Multichannel News Releases - Best Practices for Your Project

Whether it’s your first time creating a Multichannel News Release (MNR) or you're a MultiVu expert, sometimes knowing where to start with your project is the hardest part. There are many moving pieces to creating a complex project like this, and it can be overwhelming for even the most experienced communication pro. So take a deep breath, you’re not alone. I’m going to layout some best practices for you to consider in order to help make your MNR successful.

Where do I even start?

This is a great question. My advice is always to start with mapping out the primary call-to-action (CTA) for the project. You probably already have an overall goal in mind, so try and condense that into a practical CTA for your audience. What do you want a viewer to do after they view your MNR? Finding the answer to your overall CTA will help to shape the narrative (or story) you’re telling on your MNR. Think about the long term goal, and what you want your audience to do with the information you provide. This will give your project some direction. If you’re still not sure, ask yourself these questions to help narrow it down:

• Who is your audience?
• Why would they be interested in your content?
• What do they get out of it?
• Where can they find more information?

Try to boil down the CTA to just one short phrase or a couple words. For example, “Start Your Free Trial” or “Order Now.” Once you know what you want your audience to do after viewing your MNR, you can start collecting and writing materials that reinforce that narrative.

What kind of content should you include?

Any content that is current and supports the overall goal is ideal to include in your MNR. Whether they are infographics, product images, videos of success stories, tutorials, or logos, the content should reinforce the narrative. Think about what information your audience expects to find on the MNR page. Keep in mind these are the elements that are most engaged with. Most people won’t read an 800 word press release, but they will click on a couple photos and watch a short video.

That brings up another important question, how long should your videos be? The short answer is: short. Think about the videos that you watch online. Do you ever watch a 10 minute promo video? Nope. But you will watch 30 seconds to a minute. B-roll videos are traditionally longer (usually 3-5 minutes), which is fine to have that available for media – if that is part of your goal.

What information should my text include?

The press release body of the MNR should be to the point and easy to read. First and most importantly it should be free of grammatical and punctuation errors. Your narrative is being represented here, it’s vital that is reads clearly and professionally in order for you to appear credible. Sloppy writing is a representation of your company or cause.

The headline and first paragraph are vital, as most of the readers of your news won’t read past these. You have a very short window to catch your reader’s attention and hook them into reading the rest of the text. Keep it engaging, memorable, and include how it benefits the reader.

Hopefully that helps to get you started with your MNR. As always, please reach out to your Project Manager with any additional questions. We are happy to give suggestions and help guide you through the process.

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ABOUT THE EXPERT: JULIANNA THORNBERG

Julianna Thornberg is a Senior Project Manager for the Online Services team at MultiVu, a Cision company. Julianna has spent her career in the communications industry and has a special place in her heart for helping clients distribute content. She started her career as a Customer Content Specialist at PR Newswire, before transitioning to being a Project Manager for MultiVu. Julianna earned a bachelors in Media Communications from the University of New Mexico and is currently completing her master’s degree in Public Relations at Kent State University.