St. Conti Communications - Personnel News Releases

	Promoting People Promotes Company Success …Marketing a Company Using Personnel News Releases by Donna St. Jean Conti, APR “Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” – Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Though many companies use them with great results, personnel news releases are possibly among the most undervalued marketing communications tools available. I am sometimes asked what purpose personnel news releases serve beyond generating sales calls from the likes of life insurance agents and image consultants. I have been asked if personnel releases actually generate worthwhile publicity, to which I have responded with a resounding “Yes!” The development and distribution of a personnel news release to announce the promotion or hiring of a professional is standard practice in public relations. It is part of the process of informing targeted media and their audiences on company developments, and it serves several purposes, among them the announcement of the person's career advancement while indicating that the initiating company continues to thrive. Yes, personnel news releases are extremely useful marketing communications tools in the quest for top-of-mind awareness. They subtly promote a company’s success, help make the most of frequency and timing, and expose initiating companies to other publicity opportunities. Personnel news releases promote a company’s competitive stance. Admit it. You want to know who the movers and shakers in your industry are. After all, how can you be competitive and know whom to know if you don’t investigate who holds the top spots? To be in the know, you read the announcement sections of your local newspaper and business journal in addition to the professional news section of your trade journals. What you read there are the results of companies issuing personnel news releases. Personnel news releases can ensure that a company benefits from message frequency and from being in the right place at the right time. Personnel news releases help keep a company’s name in front of its publics, including potential recruits, prospective customers and other influentials. The more often people see the company's name in a positive light, the more they are familiar with its business, which increases the likelihood of them wanting to know more about the company in general. This, in turn, promotes unaided recall; the company is among the first that come to mind when a person is in need of its products or services. The benefits of message frequency extend to the editorial community as well, whereby being in the right place at the right time can lead to the inclusion of the initiating company in feature and trend articles. For example, I wrote personnel news releases for one growing Southern California based homebuilder and real estate developer. Over a two-year period, the company maintained a campaign of issuing personnel news releases with each new management-level or above hire and promotion. In that time, the company issued 30 or more personnel news releases. Because of this, its target editors and reporters were very familiar with the company, its practices and the caliber of people it hired and promoted. Not only did the company enjoy publicity from the many announcement mentions it garnered in local and national media, this awareness led to the inclusion of the company in trend article pieces about the growth of homebuilding in its target markets. One trend article even evolved into a stand-alone feature profile on the company in one of the industry’s top trade publications. In another case, the same client benefited from the frequency and timing of its personnel news release campaign. One such news release crossed the desk (email inbox) of an editor who was just starting a feature article. She was in need of an industry expert to provide insight, and the news release announcing the new employee reminded her to call the company for an interview. Personnel news releases can lead to other marketing communications opportunities. Imagine that your personnel news release or the published announcement is read by a speaker’s bureau coordinator for an upcoming industry conference who needs to fill a speaker’s slot. Your well-timed personnel release announcing the kind of expertise needed can land the perfect speaking opportunity. The publicity from a personnel news release might also lead to invitations (or solicitations) for networking opportunities via charity organizations, new professional associations, advisory panels, etc. Okay, you’ve published your personnel news releases, how else can you use the information? Efficient and skilled communicators use the information included in personnel news releases to develop a variety of other marketing communications and sales materials. Here are some suggested uses: Excerpt information and create short biographies to introduce team members when making sales calls, meeting with outside influentials, or when building community relations. Submit releases as part of applications for speaking engagements or presentations. Use the background information from each release to find people in the organization who have special talents or experience in specific areas. Use the personnel news releases to create handy reference sheets that can be used to introduce employees to the media as experts on certain topics. Post personnel news releases on the company intranet to announce new employees to the rest of the company. Promote internal employee relations by publishing interesting details contained within personnel news releases in company newsletters. How do you optimize personnel news release distribution? It is essential to send personnel news releases to all the media contacts who normally receive news from your company. This includes horizontal business and news outlets as well as vertical trade outlets. To expand coverage, personnel news releases can also be distributed to: the employees’ hometown newspapers. the employees’ alumni publications. community associations (in which the company or the employees have membership). professional, church or non-profit organizations (in which the company or the employees have membership). How long does it take to for a personnel news release to get published? It is always great to see your company’s personnel announcement published, especially when you have made every effort to ensure that it will appear in your targeted media. However, it can take longer than you might expect for your release to run after it is distributed to media outlets, even online ones. Print magazines often prepare copy for publication two, three or more months in advance, so personnel announcements may not be published for 60 days or longer after they are received. Even daily newspapers and weekly journals sometimes have backlogs of several weeks. What goes into personnel news releases? Now that you know why we issue personnel news releases, you may be wondering what goes into them. Basic information is provided in a personnel news release: the person’s new title, a brief description of the person’s new responsibilities, prior work experience, educational background, community and professional associations involvement and, if desired, the person’s marital and family status as well as place of residence. Some public relations professionals will also include a quote from the subject’s supervisor or the head of the company commenting on the company’s expectations for his or her future performance. The quote might also comment on the subject’s demonstrated abilities and accomplishments. The personnel news release is issued by the hiring company on its letterhead and includes a brief description - or boilerplate - of its business mission, headquarters and contact information. In summary, since these are news releases, not paid advertisements, media outlets are not obligated to publish them at all, particularly if they are tight on space. However, creating a personnel release is worthwhile for a variety of reasons (as outlined above). Personnel news releases tell others that your company is successful. They give you an opportunity to include information on the company’s growth and ties to industry trends. They underscore the caliber of your employees. They can lead to other editorial opportunities, and they are useful in creating other sales and marketing or internal communications materials. To some, personnel news releases may seem like small things. In reality, they are valuable marketing communications tools that promote a company and its people in many, even large, ways. # # #

