How do I know if our campaign is suitable for Featurelink?
There are two main criteria for successful features. The first is that the editorial must be of reader interest and not read like ad copy. Imagine that you are sitting down with a cup of coffee and the feature, would you want to read it? The second is that there must be potential for other local advertisers to support the feature. Consider that a newspaper telesales agent will have to call local advertisers and give them a reason to advertise alongside your feature.
The Featurelink team will be happy to discuss all potential ideas with you and will advise you whether it is a viable feature or not. Because we represent the interests of the industry, we will not send out anything that our members will not be able to convert into a feature, so we don’t waste their time or your money.
How can I make sure that the newspapers use the correct editorial and will get across the right message?
With every feature opportunity that we send out, we also send out the Featurelink bulletin. Within the bulletin will be a page explaining to the newspapers how to use the press pack, when the feature is to run, what the objectives of the campaign are and who the potential advertisers are. The page is written by one of the Featurelink team and checked with the client before it is mailed out to the co-ordinators.
Can I regionalise the campaign?
Yes you can. If you only want the newspapers in East Anglia and London to receive your information, we can arrange that for you at no extra cost. We have our newspapers split by 13 regions and can also regionalise editorial.
How many press packs do I have to put together?
Just the one, in electronic format! We don’t want to waste money and paper sending out hundred of press packs through the post when we can deliver it straight to the papers via our website. The website is password protected so that only our member newspapers can access it, so protecting your client’s information.
What format do you require for the electronic press pack and what should the press pack contain?
We need editorial as Word documents and photos and logos as 300dpi jpegs.
The most important content will be the feature editorial, this must be of reader interest and be written so that it lends itself to other complimentary advertising. For example, a feature about ‘what to do with the kids in the holidays’ should include a range of ideas and not just purely focus on content from the client about their product or service. Other information which may be useful to include would be ‘Top 10 Tips’, regional facts and images. Someone from the team will chat with you before the feature is sent out to discuss what to include in the pack.
What sort of lead time do you require?
We need to get all of the information to the newspapers 4-6 weeks in advance of your campaign dates. This gives newspapers a chance to plan the feature and sell the idea to potential advertisers
How can I secure coverage within particular newspapers?
The only way to secure coverage is to pay for advertising within selected titles. We have a By using the Featurelink service you can book ‘starter ads’ literally an adverts to start the feature off. Your advert will appear next to your editorial, thus maximising the impact of your message.
Which newspapers can I book starter ads in and how do I book them?
Featurelink is utilised by all our members, which is 99.9% of all the regional press titles in the UK and you can book starter ads in all of them. The few exceptions are mainly weekly titles in Northern Ireland and the Scottish islands.
Starter adverts should be booked with the national sales houses in London. There are a couple of differences to booking a normal regional press advert, because feature pages are part editorial the papers cannot usually guarantee what page they will appear on within the paper so you may request ‘Early Right Hand’ and the papers will do their best, but it may not be possible. For the best results it is also advisable to give the papers as much flexibility as you can on when they can run the feature, for example anytime Mon-Fri of a particular week or at least a Wed/Fri option. As part of a trade organization Featurelink cannot get involved with the selection or booking of titles.
If the papers have a Starter advert do they have to run the feature?
If the papers have a Starter advert they MUST run it with editorial as part of a feature, if they make a mistake and run the advert without editorial the usual compensation is to re-run the advert with editorial free-of-charge. If for some reason the client does not want that then they do not pay for the original advert. The editor always reserves the right NOT to run a feature, but if they choose to do that, they forfeit the advert.
What happens if the papers cannot sell any local adverts onto the feature?
If the paper has been unable to sell a page feature and they have a Starter Advert the minimum requirement is that they must run the advert with equal sized space alongside. This must include the editorial, but may also include logos, photos or small adverts. So if the advert is a ¼ page the feature must be a ½ page, if the advert is only a 10x3 the papers only need to give 10x3 space to the editorial alongside.
Can I cancel a feature or make changes to the starter advert schedule or press pack after the feature has been sent out?
It is not recommended as papers may have started selling a feature to local advertisers. However, you can cancel a feature after we have sent it out, by confirming in writing up to two weeks before publication date, but you will still be charged the Featurelink fee. After this time features cannot be cancelled save at the individual discretion of the newspapers.
Changes to the schedule can be made up to four weeks from publication, after this Featurelink assumes no responsibility for the feature appearing correctly on the paper.
Press pack changes can be made after the feature has been sent out and Fetaurelink will use it's best endeavours to ensure papers are aware of the changes, but bears no responsibility if papers use the original material.
Our full Terms and Conditions can be found here
I want to tell my colleagues about your service do you do presentations?
Yes! We can organise a member of the Featurelink team to come and show you a powerpoint presentation and discuss any ideas you may have.
Featurelink sounds great but what’s the cost?
Featurelink charges a handling fee of £3500 per feature, there are concessions for charities/trade bodies and government departments. Our basic press release service costs £950.
