The following definition is from Jeremy Porter’s Blog
Media Alert, Media Advisory, or Media Release: A media alert is an alternative format for PR writing used to communicate an event to the media in advance. Think of a media alert as a quick, at-a-glance summary of your event, which gives reporters, editors and producers all the information they need to decide whether or not to cover your story. Media alerts are typically one page (or less) and focus on the following information:
* An attention-grabbing first paragraph that summarizes your event
* Clear identification of all your event details (the who, what, where, when and why)
* Some value-add that makes it worth the time
Why are we covering this subject again? Because its valuable information, and something that you need to clearly understand. While press releases have their use and value, if you want to get the attention from journalists and reporters. Even online news sources or bloggers are more likely to read a media alert than a press release.
What are the key elements of the media alert? Your Headline or Title, Who, What, When, Where, any bonus info and your contact’s info. Using a media alert to communicate your news is going to get more attention, with a great headline of course, than a press release. There are two main reasons why a media alert will work 1) they are “just the facts”, 2) they are being delivered right to the journalist or reporter.
We would love to hear how you as an online business owner or blogger are working at getting media attention or if this has spurred thoughts of how to garner publicity for your site/blog.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Very nice tip.. don’t know how well press releases really work anymore,, but this is a great alternative.