8 tips for more publicity

Communication and marketing people aim to get their content published. But the journalists receive a lot of stories daily, and it’s far from every story that makes it in to the newspaper or magazine.

VOCAST has interviewed 89 journalists, divided into four different media types, and asked them what makes a press release interesting to read.

Here’s what they answered:

The content must reflect the interests of the media and readers. It’s all about the angle of the story.
The content must be new and current.
It is preferable if the story is sent to a few recipients and a form of exclusivity can be guaranteed.
Press releases must have a critical angle and a clear message.
It is especially good if it comes from a credible sender and contains credible facts and numbers.
It is a prerequisite that the press release is well written in a dimmed language. That meaning drop the superlatives and stick to the facts.
The press release must be short and accurate.
For a local newspaper it is important that the press release is locally anchored and relevant to the citizens in the geographical area.

ANDRE ARTIKLER

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Do you know what Reach is?

We at VOCAST want you to make the most of your press work, so we have made a guide to how you best understand and use our reach, which is given in the various media and journalists.

What is Reach?

Reach in VOCAST must be understood as the reach of media and journalists. Reach should therefore be seen as an estimate of how many different individuals the individual media or individual journalist may potentially reach.

The algorithm in VOCAST

The total reach is calculated using an algorithm based on the numbers given under a media or journalist. Therefore, the total reach can not be calculated by simply adding storage numbers, reading numbers and users together. The algorithm must ensure that the same person is not counted twice. A reader for a nationwide media can also follow the media’s social media and, in addition, check news on the media website. We want this person to count only once in the total reach.

Story number, readership, users, pageviews, social media

Updating media contacts is one of VOCAST’s biggest priorities. On the relevant media it appears whether the different figures are stated annually / quarterly / monthly / weekly / daily. This is consistent with the media release rate. Eg. most local newspapers are published weekly. Therefore, the period specified for local viewers’ storage and reading numbers is also weekly.

Stage number indicates how many printed copies are published by a media. This does not count in the total reach, since the number does not reflect how many media actually reach.
Readership is an estimate of how many people read the physical version of a media.
Users are an indication of the media’s unique online users. The number is an expression of how many different people visit the individual website. If the same person enters the same website more than once in a month, the person counts only once in the statistics and it is independent of how many pages the person has seen on the site. However, the same person may risk being spoken several times if he or she both uses his computer and his phone to check news. Users are always counted monthly.
Pageviews indicate how many pages are viewed on the media website. Each time a person visits a new page on the site, it counts as one pageview. Thus, if the person moves from the front page to the latest news articles and beyond on an article, it counts as three pageviews. The number of pageviews is given for the total number of pageviews across users and pages. Pageviews are always given monthly, but it does not count in the total reach.
Social media Journalists and media are additionally updated with the number of followers on their social media, if they are on social media. However, journalists may not have this information publicly available, so we can not count the number in the total reach.

Be aware…

We also update online for edits that are not online actions if the media has a news site and that we can find these numbers. We do, because these editors do not necessarily provide news to the media’s print edition.

There is a tendency for more media to no longer provide stock figures. If you can not see the storage number of the media profile, this is the reason. In addition, we see that some of the nationwide media do not want to be part of TNS Gallup’s measurement of online traffic. It makes it difficult for us to update online for these media. We try to make it as clear as possible in the profile text of the media, if that is the case.

The journalist’s profile will not only reveal a personal reach. The media reach will also be on the profile so you have the opportunity to see how wide a range the journalist has overall.

How to use reach

As mentioned, reach is an estimate. The number therefore does not indicate the exact number of people the medium reaches. It works as an estimate of the maximum number of people the medium can reach. This does not mean that every story brought by the media necessarily reaches the number that the medium indicates. The total reach can be used to get a sense of media size, and it can be used to compare the size of different media.

Therefore, it is not necessarily always best to go for a media, solely because the estimated range is large. Most often, it is worth choosing a medium where the content area matches what your broadcast is about.

ANDRE ARTIKLER

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

6 tips to engage your recipients

by Christian Nilsson | May 9, 2018

6 tips to engage your recipients

A new study shows that the average concentration span is around 8 seconds. Thats a 4 second drop from the year 2000 and shows that it’s necessary to have clear content in your emails, with read-only messages.

The amount of content grows exponentially over these years, and therefore, as content consumers, we become better and better to prioritize what content we consume. We have collected six tips that increase the likelihood that your messages will penetrate your recipients.

The subject header should fit the content

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Make sure you have precise subject lines and a summary text that suits the content. Globally, we receive and send 88 e-mails a day. If the subject line and summary text do not match, the recipient will be more likely to skip to the next email in the inbox. You can use the Send Test feature in VOCAST to see how your summary text looks like in the recipient’s inbox.

Keep it short and manageable

Given the many emails we receive every day, it is a great advantage to make your email understandable. Use headings and bulletins to share your email. Keep the sentences short and accurate. Long text passages and sections make the email feel longer than it needs to be. Play with the language and try to use fewer words to get the message through.

Use the space “above the fold” with care

The fold refers to the point in the e-mail where the content can not be seen, i.e. where to scroll to see the rest. Make sure to build the content up to have “call-to-action” under the fold. You can check where the fold typically goes by checking your email with the “Preview” feature in VOCAST. If you can’t figure out what you learn from reading “over the fold” then the content must be corrected.

CodePen would like to draw attention to their new feature and explain briefly what it’s all about and what I get out of it over the fold. Under the fold, I can just see the top of a blue, button-like rectangle, which is their “call-to-action”. They awaken my interest over the fold, causing me to scroll down to sign up, thus revealing additional content.

Clean up the mess

Focus more on one “call-to-action” or angle in your email. Get your recipients to spend most of their time on one topic instead of spreading their concentration beyond several offers or stories. Think about what behaviour you want from your recipients. Is it a purchase, a click or an impression? What would you like to tell? Make it clear what you want to achieve and work from there.

The subject line says exactly what I expect to see in the mail, even with a small call to hurry, otherwise I’m missing out on saving money! The original mail is a bit longer, but there is only one call-to-action button in the mail so it’s easy to find out what to click.

Use captive images

Images can say more than you can with words, so be sure to use graphics, animated GIFs and images to support the message in the text. Just like in the mail above.

Keep your links alive

Be sure to check the links before sending your email. A dead link to your important story or product kills the interaction and you lose the recipient. Therefore, use the “Send Test” feature in VOCAST and correct the content so that your recipients get the best experience. Also make sure that the landing page is relevant so that the recipient does not get confused.

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Next Entries »