All press release formats are basically the same, however, how the content is presented should stand out and make your company look proficient and manageably attractive to any journalists that are looking for stories to write.
Eight Tips for Writing a Great Press Release
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- A good press release has a great headline. Ensure that the headline of the press release is engaging, as it will draw the attention of a journalist seeking a good story.
- Make certain that you get right to the point of the press release in the first paragraph. You have to assume that because journalists are very busy, they may only pay attention to the first paragraph of what they read, skimming over the rest. If you want to ensure you are getting your message out there, let it be known in the first paragraph.
- Make sure if you are delivering statistics about a product or announcing something else that has to do with numbers, you deliver ‘hard’ numbers that will support the importance of the press release. The more you quantify your argument, the more compelling is the press release.
- When writing a press release, if you want it taken seriously, make sure you proofread it to a perfection. You do not want any grammatical errors that can dissuade a reporter from taking you or your press release seriously.
- Try to include a quote from someone from within the company to add a human element to the press release.
- Don’t forget to include contact information. Including the email/telephone number of someone who is a point of contact for the company is of utmost importance.
- Limit the press release to one page if possible, no more than two pages. Short and to the point is always best with a press release.
- Always provide access to more information in the press release. Even though you are making it one (possibly two) pages in length, ensure to include a website for the company in order that the reader can learn more information about your company. Make sure to make it easy for them to get to your website, this will keep their interest piqued.
Making The Most Of A Press Release
Press releases are a good form of communication that are useful to the media, analysts, and financial reporters. However, you must be careful how many people you send a press release to. If you send a press release out to everyone, the main objective of the press release decreases and the likelihood that a reporter will hold an interest in your story also decreases.
Press releases can be used to reach a much bigger audience than ever before. PR agencies can also use the press releases to track the effectiveness it has had not only by its reach but also by the revenues the press release has driven.
You can make the most of press releases by ensuring that the title is newsworthy. Is it going to grab the attention of a reporter to want to take it to his or her editor to do a follow-up article about your dealership? You need to make sure it is and that it will generate more news about your business.
If you want to be able to take full advantage of press releases, be sure you are putting out press releases that are worthy of journalists picking up the information and bringing it to their editor to re-publish it. Most of the businesses that write press releases are not in the business of actually taking advantage of a press release, they actually write the release and pay a website to pick up the release, and then they report to you, the business owner that so many ‘websites’ picked up their press release. Your press release has only created the ‘optic of news’ in this manner. No real news is being generated about your company or its products.
The press release is a promotional method that has (almost) survived the 2.0 revolution of the web. The only thing that has really changed is the main focus of the press release. What used to be a press releases focus was to get the links to news sites which wanted to re-publish content that was basically the same; we are now focused on writing press releases to make the news go viral.
Some Good ‘Newsworthy’ Topics for the Best Press Releases
- A new car being released on the showroom floor
- A new and serious move that the company is taking that is certain to create some buzz in the media.
- A survey or some new research being done
- Some sort of contest or awards announced
- A new book published or new product released
Just like web content pages, the title is everything. It is critical that your press release title isn’t too long, or the reader will not be able to read it in one quick glance and skim right by it. Nor should it be too short, or you may leave out critical points to what the press release is actually about.
The final critical error people can make when writing a press release is to try and ‘stuff it full of links’. If you want your press release to go viral, minimize the links you place within it.
Using Social Media To Make The Most Of PR Strategies
The first rule of PR is to ‘promise less, deliver more’ when using social media as a method of PR, ensure that you are brief and to the point. Don’t bore your audience. You can’t just post an entire press release on the social media site, no one is going to give it the time of day, let alone read it. Instead, you need to tailor it down to the specifics of the site. Such as Twitter, you need to cut you “big announcement” down to about 107 characters which aren’t that many words and you have to save 23 of those characters for your link. You can find an image relating to your announcement to post on Pinterest or Instagram. For Facebook or Tumblr, you can re-write the press release minus any numbers, jargons, and other meaningless phrases, just write it as though you were telling a friend about something new and exciting. As you can see, the key to PR on social media is short, very short, and to the point. People who go on social media sites don’t have the time to read lengthy articles or search web pages to get the information they are looking for.
Resources: Entrepreneur, SearchEngineJournal, Forbes
