Press Relations for Small Businesses: Occasions, Releases, Editors

Why is press relations worthwhile for midsize businesses?

A report in the local paper or a trade magazine has an effect no ad achieves: a third party has decided the business is worth mentioning. For customers, applicants and banks that is a signal. Still, many small and midsize businesses do no press work at all, or they send out one release a year on the company anniversary that nobody prints.

This guide answers the question: How does a midsize business get into the press with reasonable effort, and which occasions work? We first clarify the terms and two models from communication research that explain how newsrooms select. Then we look at what studies show about how press releases make their way into coverage. At the end there is a test for occasions, a structure for releases and rules for contact with newsrooms.

A press release is not an ad on different letterhead. It is an offer to a newsroom to make its work easier.

How do newsrooms select? News values and information subsidies

Press relations (also media relations) covers all activities through which a business offers journalists information so that they report on it. The most important tool is the press release: a short, factual text with one piece of news, written so that a newsroom can use it as the basis for its own report. Press relations must be distinguished from paid advertising. Whether and how anything is reported is decided by the newsroom alone.

How that decision is made is described by news value theory. Galtung and Ruge (1965) examined why some events become news and others do not and named factors such as proximity, significance, surprise, reference to well-known people and negativity. Harcup and O’Neill tested the list against current newspaper content in 2001 and again in 2017. The newer version includes exclusivity, conflict, surprise, audio-visuals, shareability on social networks, relevance to the audience, magnitude, follow-up to known stories and the outlet’s own agenda.

The second model comes from Oscar Gandy (1982). He described press releases and similar offers as information subsidies: supplying a newsroom with prepared information lowers its research costs. Newsrooms with scarce resources therefore readily use such help. A sober rule follows: the less work a release creates for the newsroom and the higher its news value, the greater the chance of a report.

What do studies show about press releases and coverage?

How heavily newsrooms use prepared material is well researched. Comfort, Gruszczynski and Browning (2024) used a computer-assisted method to compare press releases about scientific studies with the subsequent coverage. In some cases, up to 65 percent of the sentences in an article were highly similar to the press release. Outlets with award-winning science journalism drew on such material much less often. Expertise in the newsroom therefore reduces dependence on prepared material.

That newsrooms do not simply adopt releases but reshape them according to news values is shown by a study by Rossmann, Meyer and Schulz (2018). For ten European countries from March 2009 to March 2011 they analyzed communication on the A/H1N1 flu: 243 press releases from health authorities, 1,243 quality press articles and 834 tabloid articles. Both kinds of newspapers emphasized conflict and damage more strongly than the press releases, presented information more dramatically and more often used interpretations that made the risk appear greater. The tabloid press largely followed the quality press in content but relied more on drama and emotion.

The study concerns a health crisis and authorities, not businesses. Its finding is general nonetheless: newsrooms use the material they receive, but they weight it by their own standards. What has no news value in the release drops out, and what does is amplified. Knowing this, you write the release so that the news value comes first.

A third study shows how trust smooths the way. McPherson (2016) examined how human rights organizations in Mexico get their information into the news. Their credibility as a source was decisive, built through personal relationships with journalists and through reliability. It saved journalists the time needed to verify the source. For businesses this means a newsroom that knows and trusts the contact person is more likely to use their release.

Two views: is press relations still worthwhile at all?

One view says press relations has lost importance. Local papers have fewer readers and fewer staff, and businesses reach their customers more directly through their own channels. The other says that precisely because newsrooms are more thinly staffed, they depend on good material, and a report by an independent outlet remains more credible than any post of your own. I consider the second view correct, with one qualification: for most businesses the large outlets are not worthwhile, but local papers, trade journals in their own industry and newsletters of chambers and associations are. That is where relevance to the audience is highest.

Which occasions work? The news value check

Before a release is written, I test the occasion with five questions. I call this the news value check. Every question answered with yes is one point. Below three points, no release is sent.

• Concern: Does the occasion concern this outlet’s readers, meaning people in the region or professionals in the industry?
• Novelty: Is it new, and does the outlet learn of it early or even exclusively?
• Figure: Is there a concrete number, such as jobs, investment amount or a survey result?
• Picture: Can the occasion be photographed or filmed?
• Person: Is there someone who tells a story, such as the owner, an apprentice or a customer?

