7. Other Types of Press Material

Although press releases are the mainstay of public relations work, a number of other types of material exists. The most common ones are:

Press packs

The term press pack refers to a collection of information handed out at events and briefings. It will usually consist of a branded folder, which may or may not contain copy, plus a press release and photographs.

There may also be other ingredients, such as a company brochure, product background, CD-ROMs and so on. If you take a brief for a press pack, the first thing to ascertain is what items will go into it and what the individual copy requirements will be for each.

Backgrounders

Also called fact-sheets, these are usually one-page documents with information listed as bullet points. For businesses, backgrounders may include the number of employees, annual turnover, milestones and so on. Backgrounders can be easy to put together with some desk research using, for example, the internet and/or corporate literature such as an annual statement.

By-lined features

By-lined features usually take the form of opinion pieces attributed to a senior client and ghost-written by a PR executive or copywriter. The length, subject matter and tone will often largely be set by the editor of the publication accepting the piece, but overly commercial messages are generally to be avoided. Instead, concentrate on researching the relevant subject matter by means of an interview with a knowledgeable contact in the client’s organisation.

Case studies

Case studies are intended to show a particular service, product or application in action and are used in a variety of ways. Often they provide useful background to a story, sometimes they are used to illustrate an article and sometimes they form the basis of a story on their own.

The exact format for case studies varies from one project to another, but they are usually longer than press releases (between 500 and 1,000 words instead of 250 to 500 for a press release). They also tend to follow a different narrative thread: possibly a summary or introduction, followed by a market overview, a statement of the challenge faced by the business in question, a section on how the challenge was overcome, and a conclusion, possibly ending in a stand-alone quote. If you are taking a brief for this kind of work it is often a good idea to ask the client for examples of the kind of thing they are expecting, so you know how to write it up. Case studies need to have page numbers and contact details, just like press releases.

Picture captions

As its name indicates, the purpose of a picture caption is to provide additional information to go with photography. Since some stories are pitched to picture desks on the strength of images alone, however, PR picture captions need to be much more extensive than those used in the press. In effect, they should be written up as mini press releases, no more than a sheet long but with the same attention to headlines, intros, contacts and so on.

Forward planning notices

The forward planning notice is commonly used to make sure an event is booked into media diaries. Exact styles vary, but to be effective a forward planning notice should be headed as such and obviously needs to include details such as what is happening, when and where. State the nature of the event – press conference, photo call or other – so an editor can assign the right person to cover it, and as always make sure you include the contact details of PR representatives.

Interview opportunities

Interview opportunity notices are predominantly aimed at radio show producers and are effectively a special form of forward planning notice. The one-page notice should state who is available for interview, why they are worth talking to, when they will be able to go on air, and whether or not they will be available in a studio.

White papers

See the entry in the next chapter.