Turn Your Press Release into the Ultimate

by John Boyd Chief Communications & Marketing Officer Harmony Public Schools

I’m a person who loves doohickeys.

Peek in my garage or kitchen and you’ll find an array of tools and gadgets waiting for the right task.

I bought each with a project in mind (and some of those projects actually get done eventually).

But as anyone who has ever used a spatula for an ice scraper or a butter knife for a screwdriver will tell you, the functionality of any tool isn’t revealed by what you bought it for – it’s in how you use it.

In this sense, the press release is the ultimate PR doohickey.

We assume it’s only good for one thing – earning media coverage – but in truth, a well-written press release can do so much more.

That’s because now more than ever, newsrooms are turning to news releases as a primary source of quick, easy-toproduce content that can help them make the most of their shrinking staff and the never-ending need for more material. Even the once-frowned-upon practice of running or reciting releases verbatim is now commonplace.

That makes the press release the perfect doohickey for all the goals I want to accomplish as a school communications professional.

I start every press release with at least four goals in mind. Earn media coverage … obviously. Besides getting good news into the public eye, it’s also good for school spirit to see our efforts recognized in the media.

Share our school system’s full story with the media … not just the story that is the main topic of my press release. This leads to more robust, better-informed coverage in the long term.

Control the public message. When well-written, a press release can dictate not only the broad themes of the message that get reported but even the exact wording by which reporters will do so. Improve our digital footprint. Local news websites can extend the reach of a message, while also boosting a school’s SEO value and bringing in more external traffic. Check out some of the tricks and tactics I’ve used to turn my plain old press release into the perfect multitool for these tasks and more.

Press releases aren’t for every reporter or every story. They are best for stories announcing breaking news, live coverage opportunities and other news journalists can report in a day or less. This makes them ideal for breaking news, weekend and general assignment reporters, as well as digital/social media producers. If your story opportunity involves something more in-depth, a more personal pitch is the better way to go.

If a journalist bites on your press release, you need to be ready to connect them with the sources they’ll need to report on your story quickly. Figure out who in your school a reporter might need to talk to, then let those people know in advance that you may need their help. This is also a great time to assess their comfort speaking with the media and provide coaching. Finally, find out when is most convenient for them to speak with reporters and consider timing your press release accordingly.

A reporter can sense when a story will be easy or difficult to turn around. The easier you make things on the reporter, the more likely receptive they will be. Try to get your press release as close to publication-ready as possible by doing your reporting first. In addition to tracking down sources, gather any photos, B-Roll video, graphics or other resources a reporter might need to fully report your story.

Reporters get thousands of emails per day, so make sure your press release is direct and contains key phrases, such as your school’s name and the subject of your story. Bonus points if these key phrases also match common Google search terms for your school, as many reporters will use your subject line for the headline of their online story.

Send your press release when most journalists are looking for daily story ideas. For most newsrooms, that’s between 5-6 a.m. when TV stations are looking for fresh material for the morning newscasts and print reporters are doing their first scan of overnight happenings. If something happens at your school outside of this window, consider waiting to send the press release until the next morning. For weekend events, send an initial release on Wednesday or Thursday to get it on the newsroom radar, then follow up with a reminder early the morning of the event.

No matter how important your story is, it can get bumped or missed completely if something bigger is happening. Pay attention to the news happening both in your community and around the country. Delay sending your press release if a major story is breaking.

If a press release is well-written, many outlets will copypaste it directly to their website even if they intend to do further reporting later. At a minimum, your text should be written in AP Style, in inverted pyramid format and free from spelling or grammatical errors. However, you can maximize your copy-paste returns by also stuffing it with SEO keywords and links that will draw more attention to the article on the news site and eventually lead visitors back to different sections of your site.

Nothing I’ve ever done has ever led to a greater increase in reporter response rate to my press releases than including explicit permission to text message me if reporters prefer. Journalists are busy people and communicating by text message allows them to multitask better by keeping the conversation going at the pace they prefer. (Note: Just as a reporter will presume any spoken or written message is on-the-record, they also will assume any info given in a text message is on-the-record. Use text messaging to coordinate coverage, give straightforward answers to basic questions or share previously prepared quotes.)

A common mistake writers of all kinds make is trying too hard to sound smart. They want to impress their audience with big words, fancy phrases and sentences that run on for days. As a result, though, their writing becomes bloated and impossible to read. Simplify. Use short sentences and strong verbs. If you can read your text out loud without getting tongue-tied, there’s a good chance a TV reporter might do the same to save themselves from having to write something original.

