Press Release Noob Needs Feedback

inertia · #1 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 07:30 AM

I am ashamed to say that I have never done a press release for a client! But, that is about to change. The company that I've recently started working for produce a lot of off-line press releases for our clients. All of these will now be forwarded to me to send out to the online press. I've read a few tutorials and bits of advice about the best course of action but now i want to get some words of wisdom from the WPW crew...

Does anyone know of any good tutorials or literature which i should read?

Also, has anyone used prweb.com before? How did you find it? Which service did you use?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

matt inertia...

kgun · #2 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 07:44 AM

Global resources for webmarketing, branding and digital ad at AdSchoolworld.com Clik "Links" in the upper right corner at the left of the "Digg" social boomark link.
Page search (CTRL + F) "PressReleases" or scroll down to the same heading.

microtekblue · #3 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 04:40 PM

I would be interested in that link , but cant find it on that site ???

chowell · #4 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 04:40 PM

Use PRWeb's $200+ service and be sure to incorporate anchor text links into the body of the press release.

Utilize all other features that are made available at that contribution level as well.

If you don't have enough time/resources to get it all done, check out our website.

stnpr · #5 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 04:45 PM

Over the past 14 years I have written a number of articles on the topic of PR & media exposure for products & businesses. I'd be happy to share any or all of them with the group.

Below are titles of articles I have written:

* 4th Quarter Business Publicity = 1st Quarter Business Prosperity
* The Increasing Power of Publicity - and how it can benefit your business.
* Will The Media Be Interested In My Product/Business?
* Generating Publicity: Knowing Your "Media Market" Is Critical
* I Can't Afford A Publicity Campaign -- Can I?
* Mastering The Media: What To Do When The Media Comes Calling
* Product Publicity or Business Publicity?
* Priming For A Publicity Campaign
* PubliCity Outside Your City: Outsourcing For Effective, Affordable Public Relations
* Implementing A Successful Publicity Campaign
* P.R. = Perfect Resource
* Publicity Campaigns: How Many Hours -- How Many Months?
* Turning Your Media Pitch Into A Media Hit

To request a copy of one of the above articles simply email: todd@spreadthenewspr.com and identify the article(s) you'd like to see.

Regarding online PR services, in my professional opinion, press release distribution services are OK for publicly traded companies launching financial news, but to get feature coverage in the media market the best course of action is direct media pitching. We've in fact used PRWeb and others in the past, and it is a good way to get your release online, but it typically doesn't result in many media placements.

My two cents....others my disagree.

Hope this helps.

Todd Brabender
Spread The News PR, Inc.
Generating media exposure for
innovative products, services and experts.
785.842.8909
todd@spreadthenewspr.com
Welcome to Spread The News PR
Check out Spread The News PR's recent front-page feature in the Wall Street Journal:
Are Your Clients Happy Now, Mr. Brabender? - WSJ.com

chrisJumbo · #6 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 04:53 PM

We used PRWeb a couple of times before they raised their prices a couple of years ago. We did seen an influx of traffic and probably a little link juice, but it didn't go beyond that.

We contacted local newspapers and ran a PR in 3 -4 papers. We received a few calls from those.

chowell · #7 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stnpr

Over the past 14 years I have written a number of articles on the topic of PR & media exposure for products & businesses. I'd be happy to share any or all of them with the group.

Below are titles of articles I have written:

* 4th Quarter Business Publicity = 1st Quarter Business Prosperity
* The Increasing Power of Publicity - and how it can benefit your business.
* Will The Media Be Interested In My Product/Business?
* Generating Publicity: Knowing Your "Media Market" Is Critical
* I Can't Afford A Publicity Campaign -- Can I?
* Mastering The Media: What To Do When The Media Comes Calling
* Product Publicity or Business Publicity?
* Priming For A Publicity Campaign
* PubliCity Outside Your City: Outsourcing For Effective, Affordable Public Relations
* Implementing A Successful Publicity Campaign
* P.R. = Perfect Resource
* Publicity Campaigns: How Many Hours -- How Many Months?
* Turning Your Media Pitch Into A Media Hit

These are certainly some great resources. Thanks for sharing Chris.

