Pillar 06 · PR Assets
The Press Release Drafter
Most press releases should never get written. This tool decides whether there is a story there at all before it writes a word, and tells you honestly if there is not.
After 25 years in PR, earning thousands of pieces of coverage, the most useful thing I know about news is this: the hard part is not writing the press release. It is deciding whether there is a story there at all, and if there is not, doing the work to create one.
So the first thing I built was not a writing tool. It was a filter, to help clients assess how newsworthy their content really is, and to help us collaborate on making the story as strong as it can possibly be. It applies the same judgement I would apply myself, using the Full Funnel PR method, and it will happily tell you not to send anything.
The verdict
Four answers, and only one of them is a press release.
Every brief gets one of four verdicts. Within each there is nuance, because newsworthiness depends on what else is happening that day, but the classification tells you what to do next.
- HOT news
- The story has a famous name or a big, credible impact number. It will work on its own.
- POT news
- Coverage could grow with nurturing, by adding a few elements to the story. Not oven-ready, but it has potential.
- BOT news
- A real event, but it lacks names or numbers. Wire distribution, so it is on the record and findable, but unlikely to earn coverage.
- NOT news
- No time-bound event, more opinion than fact. Do not write a release. Write a comment or an opinion article instead.
How it works
Four stages.
Tell us the news
Ten questions about what happened, who it affects, the before-and-after, the names involved, the angle, the spokespeople, the photography and the data.
Assessment
An honest verdict on whether you have a story, with the strengths, the gaps, and a provisional angle.
Strengthen
The gaps come back as targeted questions, so you can add what is missing before anything is written.
Draft
A covering note and a draft press release, built from your answers rather than invented around them.
Where this sits in the method: news management draws on every pillar, but the press release itself is a PR Asset. Strategy decides why we are doing this. Messaging decides what we stand for. This is where the method meets the media. There is more on how and why I built it in this article.
Try it
Start a briefing.
This one is for clients.
The drafter runs a real assessment and writes a real draft, so it is kept behind an access code. If you are working with me, you will have one. If you are not and you would like to try it, just ask.
No code? Email me or book a call.
The briefing runs on a separate Full Funnel PR application. What you enter is used to assess the story and produce a draft, and it is sent to Matt so he can follow up. See the privacy notice.
Not sure the story is there?
That is usually the most useful conversation to have. Book a short call and we will work out whether there is news, and what would make it stronger.