When a reporter is wowed, intrigued, surprised or captivated by your press release, you can be pretty sure you’ll get some media coverage. And for most businesses, positive media coverage is worth its weight in gold. The bad news: Although truckloads of news releases fill reporters’ inboxes every day, few of them are dazzling, or even interesting.

As a former editor, I speak from experience when I say that most press releases end up in the garbage can. But don’t let that stop you from sending them a well-written news release can generate more publicity and goodwill than you could ever accomplish with a paid advertisement. To help keep your release out of the garbage and get it in print, start by following these five guidelines.

1. Make it newsworthy. Releases should be used to announce news, and they should only be sent when something truly newsworthy is happening at your company. Don’t send releases that sound more like advertisements than news; they’ll get tossed immediately. (However, newsworthy events may happen more often than you realize see the Resource Box below for ideas.)

In keeping with the news format, eliminate any superfluous language or outrageous claims (don’t describe yourself or your products as “wonderful,” “amazing” or “unbelievable”). Is your release written in language that would appear in a story in the newspaper or magazine you’re pitching? If not, it might sound like fluff rather than news. Make it clear from the beginning what your news is and why it should matter to the reporter and his or her readers.

2. Tell a good story. Although you’re sharing hard news (I hope), your press release should still be interesting to read. Even though your readers are media-types who do this for a living, they still like to hear a good story. Draw in your readers with a creative introduction and interesting language. Find new ways to say ordinary things. Read magazines, newspapers and books and pay attention to the stories that interest you and keep your attention. Then try to mimic those techniques and styles when writing your own releases.

3. Target your audience. As with any writing project, keep your audience in mind when you’re writing. The editor of a small-town newspaper has different interests than the editor of a trade journal for CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Choose the media outlets that would be most interested in your release and send it to them. For best results, you might even send each person a unique version tailored to their interests. And always send your release to an actual person rather than sending a release to a general news desk, find out which reporter covers your industry or the type of news you’re sending and send it directly to him or her.

4. Develop a relationship. Once you’ve located the reporters who cover your industry, start developing relationships with them. Call or e-mail to introduce yourself and find out if they prefer releases to be faxed, e-mailed or mailed. Be respectful of their time and the harried pace of their work, but don’t be afraid to check in occasionally to follow up on a press release or let them know how much you enjoyed a recent article. Don’t just rely on them for fr*e publicity; find out what you can do for them and do it one-sided relationships never last. Be easy to work with and willing to accommodate their needs, and they’ll be much more interested in covering your news.

5. Be consistent. Your communication with the media must be ongoing in order to get their attention. One release sent in a vacuum will probably not yield a lot of results. If reporters are unfamiliar with you or your business, it won’t be a top priority for them to cover your release. However, if they’re accustomed to receiving (actual) news from you and you’ve made an effort to forge a positive relationship with them (see #4), they’re more likely to a) actually read your releases, and b) publish them, or at least keep you in mind as a resource for future stories. If you really want to take advantage of the possibilities press releases can offer, keep hanging in there.

Nancy Jackson, owner of The WriteShop, helps companies better market their products and services with powerful written communications including Web content, newsletters, brochures and publications. Subscribe to her free monthly newsletter at www.writeshoponline.com.

Tags: copywrit, entrepreneur, PR, press release, press releases, public relations, Small Business, writingcopywrit, entrepreneur, PR, press release, press releases, public relations, Small Business, writing

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Obviously there’s more than one way to get your name in the headlines. You
can offer incredible deals or you can do the outrageous. You can discover some new
and exciting product or you can be recognized for your services to the community.

But ultimately, after all is said and done, getting good publicity is really about one
thing and one thing only. It’s about finding ways to meet the needs of others. With a
little planning, you can create a machine that allows you to earn a reputation that
can keep you in the news.

It all starts with your product. What exactly do you sell? No, you don’t necessarily
sell satellite dishes or web space. That may be the commodity they walk away with,
but ultimately, you have so much more to offer. You can offer courteous
explanations before the sale, a decent price during and powerful customer support
after. It’s the stuff people talk about at the corner. It’s the gossip around the cooler.
Everybody wants to know about that one company that offers so much more than
the rest, which, by definition, makes it news.

