Sometimes, to put your small business out there, you need to include the media. And if you want media presence, your skill in writing press release should be phenomenal.
Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are how long should your press release be? What content should you include? Here are a few tips that will get your press release up to par.
Make sure your story is newsworthy
Journalists love stories that have news value. Consider the following:
- New – is the information you are about to announce recent or new? New information gets people interested in what you want to say. If it is a developing story or a campaign ensure that you say so, but all in all, we mostly do press releases to introduce some new information about a company or a product.
- Bizarre -is there anything unusual and unexpected about the story.
- Human interest- will that story be of interest to anyone? Who cares? The audience wants to hear about something that will be of interest to them, that affects them and that benefits them.
Write an eye catchy headline
Headlines are the ones that will grab the attention of the journalists. Journalists get hundreds of emails a day from potential press releases and if yours doesn’t immediately catch their attention in the subject line, it might be bypassed. If your articles are about the top 40 under 40 women launch, say that. Do not put unnecessary words.
Be concise
The appropriate length for a press release is usually about 350-400 words, bout there to four paragraphs and a quote. A longer post means that you have put some unnecessary stuff that doesn’t add any value to your story.
Do not include background information about your business in the lead paragraph. Any additional information can be included in the notes to editor’s section. One other note to remember is that it is easy to consume information in bullet points if it is in figures or statistics.
Use quotes to provide insights
Ensure that you quote someone in your press release, preferably someone in authority. They make credible sources. Journalists love something that they can quote word for word, to provide both opinion and insight. Also, remember not to put any difficult language or jargon. The information being released is going to be disseminated to a wide variety of audiences.
Include a photo
Always include a good photograph that the journalists can use. It must be of good quality and tell the story without someone having to go to great lengths to interpret it.
People think that writing a press release is simple, but that could not be far from the truth. It takes practice, practice and more practice for one to become a pro. But all hope is not lost. As they say, anyone who is where he is started where he was.