Why Free Press Releases Help Gain Better Publicity Over Advertising

Posted by admin on January 23, 2010 3 comments

A press release is the generally effective way to generate free publicity for your business or organization. A well-written press releases can generate mountains of coverage, and generally of the time, that coverage will be more in-depth than any ad. Writing press releases are tricky; since they’re targeted mostly to journalists, the focus, style and tone is different from the typical business document. The following tips will help you craft a clear, creative press release.

THE BASICS

Like any news story or announcement, a press release must be “spun” — that is, it must have a particular angle interesting to journalists and, subsequently, to readers. Sure, the opening of a spanking new office might mean big things for your company, but it’s of little interest to the remainder of the community if you don’t tell them why they should care. Consider the following elements of a good press release and incorporate them into your work:

RELEVANCE: This is the generally basic concern you need to address; how is your news relevant to the publication’s demographic? Are you providing jobs or new services? Is a prominent community figure involved? Does it relate somehow to a recent hot topic? Always know your release’s relevance before writing.

TIMELINESS: A journalist will rarely pay consideration to a release if it isn’t timely. Does your release relate specifically to a holiday break or event? Did it happen recently or will it happen soon?

DISTINCTIVENESS: What makes your news unique? Is it something interesting, or different, enough that people outside your company or organization would want to read about it? Would you?

LACK OF COMPETITION: Think carefully about other news or events taking place at the time of your release. Are you competing with holiday news when your release isn’t at all holiday related? Will publications have bigger stories with which to concern themselves? If so, hold off on releasing your story until there’s a bigger gap in the news cycle.

THE FORMAT

How you write your press release is equally as essential as the information you choose (or choose not) to include. Follow these steps when writing your press release, and keep them in mind as you create a personal template for future releases.

RELEASE DATE: This should be the first thing under your letterhead. Include the exact date if the material is restricted to a particular time, or use the words FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE if time isn’t a factor.

HEADLINE: A strong headline will draw attention to your release, much like a strong headline draws attention to any news story. This should be one line only, in all caps and indicative of your release’s exact point.

LEAD PARAGRAPH: In three sentences or less, immediately summarize your story. This paragraph is often called a “nut graf” in the newspaper business — it tells the story in a nutshell.

BODY PARAGRAPH(S): The remaining paragraphs elaborate on your story and often include quotes from prominent people within the company or in your community. Keep the writing short and snappy, using familiar words and eliminating any clichés or redundancies. Remember: you’re essentially writing for journalists, so use a style comparable to that of the publication you’re approaching. This should be no more than two paragraphs, which keeps your entire release to one double-spaced page.

END: A closing paragraph or summary (such as the kind found in letters or reports) isn’t necessary for a release; remember, this is comparable to a news story. End with either ###, -end- or -30-.

Using a Press Release for Local Business Advertising and Growth

Posted by admin on September 24, 2009 1 comment

Owners of local small businesses often struggle to establish or maintain your local market slice of the pie of business. To grow your business to the next level or launch a new service or product, you need to get the word out to your target audience.  Large ads in national or even regional newspapers are cost prohibitive these days and not nearly effective as they once were.  Forget television and radio advertising.   We have realized that the best advertising – and the most effective advertising – is free advertising with the use of a  well formed press release.  One question..do you need help or can you master the art of press release distribution?

Targeted press release distribution is one of the most powerful forms of marketing and advertising available. The value of the exposure your product or business will receive as a result of a television segment, a newspaper or magazine article is exponentially more than you’d receive as a result of paid advertising. That’s because, although the media doesn’t explicitly endorse products and businesses, it has an objectivity that provides consumers with a perception of credibility and legitimacy. In other words, consumers know that the media isn’t being paid to cover your product or business, so they trust that writers and producers will provide them with unbiased information. The bottom line is that, if you get press attention, your business is bound to grow.

The trick is getting the word out to the media. In days past, this would involve countless of hours of research and lots of postage stamps, then crossing your fingers and playing the waiting game. But in this day of sophisticated Internet marketing, press release distribution can be accomplished instantaneously through press release services.

