I received an interesting press release last night: “FIRST AMERICAN MUSLIM TV CHANNEL ANNOUNCED BY BRIDGES NETWORK. CHANNEL EXPECTED TO DEBUT SUMMER 2004,” blared the headline.
Life After Press Release Distribution?
A few weeks ago I was participating on an on-line message board. One of the members was a new business owner who was very excited about sending out her company’s first press release. The question she posted to the group was important, but also a common one echoed by so many small-business owners charged with handling media coverage in-house for the first time: “Now that I’ve distributed my press release, what do I do next?
SCO Openserver release 5.0.7
Disclaimer
There is a lot to like in the 5.0.7 release of SCO Openserver. Support for IDE CD-RW and DVD-RAM (you need other tools to actually write to this media, but the important kernel support is built in), more USB devices (though not printers or modems), P4, Xeon, and AMD Athlon processors, UDMA 100 and 133 hard drives, PCI serial and parallel cards, LS-120 and LS-240 IDE drives (see “man Sflp”, not “sflp” as the documentation suggests) , several Gigabit network cards, and more PCMCIA support.
The Netscape server is gone, replaced by Apache, OpenSSH is built in, sendmail is at 8.11 (which of course will need immediate updating), and you now have a choice of Mozilla or Netscape for GUI browsers and Lynx is included for character mode.
A News Release is Not an Ad
You sent out a news release. Then a newspaper or a magazine (or both, oh happy day) published an article about you based on the release. Whoopee! Break out the Dom Perignon!
Smashing the Myth of the Press Release
A musician spends years honing his craft. He writes world-class songs and performs them in a manner that moves his listeners to tears. He records a demo tape and sends it to record labels. He gets a contract and becomes rich, famous and adored.
The lesson: demo tapes are the secret of becoming a famous musician.
Planning for Product Release
As the product manager for an investment software organization, I am always amazed at the amount of work that is necessary to effectively release a product into the marketplace. From the inception of the idea to the complete release, it is a daunting task. The simplest method to plan and implement a product release is to lay out exactly what needs to happen, organize a reasonable time schedule, set goals, and gather the resources that you will need to achieve the release on time, and under budget.
Timing is Everything–When to Write and Distribute a Press Release
When things are timed perfectly, the results are inevitably better. Whether it’s a first kiss or a punch line, saying “I love you,” or saying, “Do we have deal?” Press releases must be well timed. Sending out an untimely press release is often a waste of time that elicits few, if any, results.
But how do you determine the optimum time to write and send a press release? You must keep your eyes peeled for opportunities when a press release will be appropriate, and likely to find its way into print.
How To Write A Press Release AND Get It Published
Summary
This article contains a checklist to writing a press release. And it includes the single most important ingredient of a press release, that will dramatically improve your chances of getting your news published.
Write a Power Press Release-Seven Times as Valuable as Advertising
Do you send out press releases? Have they brought you financial rewards? If not, you may want to rethink how to write a good one-one that editors pay attention to. If editors noticeand love your press release, they will want to interview you for a feature story. The feature story not only gets you valuable attention, it also brings credibility to you, your products, and your services. It is seven times more valuable than advertising.
Will A Press Release Bring Customers To Your Door?
As professional Marketing Consultants we believe that a press release can be your most fruitful and empowering marketing tool. In comparison to other forms of advertising, a press release is relatively inexpensive yet gives you an opportunity to be heard without being blatantly promotional.