How to get great press coverage for my media event

The key to event press coverage: Be prepared

Reaching out in good time with as much detail as you have can be helpful in getting on the media’s radar, showing you’re a safe bet and earning your place in the media diary.

Making your initial outreach a month ahead of your live date, with a very simple who, what, where, when and why email is an easy way to alert the media to your event. You can then follow up periodically two weeks before, the week before and the day before the event to give the best chance of attendance

If the press is interested, they’ll likely come back to ask for additional information, if you’ve not already shared everything.

Be clear on what you can offer them

Great news, the media are keen to come along. Now you need to have nailed down what you can give them and what you can’t. So, what is it and who is it that you can offer up for an interview, what will they be filming or photographing at what time and what is the best space you have available for journalists and camera crew. You may even be scheduling multiple media interviews so diarising your spokesperson’s time is a handy way to make sure you avoid no shows and double-bookings. If there’s also the possibility to organise media parking that always goes down a treat!

Ultimately, you want to make sure your press interactions run as smoothly as possible and the key to this is in the detail.

Consider all media channels

When people think of media presence at an event, their first thought is often traditional print, online and broadcast media. But don’t forget about your other channels!

Depending on the subject matter of your event, there may be specialist trade titles keen to come along and grab a scoop too. Radio broadcast is also another valuable avenue for your spokespeople to bring your event to life either on the day or in the run up – as we’ll come onto shortly.

Another media sector which is increasingly important but sadly can sometimes be overlooked by its older siblings is social first media. Social first channels are a brilliantly accessible tool which produce high quality content delivered to a highly engaged audience. Their diaries are often more flexible than the likes of TV broadcasters and you also get a fab piece of content to reshare on your social media channels.

Maximise the opportunity

When it comes to securing press coverage for your event, don’t limit yourself to your live day and nothing else. Are there opportunities to promote the event on the radio in the run up? Could you share a cool behind the scenes look at the work going into the event?

We supported our fab client Wakefield Council with cultural festival Our Year Wakefield District 2024. One of the highlights in the year’s packed event calendar was the arrival of a double decker-sized dragon puppet which roamed the streets of Wakefield, interacted with the public and took flight over Pugney’s Country Park. As well as making sure the flight was in the media diary, we were also able to welcome broadcast media into the performers’ rehearsal room to give a sneak peek of the magic behind teaching the dragon to fly.

As it happened, the dragon couldn’t fly due to terrible weather conditions, so our BTS piece became even more valuable and ensured we didn’t miss out on that all important press coverage.

Get ready to DIY

Finally, if you want press coverage for your event, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Organising your own professional photography and videography that can be shared with media post-event is a great way to secure coverage without the need for media to physically attend your event. Whether it’s a photo shared with picture desks or drone footage dropped into regional broadcast news, if you’re able to share high-quality material in a timely manner there’s still a chance of securing valuable coverage for your event even after the fact. Plus, if your event is particularly visual, you can boost your chances of making the front page (or any page) by booking specific press photographers. These photographers can be booked individually or through organisations and supply directly into the national and regional news desks. A simple way to ensure your event photography is not only great quality but is also going to reach the relevant titles.

And finally

You know what they say about ‘best laid plans’…

I feel it would be amiss of me not to mention that no matter how fantastic your event is or how brilliantly you’ve liaised with the media, the news agenda is always going to be liable to change at the last moment. Unforeseen circumstances from high profile breaking news to natural disasters will always dominate the media agenda and blow you right out of the water. It sucks but that’s just how it is.

But Royal anythings and alien landings aside, you’re all set to go ahead and grab the media attention your event deserves.

So, if you have an exciting and newsworthy event coming up or you’re in the throes of trying to organise one, talk to the team here at Aberfield and see how we can help bring our positive influence and press knowledge know how to your event.