How to write a press release:

• Don't think about what the journalist wants or what their reader reads: give the information from your point of view
• Be really boring. Don't even think about being interesting, engaging or controversial.
• Write in jargon, cliches and gobbledegook. Avoid speaking in simple terms
• Be long-winded and aim to say as much as you possibly can
• Keep the important stuff to the end
• Don't consider the other events around at the time- your news is bound to be more important
• Don't follow the press release up- just 'fire and forget'
• If you do call the journalist to discuss the release, make sure it's when they're on a deadline

Journalists often tell us how bad many PR agencies are at media relations. Of course, there's much more to PR than media relations, and many ways of raising awareness, profile and grabbing attention. But gaining media exposure is the crux of PR.

To us, media relations is the art of story telling and the art of story selling.

Story telling. You must stimulate interest and engage your audience. So we often think laterally, searching, working and contriving until we find angles that are newsworthy and of interest. Communication hasn't changed- people want to be informed, challenged, entertained even. As professional writers, we then produce outstanding stories for the media that are imaginative, interesting or thought provoking.

Story selling. Being tenacious is vital in PR. Essentially PR is a sales job and not for the faint hearted. Perhaps that's why many people shy away from the hard part- picking up the telephone and selling a story to a journalist or producer At IKON, we are sensitive to the needs of the media but determined in getting our message across. And it's senior people who handle media relations at IKON - we don't believe this is a task that should be left to juniors.

IKON are PR specialists with knowledge and expertise gained from years of hands-on experience working with the media- print, broadcast and online. We know journalists, have employed journalists, and have worked as journalists. That gives us insights to their psyche and what makes them tick. We help businesses see things from the media's point of view and appreciate what is of interest to them for their customer - the reader, viewer or listener.