I've been trying to put together a press release for prweb, this was what I came up with... I have very little experience with marketing so please be gentle Any and all criticisms welcome...
Sorry for the harsh title but I have been an IT journo as well as a marketing director for online publisher. The acid test for releases that I have read or sent is to ask yourself, "So what?" So many releases are just pumped out blurb that have no interest for a journo. Remember the kind of people you might want to pick your release up will be getting literally hundreds of similar releases PER DAY. So only the most interesting get through. Your sites theme seems quite interesting but how much better would be along the lines of "futurology has no future" or "end of world predicted" or the result of a snap survey about what we all have in store.. You have about 3 seconds to make an impression! Hope that helps!
Thanks man, appreciate the feedback - will give it some serious thought! "So what" is definitely a valid question... hmm.
The headline should absolutely grab the reader and make him want to read more. The opening para serves a similar purpose but should lead the reader into the rest of the article. Startling phrases, dynamic words are good. Tired, weak, overused phrases and words are bad. -AD