Writing Amazing Press Releases
In all industries, press releases are an amazing way to get the word out about your brand and your offerings. If you are thinking that you don’t need to bother with press releases, you are ignoring a tool that may really help your business. It is time to learn to write really amazing, effective press releases for your business.
Keeping up with the Joneses
The fact is that more and more business people are recognizing the power of press releases lately. Although the communication climate has changed a great deal over time, the fact remains that it is still important to retain a close relationship with the members of the press. That will always be true; however, it is even more important for a person who has just launched the business.
Tweet ThisConnect with the most appropriate people and places
Of course, it goes without saying that the press releases that you write must be well written and completely error free. However, to take it to the next step, your strategy about where to send your press releases is just as important as how well you write them. If you don’t send your press releases to people and places where they will really make an impact, they will not be worth very much at all. So now, to your approach about who to choose as your press release recipients.
Using an effective approach
When it comes to identifying your recipients, there are several steps that you should follow (in a certain order) to get the most out of your press releases. Before you do anything else, you need to consider your target audience and their needs so that you choose the best media outlets. Once you have determined your audience’s wants and needs, you should delve more deeply into the features that those particular media outlets have. Your research will be well worth your time and the effort that you put into it will yield results. You will be able to tell fairly quickly if the media outlet offers what you need for your target audience.
It is important to bear in mind that you will need to be discriminating about the content of your press release. You need to be certain that it is newsworthy. If that doesn’t happen to be the case, not only will your press release not be distributed by that particular media outlet but it will probably not be read either. If that is the case, you will have wasted your time and energy on writing it, choosing the media outlets to which to send it, and composing the Email to that particular person in charge at the media outlet. What a shame that would be!
As you are looking through the features of that particular media outlet, you should try to identify the most appropriate person to contact for each section of the media outlet. You will want to identify the editorial liaison (or contact) in each case. It is probably not a good idea to shoot for the top editorial person because that person may not have the time to communicate with you. It is important to reach out to the designated person because that person is likely to respond to you because it is his or her job to do so. You may really want to try the personal touch by picking up the phone as opposed to starting with an Email. It is very possible that you may have success with that approach. It is far more personal than merely sending an Email.
It is time to write your press release
After you have identified your target audience, it is time to actually write your press release. It is extremely important that your content is error-free. The last thing that the person at the media outlet wants or needs is to have to correct your mistakes. Most likely, that person doesn’t have the time or the inclination to do so. If you want to make a good impression, your content should be perfect, even if that means that you have to go over it 10 times.
Your writing approach will most likely work best if you write it as though you are writing a news article. Make sure to put the most interesting, most relevant parts of your press release toward to beginning so that they will be read. The sentences, in the beginning, should provide a clear message about what you are trying to say. Your press release should not offer any opinions. Just like any good news article, it should be objective. Of course, the language that you choose should be compelling and magnetic but it must also be fact driven. Whatever information you present in the press release, make sure that you can back it up with the facts.
The next step
Once you have gotten your thoughts down on paper, the next thing that you should do is to massage the language. There is nothing worse than dry, boring language. Nobody wants to read that. You should feel free to use some colorful, exciting language and make sure that you interject the interesting parts with the more sedate parts (within reason, of course). It is important to use at least one quote in your press release. The quotes should be from other people in your business (not you, of course). Using quotes is very important because it adds the human element to your content. Another important concept is to compare your products and/or services to your competitors products and/or services. That gives you an open-door opportunity to explain clearly and precisely why your products and/or services are better than anyone else’s.
Don’t be shy about stirring the pot a little
Once you have submitted your press release to the media outlet, you have no choice but to wait for a response (or some result to occur). Unfortunately, that renders you powerless. However, there is absolutely no reason why you can send a little reminder to the person at the media outlet. That can either be in the form of an Email or a phone call. If you are in a position of having to remind the person, it may not necessarily mean that they are not interested in what you have to say. It may just be that they are very busy and they may actually be grateful for the reminder.
Syndicate
Once you are at the point where the decision was made to publish your press release, you have a responsibility to syndicate that press release to everyone you know online. Social media allows you to gain wide exposure very quickly and you need to take full advantage of that. The more, the better in this case. You can contact several different media outlets and other directories as well as all of the social media channels that you can think of .
Conclusion
Press releases are extremely effective for your business but you must also understand that patience is necessary on your part. Make sure that your press release is saying something that other people would want to read and that it is newsworthy. It should also state who the important players are, what is new and innovative, why the press release is important enough for them to read, where they can obtain what you are offering, when it will be available, and why the new product and/or service is in existence. Part of it is definitely a waiting game; however, with that said, writing amazing press releases will take you a long way toward achieving tremendous professional success.
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