Creating an online news room
Small business marketing online series
Originally published in Small Business Charleston, October 2008
By Elizabeth M. Cleveland
Online news rooms are taking the place of traditional press kits more and more, with PR practitioners directing the media to a website where all your press materials are readily available. To create a useful tool for journalists and consumers, keep these points in mind.
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More and more, online news rooms are taking the place of traditional press kits. No more expensive folders loaded with press releases, photos, bios, etc. Today, PR practitioners are directing the media to a web URL where all your press materials and high-resolution artwork are readily available.
When creating an online news room, keep the following points in mind to ensure that you provide the media (and consumers) with a useful, efficient tool.
Where should your news room go?
Your news room should be easy to find upon entering your website. A good place to include the link is on the menu bar or other navigational element. Don't require journalists to search. They're very busy people who need to navigate quickly, get the facts and go.
Consumers may also wander into your news room, where they too can read your company news. Make sure to include a link back to your home page, so consumers and journalists can continue to explore when finished.
What should a news room include?
Media Contacts The name, address, e-mail, phone number, and cell phone number of your primary media contact(s) must be front and center. Include IDs for real-time communication tools like Twitter or Instant Messaging if relevant.
Press Releases Place press releases in chronological order starting with the most recent on top. Use traditional formatting and easy-to-read fonts.
Artwork Include executive headshots, product photos, event images, graphs and other artwork that illustrates your company news. Images need to look professional and ready for publication. It's also recommended to provide a low resolution (72 dpi) for online publications and high resolution (300 dpi) for print publications. Include instructions next to graphics such as "Right-click to download." Also include links to your newsroom image gallery in press releases.
Backgrounders Allow the media to learn more about your company by including a company fact sheet, executive bios, white papers, speeches, investor relations info (if applicable), and awards.
Press Coverage Within your news room, include a link for an "In the News" section where journalists and consumers can read news and blog coverage about your company. Include the publication logo, title, date, author and a link to read the full article. The most recent news should appear at the top.
Online news room dos and don'ts
DON'T force journalists to register or sign in for access to your news room. Make their lives as easy as possible.
DO offer journalists the opportunity to join your email list to stay abreast on future announcements.
DON'T try to design it yourself. Hire someone with a portfolio of clean, easy-to-navigate websites. Avoid Flash and heavy Javascript. Your goal should be to present a professional image, and the ease of navigation and logical flow of your news room is vital.
DO provide a link to your consumer FAQ page as well as an email for customer service. This will help non-journalists in the wrong place get their questions answered. It will also save your media contact a great deal of time responding or forwarding irrelevant questions from non-journalists.
Good examples
The following are a few outstanding examples of smart online news rooms. The last one is a progressive example of a "social media news room" making content useful in a Web 2.0 environment.
www.thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/index.html
http://www.optiem.com/About/News.aspx
About the author
Elizabeth McDowell Cleveland is the founder of Elm Public Relations, specializing in strategic public relations for emerging companies that employs a trend-forward approach to communicating a company's value with audiences whose public opinions influence their success. She started her career at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Denver working in the technology and consumer goods spaces and later joined Silicon Valley's preferred high tech firm, Antenna Group Public Relations. In recent years, she has launched start-up companies, announced VC funding, managed acquisitions and taken companies public. In Charleston, she serves as director of public relations for the Charleston American Marketing Association and media chair for the Charleston Food + Wine Festival.
