How should a PR company build up a good relationship with the press for its clients?

Here are a few guidelines we follow:

• Try to avoid ringing up journalists just to ask if they have received your release. This is the bane of journalists' lives. They can receive hundreds of press releases each week, and if everyone routinely rang to check up on their release there wouldn't be any time to put an issue together.
• Press releases need to be written in a significantly different style from brochures or advertisements. Giving the 'hard sell' to a journalist is a big turn-off.
• When ringing up editors about their interest in a possible article for example, don't ring as an issue is approaching its press deadline. Find out the magazine's publishing schedule and ring early in the cycle, when the editor will have more time. For dailies early afternoon is a good time.
• When compiling target media lists make sure the publications cover your field. A large proportion of information that journalists receive is simply not relevant.
• Make sure your mailing lists of target publications are up to date. Addressing a release to a journalist who left two years ago does not inspire confidence! There are commercially available databases which give comprehensive listings of publications and journalists in the UK and overseas – at a price – such as MEDIAtlas, Mediadisk and Mediahub.
• When sending out press releases by email, put the release into the body of the message and not as an attachment. This is because attachments take up more room, take time to open and carry the risk of viruses. Many journalists prefer the email to be in plain text rather than html for similar reasons.
• When responding to a request for more information, don't email a 20 Mbyte Powerpoint presentation! Bear in mind the size of any attachments you send. Journalists are frequently on the road and using relatively slow mobile connections.
• To avoid sending unsolicited attachments by email, images can be sent on request, or made available for download from a 'press centre' on the client's web site.
• Make sure digital images have high enough resolution. Requirements have converged on jpgs (rgb format) with a resolution of 300 dpi.

antimony communications public relations
5 Chestnut Way Godalming Surrey GU7 1TN UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 416807
Fax: +44 (0) 8707 656807
Email: info@antimony.co.uk