By Nicole Brief
Published March 31, 2023

Have you been tasked with garnering media attention for an upcoming company announcement and don’t know where to start? 

Whether it’s a new product, initiative, ad campaign, partnership, or any other “tentpole,” the right recipe for a successful media launch requires some TLC, but if you measure just right, you can definitely enjoy eating that cake!

We often share an “announcement checklist” with our consumer clients. It breaks down into three steps that create the ultimate guide to getting your news out there.

Step 1: Determine if your news is actually newsworthy

The hard truth: Just because it’s news to your company, doesn’t necessarily mean it deserves media attention. Sure, we can put a press release together for just about anything, but not every press release carries value beyond boosting your company’s SEO. 

This is where the PR pros work their magic. They are able to create a compelling story in their pitches by squeezing all the juice out of the media announcement. Some of the smaller details within can make up a bigger story, creating opportunities for the media to bite. 

For example, we were working through an announcement for a collectibles client and thought the story really had no legs. But, we pushed the team to dive deep on the “why” behind their announcement and all the elements, and we were able to craft a story that landed us a syndicated story in the Associated Press!

Here are some general parameters to help determine if your media announcement warrants consumer media attention:

• Is this a brand-new product or product line?

• Are there other products like this on the market? Lots or just 1-2 others? 

• What, if any, are the differentiators? 

• Do you have claims around the product? Is it the first in the industry or the most affordable on the market?

• Does it fit into any current market trends, such as sustainability?

• Are you planning any special events, activations, etc. to support the launch of this product? 

Step 2: Loop in your PR team with a briefing document

What is a briefing document? It’s arguably one of the most useful resources a client can deliver to their PR team. Briefs don’t require too much extra work from you, and they organize all the details of your campaign in a particular order so that your PR team can deliver an informed, strategic recommendation on how to support the media announcement.

It’s similar to the framework of our narrative development. Every time Carve signs a new client, we host a Messaging Matrix call where we discuss with the client team who they are, what they offer, why they’re different, and how they do what they do. We use these 4-5 statements as the baseline for our messaging in all that we do. 

In this case, the information provided in the brief will serve as the foundation for our strategy development.

• Start with the WHAT: What problem does it solve? What exactly is it? How much does it cost? When will it be available?

• Then the WHY: Why did you create this product? Is there anything else like it on the market? Any approved claims related to it?

• Then the HOW: How does it work? How does it solve the problem you set out to achieve? 

• Set KPIs. Tell us your expectations. Are there goals for the new product, partnership, campaign, etc.? How many samples are available for product reviews? How many placements would make the launch a success, and does your team value impressions? 

• Share any additional details we should know about before we dive in.

The best practice is to deliver this briefing document to us as soon as you learn about the initiative, so we can team up with you on strategy and planning from the onset. The ideal time frame from start to finish is 1-2 months. This gives the PR team enough time to ask any questions, plan the best strategic approach, and execute and report accordingly.

If you’re doing this in-house, you can probably skip this step. But depending on how many of the boxes your announcement checks in the media-worthy category, you may want to consider bringing in a dedicated PR team to support you. They’ll have the media relationships and experience to set you up for the most successful launch possible. The right partner should be able to give you strategic ideas on how best to extend the life of your announcement beyond the launch with a sustainable, always-on public relations strategy.

Step 3: Prepare all media announcement assets 

If you’re unfamiliar with the media, you may not know the best way to interact with them. Anything we can do to make their job easier can significantly impact our results. For example, it is very important to have your assets together before the announcement is made!

Reporters like to have all the materials they need at their disposal from the onset to write their story a few days ahead of when the product launches. 

These assets include:

• Final Images: headshots, box art, product shots, lifestyle shots, videos, etc.

• Spokesperson(s) who is media trained and prepared to answer questions, provide quotes, and serve as the face of the initiative 

• Press Materials including press release, product fact sheets or sell sheets, spokesperson bios, company backgrounders, etc.

• Product/Campaign Specs: retail (or other) destination, price, targeted age group, etc.

• Associated website copy, social content, email blasts, and necessary links 

Ideally, your PR team receives all this info 2-3 weeks ahead of the go-live date to seed with the press. This gives us the proper amount of lead time to tee up stories with the media ahead of the news breaking, coordinate interviews with your spokesperson, and identify back-up contacts in case a reporter passes.

Following these three steps are crucial to preparing for an announcement and making sure you optimize your media coverage opportunities.

But wait, there’s more! Final Step: Monitor & Measure

Getting your media announcement live is just the end of the first act. Act II is all about measuring the success of your announcement and factoring in learnings for the next time you need to make a media announcement.

Starting immediately after the announcement goes live, you’ll need to diligently monitor the coverage to 1) capture the results and 2) ensure all the coverage is accurate.

It’s important to make sure you don’t miss anything, so here are a few pro tips:

• Set Google alerts related to your media announcement, using your company name and key terms related to the news.

• Do manual Google News scans on top of the alerts, as they don’t always catch every piece of coverage. Look through the news section, the general search result page, and you can even search the byline of a specific reporter you’re expecting coverage from.

• Read each story top to bottom to make sure there are no factual errors. This is earned media coverage, so you can’t change any opinions that the reporter chooses to include. But if they make a true error such as incorrect spelling, putting the wrong price, or incorrectly describing a feature, ask them to make a quick update.

On that last note, you’ll be surprised what can get mixed up in the editing process sometimes. Once, I had a client’s name spelled incorrectly even though it was in the press release. Another time, the product name was misrepresented even though it was written in the email correspondence several times.

Make sure to take the time to send thank you notes to every reporter who publishes your news. This helps you build a media relationship, and it will make them more inclined to cover your news the next time, as long as it’s still relevant to their coverage beat. 

Additionally, engage with the media outlets and specific reporters on social media. This also helps build your media relationship, as well as extends the reach of your news to additional audiences. You should also be organically posting your news to your company’s social pages and encouraging your employees to do the same.

Finally, take all the media clips, social posts, and feedback and formulate a recap report. This will capture the final results of your announcement. It’s important to go back to the KPIs you set at the beginning of the project and compare your results to see how successful you were.

Whether you met every goal or came just under reaching a couple, make sure to identify your key learnings from the media announcement – starting from Step 1. Figure out where you and your team excelled and where you may have fallen short, so you can adjust and do it even better the next time.