In the world of PR, you have many tools at your disposal that you can use to deliver your key messages and win coverage for yourself or your organisation. However, deciding which one is best to use can be confusing at times, but this guide developed by PLMR lays out the difference between them to help you choose the best tool in your PR arsenal.
Press releases
Press releases are used by various organisations to let journalists know about newsworthy events, product launches, updates, or other significant activities, with the ultimate goal of securing media coverage and reaching the public. Therefore, if you have an event to promote or an announcement to make, writing a press release might be the best way to go.
You can also use press releases when creating your own news story – for example when sharing case studies or original data. Both of these options are great if you have a topic that you want to speak about, but don’t have a new announcement to make.
Case studies relay a personal experience (they can be named or anonymous) and are used to give a ‘human’ angle to stories. Journalists are always looking for this human-interest element to bring their reporting to life, so if you have an interesting case study, you have a strong chance of winning media coverage.
Alternatively, you can also use your own internal data, or work with external providers to commission research or polling, to give more weight to stories that may not garner as much media attention on their own. Commenting on the new data will also allow you to push your key messages and present your organisation’s take on the findings.
If you decide that a press release is the way to go, you can read more about how to write a press release that stands out from the crowd and gets noticed by journalists here.
Opinion pieces
If instead of promoting an event, sharing new data or a case study, you would rather do a deep-dive into a specific topic of relevance to your organisation, then you should consider opting for thought leadership PR, in the form of an opinion-piece.
These are often longer pieces than press releases, with a larger word count that allow you to provide in-depth analysis into your subject of choice. Opinion-pieces are also often featured in publications targeted towards specific audiences, such as trade magazines, giving you the opportunity to reach professionals in a particular industry.
Opinion pieces allow your spokespeople to share their insights on a topic of choice, which will help boost their reputation as experts in their field, and further raise the profile of your organisation. This option allows you flexibility as you can choose the topic you would like to explore in a way that best fits your company’s goals.
Comments and newsjacking
Press releases and opinion pieces are PR outputs that you can proactively schedule into a communications activity plan. An effective PR strategy also often involves reactive tools, such as issuing comments or newsjacking.
Newsjacking refers to commenting on breaking news in order to add your expertise and insights to a developing story. Newsjacking can be a great way to get in the media when you do not have your own announcement to share – you can add your expertise to an already trending story.
Issuing reactive comments on a number of key topics that your main spokespeople have expertise on can not only help you secure coverage, but will also help familiarise journalists with your organisation.
You can read more about how to successfully newsjack here.
PLMR has extensive experience developing integrated communications campaigns that leverage all these PR tactics to help our clients achieve their strategic goals and cut through the busy news agenda.
