Sharing good news with others can feel awkward for people who find it challenging to “toot their own horns” and don’t want to come across as bragging, or worse—have no one take notice. For businesses, however, leveraging positive company news is a must for generating a solid brand reputation and maintaining strong public relations. As individuals who have tried to post exciting personal news for their followers know, there are effective ways and not-so-effective ways to go about doing it.
Self-promotion is a delicate art, and if company leaders hope to shine the best possible light on their organization and reach the right audience when sharing good news about the business, their marketing team or agency partners can help figure out the right approach to take. Here, 15 members of Forbes Agency Council share the best ways for businesses to publicize good news and why these methods are so effective.
Forbes Agency Council members share effective ways for businesses to publicize good news.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Show Gratitude And Don’t Make It About You
Publicizing positive business news should never be about you. No business succeeds without the opportunities your clients provide to serve them. Commend their strategic, creative and media decisions (even if they were your recommendations). Show gratitude to the clients externally and let the reader connect the dots. Of course, celebrate big wins internally with gusto! - Bruce McMeekin, BKM Marketing Associates, Inc.
2. Help Reporters See The Context And Meaning
Journalists who need to prioritize news that’s most relevant to their readers are inundated with media releases from companies. With this in mind, I’ve found consistent success by helping the reporter—first, by providing a broader business or cultural context, then explaining how a company’s good news is meaningful to their readers. It’s not all about you (your company)—make it about the people. - Edward Hoffman, The Varick Group LLC
3. Focus On How It Benefits Your Stakeholders
Turn your good news into good news for your stakeholders! When you issue a press release about your win or success story, focus on how it benefits your customers, current and future employees, or investors. When writing your public announcement, always keep the answer to this question top of mind: What’s in it for them? - Melanie Marten, The Coup
4. Have A Well-Developed PR And Comms Strategy
Businesses looking to publicize good news need to have a well-developed public relations and communications strategy in place. There are many elements that go into this process, including press releases, social posts, media outreach and other needs that require forethought to be effective and achieve success. Just like anything else, this takes time and coordinated planning from many players. - Josh Perlstein, Response Media
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5. Maximize Exposure With A Multichannel Approach
I am a huge proponent of taking a multichannel approach when there is good news to share. Find the best way to verbalize and visually illustrate the news, then share via email, social media, press releases, podcasts, advertisements or boosted posts—whatever you have in your arsenal of promotion. Maximize your exposure around positive news! - Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency
6. Start By Telling Those Closest To You
When you have big news, the first people you tell are usually those closest to you. Employees should know that they’ve accomplished something worth celebrating. Call it out to current and prospective clients in your list by featuring it in a special announcement or your next periodical email. You want to underscore that it’s a big deal without coming off like your wins are unexpected surprises. - Tellef Lundevall, Accelerated Digital Media
7. Put Stakeholders At The Center Of The News
Publicizing good news requires tact and sensitivity. Otherwise, it will come across as vain and self-serving. Organizations should always put their stakeholders at the center of the news. What are the implications for employees, investors, partners, clients and the wider community? Why is it particularly timely and relevant? Use these questions as a guide before making announcements. - Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications
8. Show Audiences Why They Should Care
Even though you may be excited about your good news, show your audience why they should care. Draw connections to their customer experience and how your latest news will improve it, whether it’s an award, an office renovation or a rebrand. - Hannah Trivette, NUVEW Web Solutions
9. Rely On The Tried-And-True Press Release
Although there are new forms of communication to reach audiences today, traditional press releases are still important. A press release is a tried-and-true way to make an announcement to the world. It is a relatively inexpensive way to get your news out to the public and connect with your audience. In addition, a good press release can lead to increased search engine optimization and traffic to your site. - Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
10. Understand The Objective And Opportunity
First, assess how good the news is and then naturally determine where the story is going to resonate—whether it’s a “feel good,” “industry disruption” or “product innovation” story, each warrants a different strategy. Once you understand the objective and opportunity, you can craft the strategy around message, release, research, targets, timing and integration, say, with a conference or observance. Think continuity, not one-off. - Dean Trevelino, Trevelino/Keller
11. Make It Easy For Your Staff To Share
Employee advocacy offers a fast, effective route to broadcasting positive news stories—but it needs to be in a format that makes promotion easy. Consider including suggested social media messages, pre-made creative and links to existing coverage in your internal communications to remove as many barriers to engagement as possible. - Chris Martin, FlexMR
12. Offer Thanks To Collaborators On LinkedIn
I find the best platform to be LinkedIn, mainly because participants are business-minded but also because the overall culture/tone on LinkedIn is positive and encouraging, which isn’t true for other platforms! But the other key to publicizing good news is to offer genuine thanks and appreciation, whether to colleagues who helped the project succeed or to a client who collaborated to make it a win-win. - John Dutton, Camden Advertising
13. Share Good News Internally First
I like to first share the news internally with those close to the business, such as employees, investors and advisors. The news can then be shared externally with a more formal public press release or social post. Sharing wins internally first is great for keeping morale high and helping everyone stay aligned with the company mission. - James Ross, Hype Partners
14. Make The Good News About Your Customers
One of the best ways to publicize good news is to make the news about your customers. You are working to build perception and to make sure that you are able to impact new people and new projects. - Jon James, Ignited Results
15. Use Owned Media To Target Your Biggest Followers
Your goal is to build brand perception. This should be a collaboration among marketing, sales and PR teams using owned media vehicles to target your biggest followers. Add an announcement to your homepage, emails, social profiles (through organic posts) and your blog. When announcing through paid media, use local or industry publications to reach your audience where they already are. - Donna Robinson, Collective Measures
