Press Releases

[sirhobbs]

I want to do some press releases for my offline consulting.

Has anyone done any press releases?

If so I would like to see the press releases so I can get a feel for what has been done.

For ones that have been done, how did they work?

Any advice from what you have learned using press releases?

Thanks

Mike

[Dexx]

Hey Mike, if I was you, I'd just Google stuff like "press release templates" and "easy press release writing"

You'll get the hang of it fast (or hire an outsourcer to do it for you) =P

~Dexx

[jacquic]

Mike, this may help:

Before you start, know why your story is important, and know how your story can be of interest to the readers (and the journalist who’s deciding whether to use the piece).

And know where you want to send it – make sure the receiving organisation will be interested. Try local papers, magazines, radio and TV, and trade magazines. Consider regional, national and international outlets if it’s very newsworthy. Look to online press releases, and don’t forget to email your ‘list’. Your ‘list’ is the list of prospects and clients you have – and you’re hopefully sending them a regular newsletter to remind them of who you are.

(Use the PR sites ones outlined in the forum, and also go to their help pages – eg, http://www.prweb.com/pr/release-example/index.html gives good examples, and http://www.webwire.com/FormatGuidelines.asp helps you with format, and shows you how to “write the perfect press release for journalists”)
Keep to one page (A4) if you can. If you have to go onto a second page, type ‘M/F’ (‘more follows’) at the end of page one, and ‘News Release Continued’ at the top of page two. At the very end of the release write ‘Ends’ or ‘# # #’.

Use the header space to write ‘News Release’ and follow it with the date it can be used (for example, ‘For immediate release’, or ‘For release on January 13’). Follow this with your company name, and your logo if you have one. If you’re sending your release via email, make sure the logo is attached in a common format such as .jpeg or .gif.

Now write an eye-catching headline. Use capital letters for the headline.

Follow this with a sentence that tells the whole story in brief: this is in case they only have room to use a ‘filler’ rather than a full release. Pretend someone is asking the who, what, why, when, how questions, and answer them in this paragraph.

(* Sometimes it’s easier to start writing, and then go back and CUT OUT the first paragraph you wrote – that way you start where the action is.)

Use the next two paragraphs to go into more detail, and make use of facts, figures, and quotes. Avoid jargon, unexplained acronyms, and jokes.

Make sure you include your keywords in the heading and 1-2 times in the body.

If you need to, add more supporting paragraphs, but don’t waffle! Keep looking at it as if you were the person reading the paper or hearing the news item. Would you be interested? Study local and national papers and see how they approach matters.

Once you’ve finished the body copy of the news release, include any additional information under ‘Notes to Editor’. Include your company (and name and department if relevant), contact details, and an invite to your event (if pertinent). Add details about any pictures you’ve attached.

You can repeat contact details in the footer part of your release: in Word, go to the View menu, and click on the Header and Footer option. Whatever you type in there will be automatically repeated on each page unless you format it not to.

When you type your release, stick to a traditional font such as Times New Roman for offline stuff and Arial/Verdana for online and use 1.5 or double spacing for both. Make headings and names bold.

Make your release so if it is cut back to para one only, people still get the message. That is, all the stuff straight away and then details and quotes in the next few paras. Answer who, what, why, when ,where (and how, if necessary).

If you can, study the particular newspaper/magazine/site/whatever before you write and send your news release and look at the style they use. Not sure where to find out relevant publications? Peruse your local newsagent’s shop, and ask at the library for details of local radio and TV stations. If you can’t find a contact name, just ring up and ask – don’t launch into a long story! Keep to the task in hand. PR sites are a bit easier in this respect.

Not many businesses seem to look beyond their noses when getting noticed, so steal a march on them! You can find a directory of all trade magazines and publications in the UK at www.MediaUK.com, and a comprehensive list of existing trade publications is available at www.TradePub.com.

Press releases can deliver traffic for years, so keep your pages relevant.

Some subscription services say if you don’t renew my account, all your releases through them become invisible. Ask!

Google News keeps releases active for about a month, so a 3-4 week update for those keywords is all you need.

Link to web pages rather than PDFs or buy now buttons.

Use Twitter to announce your press release.

Use graphics (and keywords to name them).

Use timely tips as well as events to do news releases on – but still make it sound like a news story.

As with articles, don’t send same release to many sites - vary them a bit.

Get others to cite/link to your release and get them book-marked.

Study others’ news releases – the ones that get cited most often.

[pryphpmysql]

Hey Mike, if I was you, I'd just Google stuff like "press release templates" and "easy press release writing"

You'll get the hang of it fast (or hire an outsourcer to do it for you) =P

~Dexx

I am agree with you because it is time saving way. If this guy search direct on Google, he will get more result than here's results and also it will more relevant.

[echoNM]

How much could one expect to spend on a press release? How often do you send one out?

[DavidCarrington]

You can spend anything from zero to a couple of hundred dollars for a press release, but typically I spend about $20 or so. I would suggest trying several free press release sites before you spend any money on one. What's more important than what you spend is how it gets distributed.

You can send out a press release any time you have something important that you want to convey. That could be as often as several times a day IF you are a big company with lots of news.

Here is a HUGE list of press release and publicity related sites:

http://marketingsleuth.com/#/press-r...ity/4539818757

[tahoecale]

Great post! i have been looking into doing some press releases has anyone got good amount of traffic from it?

[addyj672]

Press release templates are easily available on internet and secondly the press release which i have done are may be not related to your business services. My press releases are much related to advertising and marketing...