Promoting People Promotes Company Success
…Marketing a Company Using Personnel News Releases
by Donna St. Jean Conti, APR

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
– Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Though many companies use them with great results, personnel news releases are possibly among the most undervalued marketing communications tools available.

I am sometimes asked what purpose personnel news releases serve beyond generating sales calls from the likes of life insurance agents and image consultants. I have been asked if personnel releases actually generate worthwhile publicity, to which I have responded with a resounding “Yes!”

The development and distribution of a personnel news release to announce the promotion or hiring of a professional is standard practice in public relations. It is part of the process of informing targeted media and their audiences on company developments, and it serves several purposes, among them the announcement of the person's career advancement while indicating that the initiating company continues to thrive.

Yes, personnel news releases are extremely useful marketing communications tools in the quest for top-of-mind awareness. They subtly promote a company’s success, help make the most of frequency and timing, and expose initiating companies to other publicity opportunities.

Personnel news releases promote a company’s competitive stance.
Admit it. You want to know who the movers and shakers in your industry are. After all, how can you be competitive and know whom to know if you don’t investigate who holds the top spots? To be in the know, you read the announcement sections of your local newspaper and business journal in addition to the professional news section of your trade journals. What you read there are the results of companies issuing personnel news releases.

Personnel news releases can ensure that a company benefits from message frequency and from being in the right place at the right time.
Personnel news releases help keep a company’s name in front of its publics, including potential recruits, prospective customers and other influentials. The more often people see the company's name in a positive light, the more they are familiar with its business, which increases the likelihood of them wanting to know more about the company in general. This, in turn, promotes unaided recall; the company is among the first that come to mind when a person is in need of its products or services.

The benefits of message frequency extend to the editorial community as well, whereby being in the right place at the right time can lead to the inclusion of the initiating company in feature and trend articles.

