One of the key things we all want to do when we appear in the press is to shout about it. To show off! To put it on every social media platform and on our website’s home page. It’s natural to feel proud of the achievement of having an accolade in a national publication or on a respected website, but unfortunately, it’s not as simple as posting a photograph of said article. In the UK, one needs a licence from the NLA (and often from the CLA) to share articles. To do so without one is a breach of intellectual property law.
In order to avoid spending a rather large sum of money on the licence, we have put together a few ideas of how one can crow about one’s published accomplishments without inadvertently engaging oneself in a legal fracas:
1) Share a link to the article
If your brand features in an article or on a blog, it is possible to share a link on your social media pages. Just ensure that you’re avoiding a direct quote or the headline from the article. Instead, summarise the article and how your brand features in it. Then add a link at the bottom. If mentioning it on Instagram, use a stock photograph or a picture of your product, caption it and link to the article within your bio.
2) Write your own blog about the article
Having a frequently updated blog is a great marketing tool anyway (to show you have your finger on the pulse and to boost your website from an SEO perspective), and blogging about an article you’ve featured in is a fantastic way of blowing your own trumpet without seeming too conceited. Refer back to the topic at hand and give your own opinion about why your product/service meets the subject matter, with reference to the fact that it was ‘recently featured in…’
3) Dedicate a section on your website to “as featured in…”
Instantly garner the attention of a website visitor with an “as featured in…” section on your homepage. This will simply include logos of publications who have featured your brand, immediately associating your products/services with respected, approved sources.
4) Use quotes offered by the journalist
If you’ve managed to meet a journalist and have had a really good exchange, follow up with an email and ask if you can use their recommendation as a direct quote on social media. This sort of quote wouldn’t incur any sort of fine and wouldn’t require a licence. An example would be: “The appointment I had with xxx was the most informative I have had in a long time” Joe Bloggs, Daily News.
And if you met the journalist face-to-face, you could ask their permission to take a photo with them to share on social media.
5) Thank the publication and/or journalist on social media
It’s always polite to thank journalists for writing something positive about your brand and if you do it over social media it will instantly draw attention to the fact that you have featured in the publication and will encourage them to read it.
6) Use the logo on the page referring to the specific product/service
If a specific product or treatment has been featured in a publication, you can include a sticker that says ‘xxx Magazine Loves…’ or “as recommended by xxx” to further draw attention to your endorsement from a reputable source.
Getting the press to speak about your brand is a huge achievement and definitely something to show off about – just make sure that you’re showing off in a way that doesn’t incur a fine!
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