On-Line Newsrooms - Why They Matter
by Tracy Teuscher, PR Consultant, The Buzz Maker

	The on-line newsroom is becoming more and more important in the effort to meet the needs of editors and journalists.

Introduction
The on-line newsroom is becoming more and more important in the effort to meet the needs of editors and journalists. Studies continue to show that the media is using the Internet to access news, information, and images in the development of relevant content for their readership.

Typically, the first place they visit is the company web site. Here’s the rub: According to PR Newswire, studies also show that journalists are constantly frustrated by finding old information, difficult navigation, no PR contact, and no images available for download.

We all seem to agree that an on-line newsroom should offer the journalist or editor access to the basics: recent news releases, articles, high-resolution images, and accurate PR contact information for
the company. Sounds simple, right? Well, yes and no.

As a business owner, you’ve got several choices regarding the best way for you to build and maintain a newsroom as part of your site, or a companion to your site. The market offers several solutions for those who would like to outsource the development of a quality on-line newsroom. However, program complexity and cost varies widely between different solution providers. Here are a few examples.

PR Newswire offers something called MediaRoom. MediaRoom is available in two editions. MediaRoom Communicator, and MediaRoom Strategist. Each option requires that you manage and control the content. You can even edit releases when necessary. From a link on the existing web site, the MediaRoom provides organization backgrounders, online press kits, current and archived news releases, management photos, contact information and more. Check out what they did for the North American Auto Show.

This service truly behaves like its own web site offering a welcome page, access to press contacts, fact sheets, management bio’s, backgrounder’s, news releases, articles, news headlines, photo gallery, video gallery, an education center, on-line press kit, a “request an interview” form, a “put me on your mailing list” form, event page and more. Starting at about $4880 per year, additional site functions and services can also be added. To get more info, visit http://www.mediaroom.com/.

Business Wire offers something called Company NewsCenter. It differs from the competition, but is also available in two editions: Company NewsCenter Basic, and Company NewsCenter Custom. In each, Business Wire creates and hosts your newsroom using a template. The “Custom” edition is built to have the look and feel of your primary web site by working with your web team. With either option, you provide the releases, images, company profile, press kits, and Business Wire manages the information for you. They also offer things like audience tracking and RSS News Feed as available add-on options. Programs range in base price from $2500 to $3500 per year, and can be customized with additional services. http://www.businesswire.com

Some marketing and communications companies are expanding their service offering to meet this unique market need. Take Crowl, Montgomery & Clark for example. They offer their marketing and communications partners a wonderful value-added service at no additional charge called EditorPressroom.com. With your input, their creative team will design, implement and manage your newsroom at http://www.editorpressroom.com. Your newsroom can be accessed from your existing site, and is created to have the look and feel of your existing site. On EditorPressroom.com, a journalist will have access to releases, articles, literature, photos (in high and low resolution) and will have direct phone and e-mail access to a media contact at Crowl, Montgomery & Clark. The Crowl team will even write the releases for you. So, if the thought of creating and managing your own newsroom is unrealistic, and you need a comprehensive marketing and communications plan, outsourcing the job to a full-service agency as part of a complete program may be right for you.

For those who would like to handle this in-house, consider using software that has been created especially for the development of a newsroom. TEKgroup International makes a PR newsroom-development software called TEKMedia™ now in it’s 7th version, first launched in 1998. TEKmedia lets you build and maintain an on-line newsroom in-house so you can post the latest news, graphics, logos, and media kits in minutes. Using TEKMedia, you can also upload video clips, handle e-mail distributions, publish event schedules, and more. Ford Motor Company was their first client. Audi USA uses it. So does Volkswagen. This works for small companies as well as international companies because cost is determined on volume-based pricing ranging from $500 per month to $5,000 per month depending on the number of releases your company generally distributes each month. Note: Recently, TEKgroup teamed up with BusinessWire to provide them with software that improves the function of the BusinessWire site. As a result, BusinessWire clients will be able to send out news to their BusinessWire distribution, their own internal database of journalists and also post the news to their online newsroom simultaneously.

