Hiring someone to write a professional press release?

Been doing a bunch of research on whether a press release is worth it or not and basically depending on your topic or business it is well worth it.

So this leads to how do one write a professional press release? Should I hire someone to write one or do it myself? How much should I pay?

I was thinking of hiring a college journalist at my college to write one up. Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

Press releases are one of those things were experience is everything and knowledge of what captures the attention of news editors is paramount. Get it done by a professional.

If you are using PRWeb they have three options Edit & Polish, Rewrite and Write. Go for the write at $299 if you want to maximise your ROI.

- Michael

 

I was quite successful with writing them myself. Most of them received an editorial score of 4 (after some practice) and were featured on several big websites of the genre (bringing good traffic).

I'm more aiming for quantity than quality with my press releases however...

 

I write press releases for myself and for my customers. There are several good tutorials out there on how to do this. Really, it comes down to:

- Follow the PR format - no exceptions!!!
- Write something "newsworthy" not sales-based.
- Write with the reader in mind (target audience).
- Get all the important info at the top.
- Edit. Edit. Edit.
- Check your spelling and grammer. Avoid passive sentences.
- Read it out loud before submitting to make sure everything makes sense and to check the "flow".
- Edit. Edit. Edit.
- Keep it around 500 words.
- Remember the news agencies are doing *you* a favor and there are plenty of other stories they could run so be appreciative.
- Be available in case of questions.
- Track results (I use Google Alerts to help me with this).
- Don't rely on just one service. If you are writing about "widgets" be sure to submit your PR to "Widgets Digest", "Widgets Online", and any other "Widgets" periodicles directly. They are more likely to pick up the story anyway, are closer to your target market, and are often small enough niches big PR companies might not include them in their DB.
- Edit. Edit. Edit.

No problem!

 

This is a good writeup rmccarley ... any suggested links to read more about this... good thread BTW.

 

Any recommended services to have one prepared? I have a series of articles dealing with author interviews so not much would change from release-to-release except for names & book titles, etc. but it's that initial boiler plate that I'd be interested in having a pro' do.

 

$79 for high quality press releases if you guys are interested.

http://www.affordable-content.com

 

Is this your site? If not, do you have any experience with them?

 

It is my site.

 

As an entreprenuer I am as tight fisted as they come
(ok as a husband I am not much looser), but after seeing
what a professional PR firm does, I would only hesitate for
an instant (they day after I make payroll) before using a
professional if I needed a press release. And I consider
myself to be a professional writer (wrote 2 books, edited
and designed 1 book, and designed another)

 

I did a report on PR a few years ago and learned a lot. I've lost most of my sources but a couple were:

http://www.press-release-writing.com/ <- It's the name of the site, 'nuff said!
http://www.debratraverso.com/ <- Used to have some PR stuff up but that was a long time ago. Her writing tips and books are great, especially Outsmarting Goliath

And I can write press releases as well as get them out. I'm not sure what the rules are for soliciting work here so if you're interested PM me or contact me through my site.

 

I pay a friend for low $XX to write them for me!