Based on your response, I think it's clear that your primary purpose with a press release is building PR for the client via the media. This is certainly the most important component of a press release, but if you're not submitting it via the online channels as well, you're really wasting opportunities IMHO.

Optimally, you'd want the best of both worlds... highest media coverage, maximum online distribution.

yougottakickalittle · #8 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inertia

I am ashamed to say that I have never done a press release for a client! But, that is about to change. The company that I've recently started working for produce a lot of off-line press releases for our clients. All of these will now be forwarded to me to send out to the online press. I've read a few tutorials and bits of advice about the best course of action but now i want to get some words of wisdom from the WPW crew...

Does anyone know of any good tutorials or literature which i should read?

Also, has anyone used prweb.com before? How did you find it? Which service did you use?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

matt inertia...

If you don't have a background in communications or journalism, crafting a press release is not an easy endeavor. I do it for a living and get paid nicely, but I went to college for four years for it. It makes doing my job a lot easier to have a background in media, communications and journalism.

That being said, there are some basics that could help you.

One: Identify you message. What are you trying to say to your audience? Once you've identified your message, stick to it and don't meander off on other tangents in the press release that could take the impact away from your release's primary message.

Two: Who is your audience? Determine who you want to read your press release. Are you trying to get coverage from The New York Times or from internet bloggers? Do you want tv and radio coverage? Small market? Big market? Are you trying to reach customers too? Knowing your audience is important and dictates the style of your writing and where you will issue the press release.

Three: The inverted pyramid. Imagine a pyramid standing on its point. The biggest part is up in the air and it gets smaller as you move toward the ground. Your press release should generally follow this style. The biggest, most important part of your message comes first because that's what people read first. The less important stuff...company profile, history, etc. goes toward the bottom.

Four: Keep it short and to the point. If your press release is longer than one page typed in Microsoft Word format, single space, it's probably too long and people won't read it fully. Keep it to about eight paragraphs of one or two (maybe three) sentences per graph. This will probably be more than enough info for your release.

Five: Don't just tell everyone how wonderful your client is or how they're the tops in their industry. Talk about the new product, service, feature, event, etc. that you are promoting. If you want to include a quote from the CEO saying "We're pleased to be selected for this important project. Our (product/service) is well-known and second to none." that's fine. Include it. But don't gush on and on about it. Stick to the facts and your release will be more effective.

Six: Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Comb over it several times and fix every typo and grammar mistakes. Then have someone else in your company review it. And then the client. And then review it again. Make sure it's perfect. There's nothing worse than reading a company's press release and finding factual or grammatical errors. It's embarassing and you can bet customers will notice.

Hopefully that's helpful. If you're not familiar with the writing style involved in press releases and marketing literature, I'd suggest farming the work out to a professional. Just like web design is something anyone can do at an amateur level, only the pros can make it really look professional. Good luck with your writing.

datetopia · #9 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 05:30 PM

Yep, hire somebody if you're a noob about this - at least for the first one. Do it yourself only if you have exactly what you need to post (like a list of specs or something like that) and this only requires copy & paste.

inertia · #10 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 07:49 PM

The press releases are handed to me by our marketing manager so that's not a problem. I suppose they will need a little doctoring for seo purposes but they're good. Pr web was my first thought but the words of approval from you guys are making me go that way a lot more. Is the top package worth going for or should is the seo good? Cheers for the input.

m-chapman · #11 (**permalink**) 07-25-2008, 03:41 AM

Not bad eh, guide to decent press release in three lines (from my journalistic background):

Have the 'WHAT' in the intro, the 'WHY' at the end. WHO, WHICH, WHERE etc in the middle
Use a few bullet points + provide contact info at the end
Aim to get your H1 containing a good keyphrase

