Sending press releases to media is considered an important marketing method commonly employed by many businesses and internet firms very often. A very well crafted press release if picked up by a journalist can bring enormous free publicity to you through broadcast media and other outlets. Often many people have been invited to TV shows and radio interviews. Press releases are not like sales letters promoting products. It should only be written keeping news readers and general public in mind. • Do not write press release titles in CAPITAL LETTERS. It just irritates news readers and many moderators wouldnt approve such releases. Do you know that writing in CAPS considered as SHOUTING • Get a catchy title and it should grab attention to readers immediately. It should be short and one line only • It is very important to publish your contact address and phone so that any journalist could get in touch with you. With the contact info, your press release will lose credibility and will be rejected by many PR distribution websites. For more information: visit this link
Very good points. I have a bunch of free info about how to write press releases on my website, www.thepressreleasesite.com, as well as a list of free press release distribution sites. I was a newspaper reporter for 17 years at daily and weekly newspapers, so I am extremely familiar with writing press releases. Here's the best way to learn how to write a good press release: go to PRWeb or Webwire and read through a bunch of them. Look at the language that they use, how the information is organized, what they say in the headlines, etc. And when you are getting ready to write your press release, make sure that you have PRWeb or Webwire up on the screen in front of you, so you can keep glancing at the press releases for reference.
Actually, PRWeb and Webwire are probably two of the worst places to look for decent press release examples. They're likely the two most frequented sites of press release spammers, and truly "good" releases are few and far between there. Instead, if you must look at samples, visit the larger wire services like PRnewswire, or better yet look at the releases put out by large players in your niche or industry.
Writing a press release should be pretty straightforward. You create a good lead and then highlight the lead with nothing but pure facts about your site.
Just wanted to add that you need be objective on your press releases eventhou you're doing marketing in deeper meaning. If the press release looks too much like a marketing piece I would say you've lost that game.
I know what you mean - but it depends on what your purpose is. If your goal is to get picked up by actual media, I can tell you, as a long time reporter, that odds are very very slim that putting your press release on ANY press release distribution site will accomplish that goal. Reporters are way too busy most of the time to go out looking for online press releases to turn into stories. So when I write press releases for clients and send them to the free press release distribution sites, or PRWeb and Webwire, their goal is to get a quick burst of traffic, backlinks, online visibility...they're not doing it thinking that they will get picked up by newspapers and TV stations. They're marketers looking for additional exposure; it's sort of like a different form of article marketing. I am very upfront with clients that if you want to actually get picked up by mainstream media, you need to actually contact editors at the media outlet that you are interested in, find out who to submit it to at that outlet, send it to that person, follow up with a phone call...AND there must be a reason why that media outlet would care. When I was a reporter at small town local papers, for instance, I would only care about a new book release if the author was from our town.
Running a PR firm for years and working as a writer and editor for large online outlets, I haven't seen it that way. Those sites can actually be rather effective in getting coverage, especially from major online media (but only if done right / well, which most on PRweb and Webwire aren't). I absolutely agree that they should be manually distributing in addition to any type of distribution site, but I'd never suggest they turn to releases on those sites as examples in learning how to write them well (since you specifically mentioned writing "good" press releases). The same fundamentals that bring in media coverage have, for years, proven to also lead to more traffic, links, and everything else webmasters are generally looking for when using them.
Thank you for the helpful information as I am learning how to write Press Releases and I desire to learn how to write them properly.
I'm writing my first press release for littleprayerbox.com for christian/faith based media and I don't know if I should focus on the developers story, which is dramatic, or the features of the site. It seems to me media would find more to work with in the back-story and not the facts, or actually a little of both I guess. That brings up another question... how long should they be? I've seen different estimates from different blogs.
Press releases should be predominantly fact-based. Giving something like the developer's back story should be pitched more as a feature - not a news release (it, on its own, isn't news). Only if you A) have something newsworthy to say - more than just something like "I launched a new site," B) have a well-written release, and C) have it distributed to the appropriate people.