Hi guys/girls, Been thinking about writing a press release for a while but its not my area of knowledge. What should a press release include? where should it be submitted? any other tips? thx
I've been considering looking for an angle for a release myself, so I'll be interested to see what sort of responses you get. The one thing I can say is that it really needs to offer something different or something newsworthy. I think too many people send out press releases that are basically just a "look at my site" announcement. Offer the reporter a good reason to read your release. Tie into something newsworthy or make it sound like it's own little targeted article with tips or even a survey.
Press Releases should be written in plain and simple English. For example, if you are launching a video site that is directed at a certain niche an example would be... [[HEADLINE]] NEW VIDEO SITE for Students Proving Popular A New Website for students is becoming so popular that more and more students are educating themselves online rather then go to the library. StudentVidDesign (I just made this up as an example), based in London is the first site dedicated to students. (This opening scene) brings a summary of what the site is about - it uses the WHAT, WHERE, WHEN concept.
To be honest if you are not sure you should outsource the writing of your Press Releases to someone who does them regularly. There are a few people offering this service on here on DP and are very good. I personally pay someone to do it because the time it would take me is not worth what I pay and the quality of the Press Release is very good when done by an expert. Sometimes its better to spend $20 on a professionally written Press Release than attempt one on your own only to have it miss the mark and not as successful.
altho thru, i still would like to know what a press release should consist off, so even if i did outsource i will know if the service i am given is good or not.
If you want a thorough primer, I wrote one here on DP - Press Release Primer (I run a PR firm btw, so I do know what I'm talking about). I also have an e-book on the subject, available from my sig. You can also find several resources I make available in the public relations section of www.BizAmmo.com. And if you decide that you'd like to have a PR professional handle it for you, feel free to get in touch or take a look at my services section of www.jhmattern.com. There are a couple of samples there in the portfolio section, and I have plenty of references. If you decide to outsource, but to someone else, just make sure you're looking at PR professionals, journalists, or possibly copywriters. Content writers offer the service left and right here, but they rarely know the difference between a true release and simply writing an article formatted to look like one. So definitely read up and know what you should be getting. I lay out all of the info you'll need, plus resources, in the primer linked above. Jenn
go to a site like www.prleap.com - and read through a few to get an idea. Then write one yourself... Perhaps get some reviews and corrections by screening it here. As for form. Headline Summary Complete release Followed by an about you - or your site. Remember to get into Google news there are minimum and maximum word counts. So do a little homework, and don't let your pride keep you from screening it here ... might get a way better result. For free.
If you want to look for good ones as examples, don't look at basic sites like PRleap. Look at real newswires (like www.ap.org) or look at the media kit / press room of a few large companies that are in the news regularly.