Blog Post

10 steps to broadcast PR heaven, in a coronavirus hell!

It’s challenging, often frustrating and you have to hold your nerve, but it is more than possible to reach that nirvana of so many PR campaigns, television and radio, despite the strange and uncertain times we live in. Here are our 10 steps to success, amended to include the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

STEP 1: Think like a broadcast journalist

STEP 2: Think timing

Always dovetail broadcast coverage with whatever you’re planning for print and online. If a story has already been in the newspapers, broadcasters will consider it too old to run.

Allowing about a week to interest a broadcaster in a story is generally our rule of thumb – so we can get a story onto the longer-term planning list. But in Coronavirus times be prepared for last minutes changes, in keeping with the moving news agenda – opportunities as well as cancellations.

STEP 3: Talk their language

Never is this truer than with a broadcast PR press release. Less is more! No more than a page and write it like a broadcast cue. That means writing colloquially, as you would speak. We’ll include an attention-grabbing headline, but the top line of the story needs to be summed up in a sentence. With Coronavirus in mind see if there’s any link with the PR story and the ongoing pandemic.

STEP 4: The perfect spokesperson

Step 5: Think pictures and sound

STEP 6: Case studies

STEP 7: Online video

STEP 8: Regional radio and television

STEP 9: Branding

STEP 10: Technical support

More Blog Posts

5 news logo
19. May 2025

To grow their audience, 5 News are going back to basics. In fact, when Debbie Ramsay first joined 5 News as Editor, she wanted to find out all about the people on the other side of the screen: Who are they? What do they like?

Sky news logo
19. May 2025

Speaking at our Big Talk 2025 Sky News Managing Director and Executive Editor, Jonathan Levy addressed the question: Is television news dead? Jonathan was clear that it is a complex matter, explaining that the question about the future of news and the platforms in which it will be consumed is something news executives have to think about.

ITV news logo
16. May 2025

Andrew heads up news and current affairs content across ITV. He has overall responsibility for ITV’s network news, regional news and current affairs output, on both ITV1 and all ITV’s digital platforms. Speaking at our Big Talk 2025 he explained how ITV News is facing the challenges of social media and digital news outlets.