Press Release Ponderance

[wenwilder]

Has anyone written a Press Release before? If so can I pick your brain, my brain was fried a week ago attempting to write one and now it looks like chicken scratch to me.

[Maureen]

This site helped me on more than 1 occasion - may work for you too..

http://www.prweb.com/

There's a link on the left - Press Release Tips and Template

Best wishes,
Maureen

[wenwilder]

Maureen

Thank you for the information.
Prweb has helped me out alot as well. It's the actually writing that my brain goes dead on.

[kjohnson5576]

What kind of help do you need? I put mine in an interview type style. I need to do another one, but have been putting it off. If you need help, let me know. my email is kjohnson5576@sbcglobal.net, send me what you have, and tell me what you want and I'll attempt it.

Kent

[wenwilder]

I need a whole brain transplant. What I'm having the hardest time with is keeping it to 500 words. I can hit 1000 but I can not keep it to 500 or under. Is it a bad thing to go over 500 words?

[kjohnson5576]

I think the biggest problem with writing virtually anything is that when the author reviews it, except for glaring mistakes, they think everything is valuable. A hint. Start with an outline of the main points that you want to make, then rank them by priority. Only hit the top 2 or 3 in the press release. Who says you can't wait a week and issue another press release with further information?

Here is another. Instead of writing your points in clear sentences, use and introductory sentence then list your high points in a bullet list of 3 to 4 word statements.

Hope this helps. If you need a surgen to parse, send it over, but tell me the main points.

Kent

[wenwilder]

Will that work with a local newspaper running the article though?

[kjohnson5576]

You got me there. I have no idea if it will work with a newspaper.

Kent

[Willers]

Why not ask what the newspaper wants? If you have a specific paper that has already said they want your press release, ask if they want 500 or 1000 words or any other specs.

If you don't have a specific paper or media outlet that wants to use your press release, keep it to 500 words and make sure to include your contact information if they want something longer.

[kplatt]

I have never kept my releases to any specific word count. Usually, they are one page and include quotes as well as information on the companies involved or mentioned in the release.

When submitting the release on-line, I have had to have a summary or abstract that was kept to 500 characters. Here I usually just re-word the first sentence or two of the release.

Additionally, I've done some research of both online and print publications and put information in a spreadsheet that includes what kind of format the submission must be made (text, pdf, word) and focuses for upcoming issues. Many on-line publications will allow you to link to the press release which sends people to your site and gives you site traffic. (Gotta love those.)

Guerrilla Publicity by Levinson was also very helpful to me in seeing example releases, formatting etc.

[wenwilder]

My first attempt at the press release was a total flop! I loved it! I got some great feedback and learned a few things and to me that's better than the press release actually being released.

I'm still researching and re-thinking but I can't wait to check out the book you suggested: Guerrilla Publicity by Levinson. It sounds like a great read!

Thank you for the input!

[CLK Group]

Two additional press release sites which provide pointers on PR writing are:

http://www.xpresspress.com/

and

http://www.send2press.com/

[sherwin101]

i totally dig wen's woes... where does one exactly start in writing a press release? can you spin this so you can come up with one even though you don't have anything new to offer?

[CLK Group]

Keep in mind that a press release is to announce something that may be of interest to a sector of the public.

If you have a product or service that you feel is 'newsworthy', then write your information in such a way as to intrigue the journalist who will be receiving it. Your release will need to make it past several news editors first.

By visiting the three PR sites you'll be able to gather a lot of good PR writing information. Also take the time to read some of the releases that have been archived on the sites. If you feel you cannot produce your own copy, they do offer PR writing services.

[wenwilder]

Great links, thanks! I'm glad I started this thread there's a lot of great idea's and suggestions, it's very much appreciated!

I'm beginning to think that I'm actually making it harder than it is. Writing is what I do best, but in this case I am beyond boggled. The moment my mind thinks 'press release' it goes into hiding and doesn't come out until it hears chocolate.

I think there's a lot of interesting facts about my business and what I do, I know I enjoy it and I truly enjoy the 'huh?' look on people's faces when I explain it quickly.

But how do you decide what would be of interest to the public sector? I'm fighting the farming community mind set. If it doesn't have to do with cows, corn, and cowboys it doesn't generally make it into the local paper - that's my opinion but if you go to www.starherald.com you'll see that it's closer to the truth than the paper would probably admit too.

I've tried outlining what it is I want to say, I've also tried following a couple of other formats and they've gotten me no where. Is it possible to think yourself crazy? I think that's what I'm attempting to do. Maybe I just need to write it and not think, and then go back and edit...?