Of course, that creates a serious dilemma. If you’re offering the same product at a
lower price, and tossing in more qualified sales personnel and award winning
customer support after the sale, you’re obviously cutting deeply into your profit
margin. Or at least that’s how it might seen at first glance. But that may not be how
the math works out.

Try asking Thomas J. Stanley, Ph. D. He’s made a fortune studying the minds and
habits of the self made rich. In his best selling books The Millionaire Mind and The
Millionaire Next Door he examines the life and motivations of the truly rich. In The
Millionaire Mind he makes a list of the qualities self made millionaires felt got them
to the top. A supportive spouse, education, a good, timely business concept and
even luck all made the list.

He also included having a quality staff and good contacts. But right at the top of the
list, above all else, those who have made it listed overwhelmingly as the number one
reason for their success integrity. Offering a good deal at a reasonable price.

It’s about offering a good product and realizing that will attract more new
customers. It’ll also bring back more return customers, cutting down greatly on your
need to advertise.

It makes for a great news story as well. Think about it. Greedy merchants don’t
make the news, it’s the ones that find ways to help others. That guy who single
handedly kept the K-Mart store open in California so the firemen and cops fighting
the record breaking fires would have a place to go for toiletries and supplies made
front page news around the country. And the locals will probably remember the kind
of person he is for years to come.

Remember, the press is in the marketing business too. They have readers or
listeners that need to be enticed into loyalty, so they can show high demographic
counts to prospective advertisers. They’re in the business of telling the world the
things the world wants to know.

Which means your bottom line means virtually nothing to them. Telling the world
that you’re well on your way to becoming a millionaire isn’t really news. Announcing
that you sell diamonds at slightly less than anyone else in town and you’ll hold 30%
of the price of each sale made to newlyweds on account for them to use towards
their first rent or house payment (provided it takes place within a few months after
the marriage) would probably become a headline around the country and get you a
flood of free publicity. People around town would start talking about how you had
your heart in the right place. And couples would start their shopping at your store.

No, you wouldn’t make as much as the next guy on each diamond sale. In fact, if
you assume diamonds are marked up 100% by retailers, (which is actually a low
figure), giving away 30% of the final price would actually end up costing you 60% of
your profit. Doing it this way, though, can get you much more publicity, free of
charge and will buy you millions in word of mouth promotion.

Of course, I sold pieces of the Brooklyn Bridge, which can hardly be considered an
altruistic venture. (Get the whole story at http://www.Hartunian.com/bridge ) But in
the larger scheme of things it was.

How many people around the world would have loved to be able to say they owned a
piece of the world famous Brooklyn Bridge? It wasn’t the fact that I was making
money or that I had a product to sell that made worldwide news. It was the fact that
I was offering a service at an affordable price that made it something people wanted
to read and hear about.

Some businesses fail because they try to make too much too quickly. They busy
themselves trying to milk the customer for all they can. If they can stay in business,
they obviously have some kind of product others feel is important, desirable or
needed.

But these guys invariably end up having to spend large portions of their profit
continually convincing their clientele that their product or service is worth
purchasing.

If, instead, you can carefully find ways to make a smaller profit on a much larger
client base, you can soon discover stability, loyalty and prestige follow in suit.

And knowing you have something to say will have editors and program managers
rushing to listen.

# # #

Paul Hartunian is widely considered the world’s leading authority on writing press
releases and getting publicity for any product, service, cause or issue.
Subscribe to Paul’s free publicity ezine “Million Dollar Publicity Tactics”. By going to
http://www.Hartunian.com/ezine. Also be sure to check out all the great free
publicity resources at his website http://www.Hartunian.com.
Also be sure to read the story of how Paul used press releases and publicity to
become the first person in history to really sell the world famous Brooklyn Bridge.
You can read the story at http://www.Hartunian.com/bridge.html.
You can reach Paul at (973) 857-4142 or by email at Paul@Hartunian.com.

Tags: free publicity, how to write a press release, press release, publicityfree publicity, how to write a press release, press release, publicity

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