Most newsrooms no longer have education reporters, so your media outreach needs to target a variety of other potential beats. When possible, try sending multiple versions of your press releases to different reporters tailored to their beats, interests or geographic coverage areas. Usually, all it takes is a slight change to the subject line or first couple of sentences to make a story idea more applicable to a reporter’s unique beat.

Much like your school’s Spanish-speaking families, your Spanish-language reporters don’t want to feel forgotten just because their primary reporting language may not be English. If possible, prepare and send a second version of your press release specifically for Spanish-language media. This shows that you recognize that they and their audience are important parts of your school community.

Considering the frequency with which reporters come and go from newsrooms these days, constantly re-establishing your brand identity is critical for even the most well-known organizations. So, is there something important about your school that reporters don’t know, don’t understand, misreport or underreport? Try adding an infobox or other “widget” to your press release to help tell your school’s full story and slowly build higher-level knowledge of your brand within your local newsrooms. Even if your story doesn’t get covered, at least your local news reporter has learned something new about your school that could pay off further down the road.

If your press release is getting overwhelmed with numbers or other in-the-weeds details, consider including a chart or graphic to explain it all. Not only do charts help bring simplicity to otherwise confusing topics, but they also give newsrooms another visual option to include with their story.

Chances are, the bottom of your press release is a section called something like “About Us.” Below is usually a treasure chest of search engine gold: key SEO phrases, backlinks to your website, biographical information, social media links, etc. Unfortunately, most newsrooms clip this part off when posting your press release to their website. A sneaky way to force it back in is to add a rewritten version of this paragraph right before your “About Us” section, masking it as part of the press release. Most likely, the web producer or reporter scanning your copy will assume the good stuff ends where “About Us” begins and leave in all that great SEO stuff right before it.

I have learned over the past few years that my happy place is outside. Each summer, as a family, we “run to the woods” in Broken Bow or Durango to turn our phones off, turn our vacation playlist up and be still.

After my wife convinced me that I am a “reader,” I have been more motivated to dive into books that help me grow both professionally and personally. Being a part of the #SchoolPRBookClub also encourages this habit as we meet virtually every two weeks to discuss what we have learned from our current selection.

After our family vacation each year, I shift my focus to the annual NSPRA conference, where I get to hang out with some of the best people in the country. With all the events of the past few years, it has been a long time since I have been able to attend the conference face-to-face and recharge my batteries in such a supportive environment.

Before teachers return, I like to take a day out of the office to spend time setting professional and personal goals for the upcoming school year. New Year’s resolutions are great, but we all know that our new year starts in August. I feel that this year my primary focus will emphasize self-care and improved mental health, personally and professionally.

During the summer months, I can always find a reason to set up the hammock, turn on some music and take a random afternoon nap. We all know we never stop working during the school year. Those little pockets of time (even during your lunch hour) that we can find some time to rest are crucial to making it through yet another year in school PR.

Communications Specialist, PIO Floresville ISD

What’s funny about this is that being kind to my future self involves getting a bunch of work done. I’ll work on my content calendar for the year and create and link the collateral I know I’ll need during the year. It makes me feel ahead of the game during the year.

I think this is something leaders don’t do enough.

We take a ton of time reflecting on what we could have done better and that’s a good thing, but acknowledging the wins keeps you in the game.

After celebrating the great things, I’ll do the aforementioned reflection and set some new goals. Some will be small and easily “winnable” but there will be one or two big ones, too. It will keep me learning and looking forward. I’ll make sure to share my goals with an accountability partner so they can be my cheerleader or a needed thorn in my side.

I’ll actually read a ton of books. Some of them will make me better at my job and give me a new perspective, but some of them will just be fun. Reading is good all the time and resets my brain.

The idea that as communications professionals we are never “off” is all too often an expectation we put on ourselves. It’s important to really stop working for a few days to rest and refocus. I will do that by disconnecting and spending time with family and friends and puttering around messing with my flowers.

Coordinator of Public Relations Roma ISD

I follow several school districts and TSPRAns throughout the school year, and I love to screenshot great ideas. I’ll go back through my phone, review those ideas and see what I can implement with a twist at my own district. Remember caring is sharing!

Let’s face it, not everything we do gets the results we hope for. Sometimes, though, we hit it out of the park. I like to remember those not just good, but great times when we got some really wonderful or unexpected feedback.

As we go through the school year there are so many projects, I push off because of school deadlines or events. Summertime allows me to get at least one or two major items off my checklist to give me a feeling of accomplishment as I head into the forest of the unexpected in the new school year.

I find lots of media provide inspiration for the work I do, even in small ways. I may remember a song I forgot about but would be great to use for a video. I may see something cool in a documentary that sparks my imagination. I may remember a show from the past with a fun theme that could be used for an event. You just never know where your creativity can take you.

