Leveraging “40 Under 40″

May 29th, 2008 at 09:40am Cindy Harris

Was someone at your company honored on the Rockford Chamber of Commerce’s “40 Under 40″ list? If so, don’t keep the good news to yourself. Sure, it was covered locally, but look further afield to gain additional publicity:

1. Draft a news release about the honor, how the nominees were selected and then detail the accomplishments of your company’s particular honoree.
2. Distribute it to the trade media that cover your industry and any other non-local publication that is appropriate, including the alumni office of the honoree’s college/university/high school and any other organization with which he or she is involved (like a church, professional organization, etc.)
3. Whenever possible, email the release, a headshot and a link to the online version of the story (See sources below)
4. Mailed or faxed releases are OK, but don’t have the advantage of automatically giving the media outlet the option of running the piece with the headshot.

We should all be proud of these accomplished professionals - so let’s talk it up!

40 Under 40 Source Material

• Rockford Chamber of Commerce site
• Melissa Westphal’s story in today’s Register Star)
• A link to the Chamber’s original news release about the list: nr-40-leaders-under-40_announced052808.pdf

PS - kudos to KMK Media Group’s own Pam Maher for her inclusion on the list!

Entry Filed under: Media relations, Public Relations