The company anniversary almost always fails the check, although it is the most common occasion for releases. It can be saved if it is linked to a news value, such as an investment, a figure on how jobs have developed or a story about a long-serving employee. Completed projects become stronger when the customer speaks for themselves. How to prepare a project for this and obtain the customer’s approval is described in the article on turning reference projects into case studies.

How is a press release structured?

A press release follows the inverted pyramid principle: the most important information comes first, details follow. A newsroom cuts from the bottom. If only the first paragraph remains, it must contain the complete news.

1. Headline

   The news in one sentence, without promotional words. “Sample Construction invests 3 million euros and creates 20 jobs in Sampletown,” not “Sample Construction sets new standards.”

2. First paragraph

   Answers the five Ws and one H: who, what, when, where, how and why. Anyone who reads only this paragraph knows the news.

3. Main body

   Details, background, a concrete figure, one sentence on the significance for the region or industry.

4. Quote

   One or two sentences from a person giving an assessment, not a repetition of the facts. The quote is the part newsrooms adopt most often.

5. Short profile and contact

   Three sentences about the business plus a contact person with a phone number who can be reached over the next few days. Pictures with captions and rights information.

The length should not exceed one page. Technical terms are explained, superlatives deleted. Newsrooms remove claims like “leading provider” anyway, so they only cost credibility. How to back up statements without exaggerating is also described in the article on testimonials and references.

How do you build contact with newsrooms?

Most releases fail not because of the text but because of the distribution list. A release sent to a general newsroom address of a large outlet is lost among hundreds of others. A small, well-kept circle of contacts is more effective.

1. Create a list: five to fifteen outlets that your customers and applicants read, with the responsible section and, if possible, a person.
2. Read first: who writes about what there? A release that fits the section is more likely to be read.
3. Offer personally: for important occasions, call or write briefly beforehand and ask whether there is interest. Exclusivity for one outlet can tip the balance.
4. Be reachable: follow-up questions often come at short notice and in the afternoon. If you cannot be reached then, you will not be quoted.
5. Do not push: asking once is fine, several times is not. A newsroom owes you no report.

In the long run, what McPherson (2016) described for organizations counts: credibility as a source. If you only get in touch when you have something good to sell, you are perceived as an advertiser. If you also provide assessments, answer follow-ups quickly and openly name the limits of your own knowledge, you become a go-to contact. This applies especially when the owner speaks personally. The opportunities and limits of this role are described in the article on the owner as the face of the company.

How much effort is realistic, and what does it bring?

For a midsize business, four to six occasions a year are realistic. With coordination and pictures, one release takes half a day to a day. The following worked example shows one year.

You measure success with three numbers: how many releases were picked up? How often was the business mentioned with a quote or picture? And how often do customers, applicants or partners name a report as the reason for getting in touch? Reports can also be reused: on the website, in proposals and at trade fairs; see trade fairs and events.

What you can do this week

• List five to fifteen outlets that your customers and applicants read, with section and, if possible, contact person.
• Collect the occasions of the next twelve months: investments, apprenticeships, projects, your own figures, dates.
• Score every occasion with the news value check and pick the two strongest.
• Write a three-sentence profile of the business and name a person with a phone number as the contact.
• Prepare three good photos from the business with cleared rights.
• For a topic currently in the news, formulate an assessment from your business’s point of view and offer it to the local newsroom.

Conclusion: how does a midsize business get into the press?

We began by asking
a midsize business gets into the press with reasonable effort and which occasions work. The answer lies in two models. News value theory explains what newsrooms select: relevance to their audience, novelty, figures, pictures and people. Gandy’s information subsidies explain why good material is used: it saves newsrooms work. Studies show that prepared material is indeed often adopted, but reshaped according to news values.

For practice this means: a few well-tested occasions instead of many releases, the news in the first sentence, a reachable contact person and a small circle of outlets your own customers read. In the long run, credibility as a source decides. Press relations is therefore less about sending releases than about building a reputation newsrooms can rely on.