In the last decade, a growing number of small companies have begun to use them as an effecive public relations tool.

Two basic categories of VNR: timely and "evergreen."

A timely VNR takes advantage of a newsworthy event to get across a company's ideas or products to the public. The advantage of a timely VNR is that there's a good chance it will be picked up by stations that may be looking for news filters. The disadvantage of a timely VNR is that it may become obsolete very quickly.

The "evergreen" VNR, on the other hand, is produced to have a longer shelf life; it typically deals with human interest stories that can be used by stations on a slow news day. Recent studies conducted by Nielsen Media Research, however, reveal that "evergreens" were preferred by 25 percent of all news producers, while just under 50 percent preferred timely pieces.

Most commonly, VNRs try to tie a company's new products and/or services to one of the following topics:

· Health tips
· Consumer affairs
· Community services
· Government issues
· New regulations
· Public service messages