When selecting a press release distribution service, follow these guidelines:

* The press release distribution service should be able to provide online distribution to thousands of media outlets.

* The press release distribution service should be able to provide you with press release writing services for an additional fee.

* The press release distribution service should be able to provide you with fax distribution and audio distribution, in addition to online print distribution.

* The press release distribution service should have a proven track record, with clients who have been featured in major daily newspapers, major consumer or trade magazines, major Internet portals, and on television shows and radio stations.

* The press release distribution service should be able to target email press releases to those media outlets covering your preferred market.

Newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, and websites all depend upon a steady stream of press releases in order to provide content to their readers, listeners, and viewers. They want to hear about new products, services, and businesses, and they prefer to obtain the releases electronically. When you select a press release distribution service that has a proven track record, you can be assured that the media will turn to the press releases distributed by that service, knowing they are trustworthy.

Why Are Press Releases Important?

Posted by admin on September 24, 2009 2 comments

It does not matter how small or big your operation is or if you have one or one thousand products, you must always communicate with its customers.  The press release is one of the most effective ways to do this.  It should gain publicity and credibility.  It could even be thought of as an advertisement.  Regardless, one should not forget that however effective and appealing your advertisement might be, most of people tend to regard it as oversimplified and exaggerated statement. Really, in my experience, few of potential customers take your every word for its value in the advertisement. So how can you win the credibility of your company?! The credibility can be won if your statement is appeared in trusted and trustworthy information resources. Many research show that people trust more opinions of independent mass media and their representatives such as editors, journalists and radio commentators than the statements of salesmen and advertisement specialists.

The company can communicate with press by using press release service issued to mass media representatives. Press release services are one of the most effective means to gain the attention both of the public and press. How this statement should be written?! The most important point of the press release is its newsworthiness.

Publicity is nowadays widely considered in company’s budgets to enhance profits. Reaching to your customers has become more essential, and intricate. There are many methods available on net to publicize and market your business, but one of the cheapest methods is to use online press release websites, as many of these offers free of cost or low-cost PR options. With online press release one can simply reach the targeted online community. PR web-sites offers article submission database of free content and reprint articles.

Publishers, who are in quest of free reprint articles and the business community, who wants to shoot their business, make the best use of this significant resource to enhance their marketing weapon. Here are ten effectual tips to write well drafted press release.

1. Starting should be solid: Your title and initial lines should cover, what you want to convey. The remaining part of your press release should depict the detailed information.

2. Draft it for journalists & media agencies: The journalists receive thousand of press releases on daily basis. The media agencies and journalists would grab your press release and only if, with slight editing or no alteration.

3. Consider addressee’s Interest: The audience’s interest consideration is most important to be keeping in mind that if you were a part of audience, would you be interested like to read the press release, you have written.

4. Make it appear practical: Point out real facts of your company or organization, as people are also intellectual enough to make out what is true and what is not? Present information on product and services in what they are interested.

5. Tie the story with real facts: Don’t put bluff and add-ons. If you find the content using much added extras, make it natural and real. If content seems too good to be true, turn down the tone little, as it may possibly hurt your own credibility.

6. Use only necessary words: Don’t use extra adjectives, extravagant language, or unnecessary expressions like “The most powerful”. Describe your story with lesser words, as verbosity distracts from your content.

7. Avoid using jargon: Limited use of jargon could be allowed, if you aim to optimize news release for search engines. The finest technique to communicate your press release is to speak neatly, using regular language.

8. Avoid exclamation: The use of exclamation point (!) may hurt your press release. But, if you have to use an exclamation point, use only one.

9. Company permit: Companies are very defensive about their name and credibility. Get written permission before putting in an information or quotes from officials or associates of other companies/organizations.

10. Company Information: The press release should conclude with a short description of your company, which illustrates your company, products, service and a brief history of company. But if you are making a combined press release of two or more then two then you should, provide information of all the companies.

Writing quality press releases is a process that requires immense skill and experience, as every single word of a press release may be examined. This is why many companies hire public relation firms for official press releases and other media contacts. Inaccurate or poorly drafted information in an official press release can be a point to slicing a company or organization’s credit.