Fuse Search Engine Optimisation

fwd · #12 (**permalink**) 07-25-2008, 07:25 AM

Hello,

I notice that you are based in the UK. I would recommend using either SourceWire (SourceWire | The independent resource for hi-tech and business journalists) for EU high tech or ResponseSource (Response Source :: www.responsesource.com) for more general business PR. These are cheaper than PRWeb (which we used to use) and offer the same facilities for backlinking as PRWeb. You also have a greater chance of some actual coverage, as the mailing lists target journos based, for the most part, in the UK.

Best of luck

Emma

Terry Van Horne · #13 (**permalink**) 07-25-2008, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stnpr

Regarding online PR services, in my professional opinion, press release distribution services are OK for publicly traded companies launching financial news, but to get feature coverage in the media market the best course of action is direct media pitching.

The problem is unless you are releasing newsworthy releases then the media you are proposing to target are likely out of the reach of most companies. Knowing what to target where is the key. The "hook" for the release should, IMO, dictate where you spend and seek to influence decision makers. No hook and you get $%^& on a stick for your effort. Wide distribution in all is best and no one does all media equally well unless they do all media badly. With PR web and online you at least are guaranteed you'll get some exposure and at the very least you'll increase visibility and possibly trust with SE's. Eric ward's service URLwire is the best of both worlds and one of the few who can generate real media buzz offline with an online release.

inertia · #14 (**permalink**) 07-28-2008, 04:44 AM

Cheers for the tip. Eric Ward's service looks very good! A bit more expense than PRWeb though. Anybody had experience of working with both?

tuksdrr · #15 (**permalink**) 08-20-2008, 05:51 PM

Writing an effective press release is pretty similar to writing a good article. You need to make it interesting & informative without it being a sales pitch. Similar to article writing, the two main parts to get right are the title and the actual body:

Tips On Writing The Press Release Title:

A good title is important because it (a) is food for good SEO ranking and (b) will catch the attention of a targeted viewer right away. Make sure you put in your most important keywords within the title.

Tips On Writing The Press Release Body:

Here, you should address the following:

- What makes the product/service special
- What problems does it solve
- Include a link to your site
- Why the reader should click on to your site

Here are some more general tips on writing a good press release:

1. Make sure there are no grammer errors.
2. Make sure the content of the press release is very accurate - and not misleading.
3. Make sure your release does not read like an ad.
4. DONT include your primary email within the release. They go very public so you don't want every spammer online to get access to your treasured email.

Hope this helps, you can get hold of my Press For Profits guide free via my sig for a more detailed guide on how to write & where to submit press releases to.
__________________

Free - Press For Profits Guidbook | Lifetime Membership To Internet Business Entrepreneur (Free)

braver55b · #16 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 09:30 PM

There are a lot of press release site free and paid that you can use, which can get you indexed fast in google. which you can find by using google.

A good paid one would be webwire at only $20

m-chapman · #17 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008, 04:58 AM

Does anyone have a handy list of the free press release / news release sites that can be used? Can someone highlight those which seem particularly good at the job, please. And if Google seems to prefer these sites, compared to the other search engines?

Thanking you...

mark.

tuksdrr · #18 (**permalink**) 09-17-2008, 05:59 PM

tuksdrr · #19 (**permalink**) 09-17-2008, 06:01 PM

Here you go...
Press Releases Press Release Distribution & Free Press Release Submit @ 1888 PressRelease.com Press Release Service - 24-7PressRelease.com Free Press-Press Release submission and distribution writing tools and samples Public relations, press release distribution, investor relations, SEC filing | Business Wire http://www.click2newsites.com Free press release distribution - free press release services with ClickPress EcommWire Is Your Free Press Release Distribution Center http://www.emediawire.com This Web site coming soon Express Press Release Distribution (Free) Free News Release Distribution Service