[CLK Group]

Hi Wen,
I visited your website and see that your service has global application. Why limit yourself to your own geographical location? Your target market is the millions of businesses that have websites, right?

Your press release will be sent out nationally and internationally to those journalists, editors, covering 'Business' topics. If your local paper does not pick up the story - so what? :^)

As I posted before "By visiting the three PR sites you'll be able to gather a lot of good PR writing information. Also take the time to read some of the releases that have been archived on the sites. If you feel you cannot produce your own copy, they do offer PR writing services."

I studied the pointers provided, read many of the archived press releases, and then put my own together. The only thing my service suggested I change was the topic header which appears in the subject section of the email. Here's what my release looks like: http://www.xpresspress.com/news/clkgroup_062503.html

[wenwilder]

Hi Wen,
I visited your website and see that your service has global application. Why limit yourself to your own geographical location? Your target market is the millions of businesses that have websites, right?

Your press release will be sent out nationally and internationally to those journalists, editors, covering 'Business' topics. If your local paper does not pick up the story - so what? :^)


My services do have global application, but the way I look at it is if I can get the local paper to run it then I can get other papers to run it. If I can accomplish this goal, then I can move on and make bigger and better ones. :)

I read your press release and thought it was very good, I hope mine turns out half as good. Thanks for the pointers and ideas. I think it's about time I dive in and try my hand at it again and see what happens.

[matauri]

Wen...wasn't sure if you had succeeded in your press release yet, but thought I would hand out a little of my expertise.

1. Think global, act local.
Communities such as the one your media covers like to know that your arms stretch wide, but, that your seat is in their community. It always impresses locals to think that one of their own can break in internationally.
2. Sow the seeds.
Judging by the John Deer ad, it targets a lot of farmers. If its anything like here, farmers are the cornerstone of the communities. Whether they have money or not, they are only really interested in one thing, can you benefit them.
3. Show by example
Give a short excerpt of what you can do for say a local business. It will prob involved doing a little freebie work, but local businesses like to see what you can do for one of their own.
4. Be personal
Communities like the personal touch. You have the ability for humour, add a little. Let them know that Wen is a person in their community.

As far as keeping it down to 500 words...
This can be hard at times with so much you want to be able to say. I used to pull a paragraph, then strip it, keeping only relevent info. Then I would do the same for all the other paragraphs. I would then get all the stripped paragraphs & put them together. Do a word count, strip it further if necessary. Then come back & format it into paragraphs & punctuation. Often trying to cut down a word count while it is still in paragraph form can be hard. Once you have the stripped version and just one paragraph of text, it is easier.

Hope this helps :-)


Cindy

[BracesLady]

I agree about PR WEB -- it is an excellent resource.

I used to write press releases and do corporate communications, so it wasn't hard for me to do that for my own business.

But I found that I was so busy running my business, I didn't have time to research the proper names and addresses of the magazine or newspaper editors I wanted to reach. Reaching the right person is a critical part of the game.

The local papers were easy -- I got most of that online from their websites. Some of them wanted me to email the press release to them; some of them wanted it faxed. Always ask about the format they prefer, and include a brief cover letter or cover email with the press release attached. Also, if you're emailing the release, ask whether they'd prefer to have it in a word processing format (such as MS WORD).

To reach the national media, I hired a PR person who does some work on her own time at a cut rate. For less than $100, she provided me with a list of national publications and current names/addresses.

Regarding "what to say" in your press release, it might be helpful to have a few different versions for each type of publication. Think about who you are sending it to -- what is their focus? Why would their readers be interested in your product or service -- what is the "benefit", or the "hook"? That "hook" should be in the first paragraph of your press release. Get their attention, just like a headline in a newspaper.

Always include your address and phone number, so editors can reach you. If you have a product, include photos of it, or a URL to an online "press room" which has high-quality photos they can download. Local papers may want to come to your business and take their own pictures -- that's what happened with me.

I've had the good fortune of getting my business featured in 3 local papers this year. I'm working on the national media, but it's difficult to get their attention. My local "hook" was "former tech writer scraps high-tech to start orthodontic business." Here in Silicon Valley, the papers were looking for stories about people who left high-tech to do something else.

For the national media, I took a different tack, writing about the benefit of my product and the fact that a "stay-at-home mom" created it.

So you see, you have to be creative and think about who is reading your press release and why your product or service is important to their readers.

I hope this helps a bit. Hang in there! And, if you're not comfortable with your writing skills, please have a professional writer or PR person look over your press release before you send it out. It's worse to send a poorly written release than none at all.

Oh, and regarding word count -- my rule is just "keep it to one page."

Regards