Whether you have launched a new product, service or just have exciting business news to share, at some point you may need to write a press release in order to promote these developments.
Like Marketing, PR is an essential tool in promoting your business and its key messages. However, unlike most Marketing initiatives PR is usually free and will often only require a good news story and a well written press release.
In order to produce an effective press release we have outlined a few tips to help get you started:
What is a press release?
A press release, otherwise known as a news or media release, is a written document which announces a piece of news to the media. Written in the third person it is designed to encourage and inspire journalists to write about you and your work. The most important thing to remember is that for a press release to be successful it must be newsworthy.
Keep it succinct
Journalists receive thousands of press releases every week and won’t have time to read through every single one of them. The trick to grabbing their attention is to keep the release to a maximum of two pages, and use short and concise sentences. Your language should also be simple and you should avoid using jargon or too many fancy adjectives.
Use a punchy headline
The headline is the first thing the journalist will see and should summarise the story. Try and make it punchy and attention grabbing in order to spark interest. A sub-heading can also be used to offer additional information.
Date
Include a date at the top of the press release so that journalists can see how new and relevant the news story is. You can embargo a press release for a future date so that journalists are aware of the news and can plan ahead to create space, however it will not be released by the journalists until the embargo date.
Imagery
Accompany your press release with imagery supplied as high resolution (minimum 300 dpi) jpegs sized between 0.5 and 2 megabytes. Alternatively, include a line in your press release informing the journalist that images are available.
Contact details
Always include your contact details either at the top of the page or within the boilerplate. E.g.
For press enquiries please contact:
Name, Address, Email, Phone, Mobile
The content
A press release needs to be objective and news-worthy, try to write in a way that isn’t salesy but instead stirs up interest in your readers.
The introductory paragraph should be used to expand on the headline and sum up the story using approximately 100 words. Be concise and stick to the facts, covering all of the – who, what, where, when, why and how questions.
Subsequent paragraphs should expand on what is said in the first paragraph but avoid the urge to pad the content out with useless or repetitive information.
Quotes
Substantiate your press release with an interesting quote from a relevant person, whether it is a happy customer, an expert in the subject matter or a key player in your business, quotes tend to add perspective to a press release.
Boilerplate:
The boilerplate is found at the bottom of the press release and includes background information about the company, URLs and useful supporting information that editors/journalists might be interested in using.
Who to send your press release to:
You should target media who cover news relevant to your subject matter. Include national and regional newspapers as well as websites, blogs and e-magazines. When putting a press list together consider who your target audience are and the media they are likely to use. Do your research about the publications and use directory sites such as www.mediauk.com.
Distribution:
Once you have established your press list you can then contact publications and request specific email addresses for your targeted media.
When you send your email attach the press release and photography to the message as well as pasting the copy into the body of the email.
For a small fee you can use a news distribution site for example www.responsesource.com, www.realwire.com and www.neondrum.com.
Results:
Hopefully by following this method you will gain some media exposure, however even if your press release does not get covered the first time, it will make journalists aware of who you are and what you do and will enable you to start building a relationship.
It is a good idea to start a cuttings book as a record of all the media exposure you have gained. To measure your coverage you can set up alerts with search engines or subscribe to a press clippings agency. Some online PR distribution services also send detailed coverage reports.
Photo by Jeff Kubina – CC
