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What To Write In A Press Release

In business, Those who have the best story wins – always!

Think about it? The best books, movies, songs, plays, or ballets are those that tell a great story. They captivate their audience and move them to an emotion of some sort. Isn’t that what you want to do with your press release, capture attention and move your audience to some sort of action?

What it is a press or media release?

My friend Mark loves to say that all business is show business. It is your job to show people what you are trying to tell them in word pictures. You are creating story about your business, event, or product. Come to think about it, news agencies that you are counting on to share your information will not publish your news release unless it is newsy, not sale-sy

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What To Write In A Press Release

Think of it as a story. Each story has characters, settings, plot, the obligatory conflict, and a resolution. In technical terms you are answering the who, what, where, why, and how.

So let’s look at the individual parts:

Starting with the characters, these are people the story is about, people who did something, or are getting something, or are making something happen. Top company’s make their products into characters – think about how many toy companies produce full length movies thinly veiled as a movie but are actually full length ads. Develop these characters with an introduction with enough detail that your readers can visualize them. Tell people why they are important.

The setting is the environment the characters are working in. Provide the detail that give the readers a way to picture the person(s) working away, or the ease of the using the product, or the research it took to develop, you get the idea.

We all learned about plot in school, remember those days? Just like we learned, we need to make sure that there is a beginning, middle, and end to your story. You introduce your story, then develop it, ending with a happy resolution to the buyer or causes problem.  

Every story has a conflict, just like everyone has a problem that needs to be solved. Isn’t that the nature of sales, find a problem and provide a solution. Or, find a need and fill it.

Your solution is the star of the show. The supporting cast are the people who created, invented, or provide the solution. Get those emotions and feelings flowing.

Format

 

Headline – used to grab the attention of journalists and briefly summarize the release. Be creative as guru David Ogilvie would say; “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”  Some techniques you can use would be to; use numbers – people love statistics, employ emotional adjectives, use unique rationale to demonstrate what the reader will get out of the release, use – what, why, how , or when, or make audacious promises.  

Dateline – contains the release date and usually the originating city of the press release. If the date listed is after the date that the information was actually sent to the media, then the sender is requesting a news embargo journalists are under no obligation to honor. You can send the release and ask them to publish it by a certain date or after a certain date.

Introduction – first paragraph in a press release, that generally gives basic answers to the questions of who, what, when, where and why.

Body – further explanation, statistics, background, or other details relevant to the news.

Boilerplate – generally a short "about" section, providing independent background on the issuing company, organization, or individual.

Close – in North America, traditionally the symbol "-30-" appears after the boilerplate or body and before the media contact information, indicating to media that the release has ended. A more modern equivalent has been the "###" symbol. In other countries, other means of indicating the end of the release may be used, such as the text "ends".

Media contact information – name, phone number, email address, mailing address, or other contact information for the PR or other media relations contact person.

A Press release is one of the most effective, efficient, and cheapest forms of advertising known to man. Proper use can catapult your business from a wandering generality to being a meaningful specific as Zig Ziglar would say.

Chuck Groot’s CPA, MPA, MBA credentials as a speaker, author, teacher, business coach and entrepreneur are noteworthy. His clients credit their success to his uncanny ability to get right to the root of any challenge that they put in front of him.  He credits his success to his clients and their willingness to being open to new ideas and desire in pursuit of excellence. 

As an entrepreneur, his enthusiasm and innovative approach have garnered him both professional success and the recognition of his peers. But his greatest delight is being able to share these skills with others and enabling them to be successful on their own.

 

[email protected]

 

http://www.chuckgroot.com

 

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