Trying to interest the media in running stories that feature your car wash can be frustrating, but it is often worthwhile trying, particularly in regional community media.
Sometimes developing a new angle or organising a personality or celebrity can make a difference by creating deeper interest.
Often it is optimally timing your media release or promotion that will bring about the best results so consider what else is going on the community that may distract newspaper columnists from reading your release or visiting your site.
And remember to keep each media release short and simple with no more than two or three key messages. The release should be written in such a way that a journalist could simply “cut and paste” if they elected to do so. Students studying journalism at tertiary level can often be an asset to someone not familiar with writing releases.
Journalists like it when you know whom they write for and what they write about. Localise your press releases, provide facts about your car wash and pitch yourself as a local, community business.
Consider the following media tips:
- Know what’s newsworthy. Read the publications you intend to pitch to in order to get a sense of content, style and tone and see if there is a specific contact person you should be communicating with.
- Follow up you release with a call to make sure the announcement was seen and understood. Be prepared with a quick statement about why your release is important to the media outlet’s consumer demographics.
- Be aware of journalist and presenter time frames. Their timelines are often tight, and you will need to work around their commitments. Make yourself available when they contact you, respond quickly if you miss a call from them, and understand that if a journalist is on a deadline, they may need to put you off for a day or two when you contact them.
- Be prepared for an interview – both for newspapers and radio. Listen carefully to questions. You can always ask the journalist for clarification if you aren’t clear on what they’re asking of you.
- Think about the key messages you want to get across to the audience. Messages should be simple and get to the point quickly allowing radio, in particular, to use a 10 second “sound grab” from your interview.
- Always be friendly but never tell the media anything you wouldn’t be happy to see in print or announced over the airwaves.
- Don’t let yourself be steered too far from your key messages. If asked a question you’re not comfortable answering, use this as an opportunity to get back to your messages, with a simple comment like, “I’m not in a position to comment on that, but I can tell you…”
- It is better to say “I don’t know” than guess and provide incorrect detail. It is ok to say, “I’m sorry I don’t have that information now but would be happy to get back to you later”.
- Evaluate the results – when the story appears, critique your performance. Was it a positive story? Did the story contain your key messages? What could you have done differently to improve the story? Any lessons you can take away from the story will help you next time!
Interesting Facts
Consider creating additional interest in your release or interview by including some interesting facts. Here’s is a few car washing environmental fast facts to start with:
- There are over 13 million vehicles in Australia.
- On average, a home car wash results in over 100 litres of wastewater, dirt and pollutants.
- On average, one car wash will use the same amount of water as 1 load of clothes washing, 4 minutes of garden watering or a five-minute shower.
- If collected and allowed to settle a single home car wash produces approximately 750 mls of thick black oily sludge.
- It is estimated that in Melbourne or Sydney alone uncontrolled vehicle washing results in over two billion litres of untreated wastewater flows through the stormwater system into our waterways resulting in contamination levels up to 30 times higher than ANZECC guidelines for marine waters.
- Uncontrolled vehicle washing causes damage to the plants and animals in our freshwater creeks and rivers and in the surrounding coastline.
- In a commercial, regulated car wash, all contaminated run-off goes through special settlement pits to the sewer. None can run off into the stormwater systems which drain into the rivers and bays.
- When soaps and other solvents are used to clean cars, they dissolve not only dirt and grease into the wastewater but also toxic surfactants, hydrocarbons and heavy metals such as copper, lead and zinc.