Can you do this using your own web site development team? If they’ve got the know-how, then sure you can. But, pay attention to the details and keep it simple. Make sure your home page has a link to the “news” or “media room” section of the site. Once there, the journalist should not have to search for what they need. Give journalists easy access to updated news releases, images, company backgrounders, and contact information at the bare minimum. The benefit, or the drawback depending on your perspective, is that your team manages the information and is responsible for making sure it is accurate, updated, and functioning properly at all times.

But don’t just take it from me, read what industry pro’s I interviewed had to say:
“I use on-line newsrooms all the time”, said Brian Cruickshank, Editor of Counterman magazine, AAPEX Today, and Aftermarket News from Babcox Publications. “It’s so much easier for everyone if I can go to the media center on the company web site and gather as much information as I can without having to bother the media contact. Then, if I have additional questions, I can call the company media contact to fill in the blanks. The company has control of the information so they are providing exactly the kind of information they choose, and I make sure I am getting the information directly from the source. These are important benefits to both of us...but they have to keep the information updated!”

“There are a couple of things I’m looking for when I visit a company’s on-line newsroom”, continued Cruickshank. “I’m looking for company backgrounders, news releases, product releases, high resolution images, articles, and management bio’s with photos. For companies that are publicly traded, I also need to have access to annual reports and financial statements. Word documents and PDF files are fine for the releases and articles, and .JPG image files are great. The most important thing for me is that the information is accurate and up-to-date.”

“I frequently use newsrooms to research facts, populate buyer’s guides or search for background information that will help me to understand a given topic”, said Steve Campbell of Campbell Media, previously Editorial Director at SEMA and Primedia. “When I visit newsrooms, I like to find press releases that feature straightforward headlines so that I don’t have to try to decipher what the content might be. The releases should contain an introductory paragraph that describes the meat of the topic in 50 to 75 words, allowing a few sentences or even that entire paragraph to be picked up and placed as a quote, for instance, with little editing or rewriting. If the topic warrants, the release may then be expanded to include details that might be useful in a lengthier story. And every press release should contain company contact information—an e-mail address and a phone number for the company’s main press-relations person—so I can pursue more specialized information if needed. The contact information should also be easy to find.”

“If the topic lends itself to photography—whether of a product, an event, the company president, whatever—I like photos that are available as both thumbnails and as high-resolution images that may be downloaded for use in print publications”, continued Campbell. “I’m accustomed to sifting through information to find what I need, but a properly designed and executed newsroom can take a lot of the frustration out of that process. When I find a good source for information, I’m probably going to go back to it again and again. Some companies require the journalist to register and sign in with a password in order to access information or photography, and that’s fine so long as the process doesn’t become too cumbersome and drive me away.”

“Typically, when I am visiting a company’s on-line newsroom, I am looking for an accurate news or product release and associated high resolution image for a specific purpose”, said Solomon Daniels, Associate Publisher and Editor of Mobile Electronics magazine and Truck & SUV Performance magazine from Bobit Business Media. “I want to be able to download a release in a Word document, because I find a .pdf file is more difficult to work with, and I also need a high resolution image file in a .jpeg for printing purposes. I also want to have access to an accurate media contact information so if I need to call the company media rep, I am reaching the right person, and that person can help me quickly. If I have to register on the site, the information is not updated, the images are not there, or the media contact information is not listed, then it can be very frustrating because then it becomes very time consuming to get what I need.”

Conclusion
If you’ve got a web site, the development of a decent on-line newsroom should be on your marketing to-do list. Research your options, and select the solution you feel would be best for your company based upon your needs, goals and budget. Editors and journalists want to publish your information. If you make it easy for them, it could be a direct link to more ink. Good luck!

About the Author: Tracy Teuscher/The Buzz Maker!
Tracy Teuscher is CEO of The Buzz Maker!, an independent public relations firm specializing in the development and application of customized public relations solutions and support services for development and management of online newsrooms for the automotive aftermarket client. For more information, contact Tracy Teuscher at 330-830-2312, e-mail to tracy@thebuzzmaker.com, or visit http://www.thebuzzmaker.com.