5 Golden Rules for Writing Press Releases

Contents:Intro

1. Is it news?2. Five Essential Ws3. Skip Superlatives

4. Target Media5. Professional Layout

Top TipsExampleCredits

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Small businesses look bigger when they get media coverage. Every press release is a chance to reach thousands via the media. Plus generate useful online coverage.Try putting out a release every month or two using these 5 Golden Rules to create a professional release. Include every relevant publication/ broadcaster/ e-zine/ freelance writer to get your business name in front of thousands. Don’t forget associations and networks’ newsletters if you are a member. The real value of media coverage is in all the people who saw or heard you recommended by the media. Research shows it is 50% easier to sell when your prospect has heard good things about your business. So capitalise on media coverage and namedrop the story on and offline. Send the link to the people you want to reach and put the link up on your website. Adapt the release for your blog & social media.The combo of PR, sales and marketing all working together, online and offline is the secret to growing the business.

intro:

News is the plural of new: if it's new, it's news. News implies change: something happens - a business is started up, a product is launched, an appointment is made, an award is won, a deal is struck, a contract is decided. If you’re not sure, keep a note of the types of stories that get into the media about similar types of businesses to yours for inspiration. Don’t worry about being small, as long as you know what you’re talking about. Big businesses get a lot of media requests and local press can be further down their response list. So if you’ve got interesting things to say, you’re in with a shout. Especially if you manage to find the links between your business and the hot news topics of the day: for example: health, education, employment and the economy are reliably solid news ground.

1. Is it news?

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Who?What?Where?When?Why?Where? (where?) Manchester-based (who?) XYZ company (when?) today announces a (what?) new waterproof addition to their range of best-selling stationery products. (why?) This is often best explained in a quote from a named source, such as yourself. You can explain why it all came about and this is the one place you can use adjectives (see no 3). (how?) The rest of the release will go on to explain how it all came about - so that’s the question to help you develop the rest of the story.

2. Five Essential Ws

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Once you've written your text, strip out the superlatives. Adjectives like 'wonderful' and 'brilliant' are your (biased) opinions and will irritate fact-driven journalists. Superlatives don't belong in the world of news and they're so over-used that it's unlikely that people pay much attention to them anyway.

3. Skip Superlatives

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A local newspaper serves a local community and rarely carries news that can't be related to their readership area. That's how the famous joke headline came about:

ABERDEEN MAN DROWNS: Titanic Sinks

Local media know their audience. Local radio stations, find that their listeners get irritated if they carry news of offers or events outside their local area, so they don't. Turn the media's thirst for local connections to your advantage. If you want local press coverage, give them a local connection right up front in the headline and the first sentence so it doesn’t slip past when they’re scanning hundreds of emails. In the same way, the trade press are looking for something in their specialised field. If you're wanting coverage in the biological scientific press, get that biological breakthrough into the headline and first sentence.

4. Target Media

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Keep the release short and factual. The first paragraph should summarise the story in 50-60 words, based on the 5Ws. Aim for c250 words for the main body of the release and add: ENDS at the foot, before the contact info.

Include 24/7 details for a spokesperson at the foot of the main press release: home & mobile numbers as well as work contact details. They need to be available for at least 24 hours after you send out your release, or there’s no point. Most media want a unique comment.Add background notes after the contact details at the end of the main release. For online release submission forms, add them to the end of the main release if there’s nowhere else for them.

5. Professional Layout

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Company Names:If you are mentioning a client company by name, make sure that you have their agreement to do so. A new business relationship could fall at the first fence if you take their name in vain!

With new business wins, it's particularly powerful if you can answer the WHY? question with a quote from the customer: WHY they bought your product or service? WHY have they appointed you as a dealer, licensee or franchisee?

USPsWhen developing the rest of your release, use the WHY? question to bring out the aspects of your product or service that make it different from anything else: your Unique Special Proposition (USP).Why is it different?Why is it better?Why is it new? Why is it innovative? What gives it that extra spark that no-one else has?

DetailsDetail can clutter a news story, but background information can be useful. The solution is to add "Technical Specifications" or "Background Notes", depending on the subject matter.

Top Tips

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Example:

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Newcastle Firm Signs Deal with XYZCo.(ADD DATE) Newcastle-based XYZ Company has today announced the signing of a £3mdeal with (Well-known Car Co). to supply XYZ's customer care software, NiceDay, to everybranch of (Well-known) in Europe.NiceDay is XYZ's software which analyses the micro non-verbal signals we all give out.It works with video cameras to analyse body language and facial expressions, then measuresindividual salespeople's performance against top sales performers.The software produces a printout showing the areas to concentrate on developing. It can beused to improve the 1-2-1 performance of all customer-facing staff.J im Smith, (Well-known) Sales Director said, "We chose NiceDay because our test trialsshowed that it significantly improves our salesmen's relationship with customers – and theresults go straight to our bottom line. Quite simply, there is no other product like it. "

ENDS (Background Notes follow)

For further details contact:J oe Bloggs, XYZ's MD direct on 0123 445678 (day) or 9876 54321 (evening) or on 0321321321 (mobile)

Background Notes XYZ was founded in Newcastle in 2006 as a spin-off from Newcastle University The company is led by the two founding directors: (ADD names + job titles) XYZ won a SMART award in 2007 to develop the NiceDay product, which runs on most

PCs The company has received backing from two Angel investors this year XYZ is shortlisted from this year’s green awards having significantly reduced its carbon

footprint.

“pr”Penny Haywood Calder created DIY PR training and wrote the book: DIY PR : the small business owner’s guide to ‘free’ publicityShe runs PHPR Ltd, offering practical PR - on and offline - plus advanced media training and online video: www.phpr.co.uk

© Penny Haywood Calder 2010. All rights reserved.