For example, I wrote personnel news releases for one growing Southern California based homebuilder and real estate developer. Over a two-year period, the company maintained a campaign of issuing personnel news releases with each new management-level or above hire and promotion. In that time, the company issued 30 or more personnel news releases. Because of this, its target editors and reporters were very familiar with the company, its practices and the caliber of people it hired and promoted.

Not only did the company enjoy publicity from the many announcement mentions it garnered in local and national media, this awareness led to the inclusion of the company in trend article pieces about the growth of homebuilding in its target markets. One trend article even evolved into a stand-alone feature profile on the company in one of the industry’s top trade publications.

In another case, the same client benefited from the frequency and timing of its personnel news release campaign. One such news release crossed the desk (email inbox) of an editor who was just starting a feature article. She was in need of an industry expert to provide insight, and the news release announcing the new employee reminded her to call the company for an interview.

Personnel news releases can lead to other marketing communications opportunities.
Imagine that your personnel news release or the published announcement is read by a speaker’s bureau coordinator for an upcoming industry conference who needs to fill a speaker’s slot. Your well-timed personnel release announcing the kind of expertise needed can land the perfect speaking opportunity.

The publicity from a personnel news release might also lead to invitations (or solicitations) for networking opportunities via charity organizations, new professional associations, advisory panels, etc.

Okay, you’ve published your personnel news releases, how else can you use the information?
Efficient and skilled communicators use the information included in personnel news releases to develop a variety of other marketing communications and sales materials. Here are some suggested uses:

Excerpt information and create short biographies to introduce team members when making sales calls, meeting with outside influentials, or when building community relations.
Submit releases as part of applications for speaking engagements or presentations.
Use the background information from each release to find people in the organization who have special talents or experience in specific areas.
Use the personnel news releases to create handy reference sheets that can be used to introduce employees to the media as experts on certain topics.
Post personnel news releases on the company intranet to announce new employees to the rest of the company.
Promote internal employee relations by publishing interesting details contained within personnel news releases in company newsletters.

How do you optimize personnel news release distribution?
It is essential to send personnel news releases to all the media contacts who normally receive news from your company. This includes horizontal business and news outlets as well as vertical trade outlets. To expand coverage, personnel news releases can also be distributed to:

the employees’ hometown newspapers.
the employees’ alumni publications.
community associations (in which the company or the employees have membership).
professional, church or non-profit organizations (in which the company or the employees have membership).

How long does it take to for a personnel news release to get published?
It is always great to see your company’s personnel announcement published, especially when you have made every effort to ensure that it will appear in your targeted media. However, it can take longer than you might expect for your release to run after it is distributed to media outlets, even online ones.

Print magazines often prepare copy for publication two, three or more months in advance, so personnel announcements may not be published for 60 days or longer after they are received. Even daily newspapers and weekly journals sometimes have backlogs of several weeks.

What goes into personnel news releases?
Now that you know why we issue personnel news releases, you may be wondering what goes into them.

Basic information is provided in a personnel news release: the person’s new title, a brief description of the person’s new responsibilities, prior work experience, educational background, community and professional associations involvement and, if desired, the person’s marital and family status as well as place of residence.

Some public relations professionals will also include a quote from the subject’s supervisor or the head of the company commenting on the company’s expectations for his or her future performance. The quote might also comment on the subject’s demonstrated abilities and accomplishments.

The personnel news release is issued by the hiring company on its letterhead and includes a brief description - or boilerplate - of its business mission, headquarters and contact information.

In summary, since these are news releases, not paid advertisements, media outlets are not obligated to publish them at all, particularly if they are tight on space. However, creating a personnel release is worthwhile for a variety of reasons (as outlined above).

Personnel news releases tell others that your company is successful. They give you an opportunity to include information on the company’s growth and ties to industry trends. They underscore the caliber of your employees. They can lead to other editorial opportunities, and they are useful in creating other sales and marketing or internal communications materials.

To some, personnel news releases may seem like small things. In reality, they are valuable marketing communications tools that promote a company and its people in many, even large, ways.

# # #