Even on days off, I always check my email and answer text questions. Some people do NOT agree with this strategy. However, I personally find that there are many small issues that can be resolved quickly, or student recognitions you can quickly take care of by carving out 10 to 20 minutes a day during time off to get these tasks accomplished. I don’t let my inbox grow beyond a certain point, which takes care of my regular daily stress level. I think it’s important to do yourself this favor so you really can come back in after a long break and not be bogged down.

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Senior Communications Officer Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD

Summer is a great time to spend a few days cleaning out the old, digitizing and organizing what you need to keep and starting fresh in the new school year. This not only clears out the physical workspace; it clears the headspace from those feelings of being overwhelmed and provides clarity and room for creativity.

If you’re familiar with the RPIE Communications Planning Model, you recognize that the last two years plunged us head-first into Implementation mode as we all rolled up our sleeves and focused on getting the time-sensitive work done. It’s time to step back and Evaluate where we are now, and then spend some time refocusing on our “why” through Research and Planning.

There’s no better place to revive your “why” during the summer than at the annual NSPRA Conference! It’s three days of learning, collaborating, connecting, commiserating and recharging with people from all over the country who know first-hand what you do and what you deal with on a daily basis. That’s a solid support network!

A change of scenery is a great way to help refresh your perspective. The lake is where I can go to disconnect from the daily demands of life to refocus my priorities and recharge my soul. A bit of Mom’s home cooking doesn’t hurt, either.

We are busy people! There is always more to do and it’s easy to forget that it’s the little moments of sweetness and joy that truly make life grand. I am going to be more intentional in soaking up as many of those moments as I can. Whether it’s having a conversation with a kindergartener about Spiderman or being a proud mom watching my son in drumline, these are the little moments that can calm the chaos of life.

Even though I use my iPhone’s calendar daily, I still prefer an old-school daily planner. I’m very visual, so I like to be able to see a whole month or week at a glance. Plus, I’m able to quickly jot down todos and prioritize my day. So, I’ll be organizing a new July 2022-June 2023 planner.

I really want to hone my Illustrator and iMovie skills. While I have a working-knowledge of both programs, I would like to expand my skills. I love watching YouTube how-to videos and putting what I learn into practice.

Central Texas Distric Director of Communications & Marketing Harmony Public Schools - Central Texas

The 2022-2023 school year will be my first full academic calendar working as a school communications professional. Although I am very confident in my abilities, I want to take time to dive deeper into increasing my knowledge, finding inspiration and planning for the year.

My sister-in-law and I enjoy spending time together floating the rivers around the area. (Sometimes we will bring a young-adult kid along with us too.) It is so calming to just lie back and enjoy the ride, all the while chatting, catching up and deepening our relationship.

Although I was born and raised in Texas (Amarillo, Sherman and Lubbock), my East Coast husband (whom I met in Colorado) and I moved to Rhode Island for him to work in his family business. We lived there more than 23 years before I finally got him to Texas. Each summer, we like to visit our friends and family there and relax as many days as possible on the beach!

Want to share your top five? Email info@tspra.org.

Detrick Adkism, Lancaster ISD Mike Alzamora, Arp ISD Kristen Bily, Flour Bluff ISD PJ Cabrera, North East ISD Sonia Quirino Canales, San Antonio ISD Adriana Candelaria, Anthony ISD Belen Casillas, Chapel Hill ISD Valerie Coffman, El Campo ISD Karlee Custer, Santa Fe ISD Abby Doring, Van ISD Courtney Dunning, Denton ISD Olivia Evans, Austin Achieve Public Schools Lester Gretsch, Spring ISD Deanna Jackson, Schertz-Cibollo-Universal City ISD Brittany James, Frenship ISD Christy Johnson, Region 9 ESC Anna Koenig, Lovejoy ISD Victoria Krawczynski, Comal ISD Tessie Ledesma, Robstown ISD Todd Marshall, Texarkana ISD Deanna Martinez, Gonzales ISD Gracie Martinez, Stafford MSD Joe Eric Mendiola, Lyford CISD Noelle Newton, Hutto ISD Courtnie Nix, Crandall ISD Eloy Pacheco, Austin Achieve Public Schools Mark Pinon, Lyford CISD Julie Posey, ESC Region 12 Alex Radow, Angleton ISD Clifford Reed, Duncanville ISD Jamal Robinson, Lamar CISD Delaney Sanders, Lewisville ISD Paige Stewart, Duncanville ISD Anne Lasseigne Tiedt, Raise Your Hand Texas Mike Tobias, Port Neches-Groves ISD Jon Wallin, Temple ISD Chris White, Bastrop ISD Zoe Zamora, Spring Branch ISD

as of 4/01/22