A successful press release knows its audience; it provides topical, lively, understandable and easy to use content for journalists
An unsuccessful press release confuses its audience; producing topical, lively, understandable, and easy to use content for your colleagues.
Understanding the media agenda and writing accordingly can add inches to a clip book. It might sound obvious, but countless press releases are so company specific they fail to grasp the attention of journalists reporting on the big industry issues.
Agencies contracted to deliver releases can rest at the approval stage. Our campaign and results focus means that we’ll go the extra mile to make them work.
We write media content for journalists because our clients know it’s the coverage that really counts.
Wouldn’t it be great if your customers were as keen to be interviewed by journalists as journalists are to interview your customers
Customers, often monitoring a large capital outlay, are nervous in case the investment they’ve made in you – no matter how unlikely – becomes subject to change. Sadly, your most media friendly customers often adopt this position, leaving second tier customers, with limited media appeal, to supply case study content.
At Now Communications we solve this problem by broadening the scope of your case study. We make participating more attractive to customers and so deliver more powerful, objective thinking to the media.
Moving from a company focus to an industry focus makes big customers less apprehensive and small customers more compelling. We might include more than one customer, independent sources, the latest statistics and, if it’s the right move, even a competitor.
The end result? A custom built media story with a case study built in.
Many publications will accept well written opinion or soapbox contributions if they are informative or controversial
The right piece in the right publication can introduce potential customers to your business and educate them about your products and services. However, there’s no point in producing an article before an editor has agreed to publish it.
To find the right home, articles must be publication specific.
At Now Communications we’ll produce a synopsis consistent with campaign messages and pitch it to the best publications. When we reach agreement with an editor we’ll produce the on-message copy in line with the publication’s profile. There’s no such thing as a one size fits all approach, so we don’t try it.
Editors are, rightly, pretty precious about their features list; after all, it’s how they stamp their intelligence and personality on their audience
As a rule, they’ll publish lists, allocate writers and keep pretty close control over the content.
Impacting an editorial calendar can be difficult: publication dates are at the editor’s discretion and writers will have a number of contacts ready with a quote.
The best way to make an impact on features is to pitch good ideas. Again, while editors are unlikely to consider a company specific story – a topical angle, focused on big industry issues, will make an impact.
At Now Communications we regularly pitch feature ideas based on breaking news and events. At the heart of every proactive pitch you’ll find one of our clients. For us, it’s about a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to a features campaign.
Journalists complain that companies often fail to field great speakers when there’s a good story to tell, yet receive countless invites to uninspiring events
Frankly, this is a fact of business life. Management need to work to defined schedules, journalists must react to breaking news. It’s hard to balance the needs of a business with the needs of mainstream media. One week you’re news, the next you’re not.
The best way to minimise media volatility is to take steps to ensure an event’s impact. For example if a big government report on your industry is due, it makes sense to talk to the press just before or immediately after. The report will put the issue on the agenda when schedules can be planned.
At Now Communications we’ll only suggest an event when it’s consistent with the campaign theme; by understanding what’s round the corner and the impact it will have, we can ensure your event will be topical and well attended.
Most stock photography is pretty static: a few headshots of senior management, some product shots and the odd picture of the HQ
These pictures will come in handy for everyday work, but they have limited use when you’re actually selling a story.
Commissioning active photography, on the other hand, can make the difference between a scoop and a non-story. It’s no secret that publications receive thousands of words every day, but little in the way of inspiring picture support.
At Now Communications we consider the role of photography in every campaign. Never an expensive add-on, the picture, audio, video or graphic support we develop helps us sell the story across multiple media channels.
Using only the best photographers, producers & designers, we go on-site to find the best active visuals that bring a story to life and add further beef to an ongoing campaign.