PR Tip #136: Save Your Ammo

Happy New Year!

Okay, now that’s out of the way, let’s get to PR Tip #136:

Have you hired some new talent? Great! I’m sure you want to crow about it. Here’s a quick PR tip about spreading the word:

Don’t send a press release about new employees to every reporter in your market. Instead, identify the business or industry trade publications that have a track record for printing such announcements.

If you still want to send it to several publications, bear in mind that almost no non-business publication will print it unless:

• You’re hiring a HUGE number of new employees, signifying large expansion or the bucking of the current economic trends
• You’re hiring some pretty big names–as in you hired away some superstars from your competitor
• You buy an advertorial (and we don’t recommend it)

Instead, post it on your website or email it to your clients; just don’t expect the news media (beyond the business/trade pubs that routinely print announcements like this) to care. Don’t send it to reporters and editors who don’t usually print this stuff.

I like to call this “saving your ammo.” Instead of wearing out your media contacts with news that isn’t useful to their beat or stated news preference, save that press release for bigger news–like a merger or spiffy new product or contract. They will be far more likely to consider that news if they don’t get a steady flood of press releases from you that don’t interest them.

Thoughts? The comments section awaits!