then engage audiences, a great way to capture attention during this busy season
Build a Relevant Story: Holiday Story Topics
There are certain types of stories written every holiday season. If you can tie your news into one of these topics, you have a better chance of being included in the holiday news cycle. End-of-year story ideas include:
- Holiday gift guides. Launching a new product that would be perfect for moms of teens? Make sure you send out a release about it that both reporters and consumers can act on.
- Black Friday. This doesn’t just include mega-cost savings stories – consider news about something special or different your company is doing this Black Friday. Retailers like REI get a lot of coverage every year for their #OptOutside campaign, closing the stores for Black Friday.
- Small Business Saturday. The Saturday after Thanksgiving has come to be known as Small Business Saturday, promoting local retailers and Mom & Pop shops. If you are a small business, or your product helps support small businesses, this is a great angle.
- Cyber Monday. This is one of the busiest shopping days of the year for online retailers. Sales predictions, results, offerings, and more are frequently cited in lead or round-up stories.
- Corporate giving. Does your company do something to give back during the holidays? If so, tell people about it. Today’s consumers are interested in learning about organizations and their corporate social responsibility programming.
- Predictions for the new decade. Not only is Jan. 1, 2020, the start of the New Year, it’s the start of a new decade. Now is a great time to promote surveys your company has done and trends that you see impacting your customers and your industry.
- New Year Resolutions. Got a product that will help customers stick to their resolutions, whether it’s health, financial, business, or lifestyle? Make sure reporters know about it. Every year, reporters forecast the hottest tools and trends. Now is a great time to promote your role in this space.
Don’t Just Tell Your Story, Show It
One of the biggest requests Business Wire hears from reporters is for media-friendly multimedia to include in their news coverage. Quite often releases are sent without assets, or with sales-focused content that reporters don’t want to use. To maximize your holiday news release, consider using multimedia including:
- Images: Images are the number one asset reporters use in coverage pieces. But don’t just reuse sales assets, be thoughtful, and think like a journalist. Select an image that illustrates your story – whether it be a photo of the product in use, an iconic graphic, or an infographic that adds to your narrative.
- Video: Videos are becoming the norm for many publications. For your video supplement, again, think like a journalist. A short Q&A, products in use, and motion graphics are all useful to reporters.
- Interactive media: This type of multimedia, built by Business Wire’s Interactive Media design team, allows you to create an interactive story arc of all your multimedia content. These pieces use flashing icons to capture the audience's attention and then lead them icon by icon through your assets and directly into your identified landing pages.
This holiday season don’t just leave milk and cookies for reporters. Give them the gift of a good story they can use.
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