Bedell Communications

Many media outlets do not publish announcements of new product releases, company partnerships or customer wins. In this case, the best way to pitch your story is to borrow a principle from marketing. Add value to your pitch by educating media contacts on issues that they do cover and that your staff has expertise.

Bedell Communications recently wrote a press release announcing the launch of ExperiorData. The timing of the launch was crucial as it coincided with a new regulation that requires health care entities to encrypt their data or go through a number of headache-inducing steps to notify customers of a data breach. By stressing the gravity of this regulation and demonstrating the client’s expertise on the subject, the press release provides the media with a story that readers will be interested in.

So, how do you do this? Find a legitimate news hook that supports your story. To find this news hook, talk to marketing or sales about what timely customer problem your solution addresses. What are they using to sell or market today? Maybe it’s an increase in security vulnerabilities, the state of the economy or green IT.

Hint at this hook in the opening graph of your press release, positioning your company/product as a solution to this larger problem. Then proceed to educate the media on this problem. Use quotes and your company’s/product’s benefits to demonstrate your expertise and solution. Remember, your goal is to emphasize the hook or current problem readers/customers face and offer your product as a solution. — Crystal Bedell

In my post Five questions to ask before pitching your tech story to the media, I mentioned that reporters and editors are flooded with press releases. There were very few times as an editor of an IT Web site when I had to hunt down a press release on the Web.

However, if you don’t have access to a PR firm or a list of journalists in your area of technology, you might try submitting your press releases and articles to free distribution and posting Web sites. These sites can at least help your Google rankings and potentially drive non-media types to your content.

On her blog Musings from Marcom Land, Kimberly Legocki lists 10 free sites to post your press release or article. This list is worth a look. The summaries about each site are taken from the sites themselves, so you’ll need to click through each one and maybe even give them a try before you can determine which ones are a good fit for your content and target audience. It will take some time to set up user accounts and post content, so use your time wisely. Try out a couple at a time, and move on if they don’t work for you. And let us know what you think of them. — Crystal  Bedell