So, imagine the scene…

You’ve sent your shiny, perfectly-formed, stunningly-interesting press release to all your target Press. Not a single irrelevant media contact has been emailed. You have absolute confidence in the power of the story contained within your PR correspondence.

And then?

Nothing, nada, zilch. Three days pass and not a single, salutory email or phone call from any of the contacted Editors.

What next?

Don’t fret, panic or take it personally.

In the last newsroom I worked in recently, I received 250 emails per day from company PRs, in-house marketers and PR Agencies dealing on behalf of clients across the UK. And roughly 10% of them were actually worth reading. As in, worth taking a closer look because they were fundamentally newsworthy and may have interested my readerships. No sales pitches, PR spin, irrelevant waffle, just good old-fashioned News.

So, are you being honest with yourself?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Is the press release just a poorly-worded sales effort?

2. Is it really relevant to the target readership?

3. Is it about current or upcoming News in the business, or a re-hashed story from three months ago?

4. Is the accompanying image of appropriate quality for the publication or online portal?

5. Is the editorial well-written, punchy and without waffle – does it succinctly tell the story?

6. Have you given the press release to a third party to check before emailing it to the Press?

If you can pass the above questions, and still no contact from the Press, be patient. Be persistent. Keep sending the right PR, in the right format, at the right time, and within their deadlines. They’ll get to it eventually.