Press releases are an ideal way to engage with life science media and generate coverage for your business, but there’s not a lot of guidance out there about what is truly newsworthy. This is important, as sending out press releases on a frequent basis is essential for remaining top of mind with the media (and their readers). However, this means it can be tempting to send a press release as often as possible (even when it might not be appropriate).
For example, is it worth issuing a press release every week about the company’s latest webinar? Probably not. But there are many occasions when a press release is likely to the get the attention of the media and deliver lots of coverage for your company.
When it comes to sending press releases, you want to strike the right balance. Too many press releases and the truly newsworthy information can get lost in the shuffle. Too few press releases could mean that your organisation is missing out on opportunities to connect with your audience, raise awareness of your brand and boost commercial performance.
What news items are worth a press release in the life sciences?
So, what company stories and news items are newsworthy and should get a press release? Here are 16 ideas to help get you started:
1. New product/service launches or updates
When you are launching a new product or an update to an existing product, a press release allows you to reach a broader audience with your news and is a great tactic to include as part of your launch strategy.
2. New partnerships or collaborations
Partnering with another company, academic institution, or charity can often bring important benefits to your customers and the wider market, so spread the word via a press release. When entering a collaboration with another organisation, it is often appropriate to issue a joint announcement, providing a great opportunity to formally introduce your company to your partner’s audience.
3. Rebranding your company
An essential part of any rebrand project is to take your new brand to market. With this in mind, a press release can help you quickly communicate your updated value proposition and key messages to a large audience.
4. Launching a new campaign or competition
In some cases, a press release can be an effective tool to raise awareness of your latest marketing campaign, especially if it involves significant price discounts or product bundles. This is also a great approach if your campaign entails some sort of competition.
5. A key team appointment
Your team is the real catalyst behind your company, products and services. Therefore, if you are adding new talent to your team, it can make sense to let your customers and the market know via a press release, especially if the new addition is likely to draw attention and interest (e.g. when adding a new senior leadership team member, or perhaps a well-known industry figure to your board of directors).
6. New customer wins
Your prospects trust their peers, so if they hear via a press release that you have successfully onboarded other key people or organisations in your industry, this can be a signal that you are well worth doing business with.
7. Publication of scientific research in a peer-reviewed journal
In the life sciences, data is often the most powerful way to substantiate your marketing claims, giving your products, experts and brand additional credibility in the market… especially if that data is published in a peer-reviewed journal. If your new data has been generated with a third party (e.g. a customer), this can be even more impactful. Regardless, if you expect to publish new data in the near future, start planning your press release now.
8. Meeting important business milestones
Getting to an important business milestone is cause for celebration (and a press release, as many milestones will be interesting to your customers, investors and other key stakeholders). Examples include taking a drug to the next stage of a clinical trial, securing additional funding, opening up new facilities, and more.
9. Business expansions or moving into new markets
If you plan to grow your presence in a particular market or geographical location, it is usually worth letting people know via a press release. This is even more relevant if you are moving into new markets, where announcing your new strategy via a press release should be a key part of your marketing program.
10. Mergers and acquisitions
A press release announcement gives you the opportunity to update your customers and explain your reasons for taking part in a merger or acquisition. It also allows you to control the message delivered to the market (including tackling first-hand any initial hesitations that the news may be met with).
11. Financial results
Many organisations are required to share financial details with the market as part of their disclosure responsibilities (e.g. publicly traded companies). However, outside of this, it can also be valuable to make this information more widely known via a press release if you are exhibiting robust growth or are keen to attract additional investment.
12. Winning an award
Awards provide third-party validation and credibility for your team and organisation. Therefore, if you win a significant award, it often makes sense to announce this via a press release.
13. New social or environmental initiatives
According to the CIPD, “Corporate responsibility is about the impact an organisation makes on society, the environment and the economy. Having an effective CR programme contributes positively to all stakeholders as well as adding value for the organisation itself, and ensures it operates in a sustainable way.” Given this, any new corporate responsibility initiatives you launch are likely to be positively received by the market (and are therefore well worth sharing via press release).
14. Results from a market survey or study
If you carry out market research, it can sometimes make sense to share your results with the wider market (e.g. as part of an industry report), as this can be used to demonstrate just how well you understand the challenges and needs of your customers, as well as position your company as a thought leader. If producing market reports is part of your ongoing communications strategy, we recommend publicising the research more widely using a press release. Not only will this help you reach more people, but it will also often attract the interest of the media, who may wish to use some of the data and/or interview your team to help support a new feature article they are writing (delivering even more media coverage for you).
15. Receiving a key certification (e.g. ISO accreditation)
Industry accreditations are an important way of demonstrating that your company meets high standards in areas such as quality control, product safety etc. As such, sharing news of new accreditations you receive via a press release is a useful way to build awareness of your brand and give customers confidence that you offer high-quality products/services.
16. Newsjacking
Newsjacking is a term popularised by the marketing thought leader David Meerman Scott and is what happens when organisations piggyback on wider news stories as an opportunity to draw attention to their own products, brand or point of view. The approach is a wonderful way to generate media coverage for your organisation and position your team as thought leaders in the industry. Newsjacking in this way is also an effective way to maintain a presence in industry publications and news websites, even when you don’t have much “internal news” of your own to share.
How to make sure your press release gets wide media coverage
If you have news that warrants a press release, it’s time to start writing the release and planning your distribution.
We can help. Our new press release template or our 10 top tips blog can help you draft your release, while our cost-effective distribution service targets editors and journalists across over 2700 life science publications to ensure your news achieves maximum reach.
As an example, we recently helped one of our customers, Hardy Diagnostics, to secure significant media coverage around their recent product announcement.
According to the Hardy Diagnostics team: “So many targeted releases are a one-and-done deal. We wanted something more for our investment. Life Science Newswire met our needs; with excellent support from the Newswire team, we accomplished a Press Release and Targeted Media Campaign during the heavy news frenzy of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in these unprecedented times, Life Science Newswire got the announcement of Hardy Diagnostics Anti-SARS-COV-2 Rapid Test noticed and heard. The detailed analytic reports that follow a release provide our team with a scope of success and valuable insights for our marketing campaigns.”
Discover the true power of a press release in the life science industry
Writing and distributing a press release that generates the results it deserves can be challenging. So, to help we've created a handy eBook with a step-by-step guide to unleashing the true power of a press release. Following these steps will help you generate widespread exposure for your brand, products and services with your target life science audience.
Send your press release to the life science media
If you’d like to start getting more media coverage for your company and team, you can book a press release distribution today. It’s just £700 per distribution using our pay-as-you-go service.
