Marketing Tips

Writing Press Releases 101
Simply put, a press release reports something of interest about your company to a specific audience. Perhaps you are launching a new product, have a new president, have purchased another company, show positive financial results or received an award—you want to share news that casts a positive light upon your company.

Step 1: Decide who your audience is. This will help you write the release to a specific group of people and will assist you in knowing where to submit the release. The editor should immediately recognize the value of what you’re announcing—if an editor has to wade through your release to the end, only to find out that your widget is for public safety professionals, it probably won’t be published. Editors get inundated with information and you need to make it easy for them to recognize what you have to offer.

Step 2: When writing the release, put the most important information in the lead (or first) paragraph. Why? Because an experienced editor will "cut" your release from the bottom up, so you want to make sure that what’s most important appears within the first 3-5 paragraphs. Editors usually have limited space and although your release can be 1-2 pages in length, you’ll probably only get 1-3 paragraphs of play.

So, what is most important? To you, it might be your contact information or the spiffy quote from your president. However, to an editor, the most important information in the first paragraph is WHO DID WHAT TO WHOM, HOW, WHERE and WHEN. Not all of this information may pertain to your press release but if it does, it belongs in your first paragraph.

A sample 1st paragraph follows:

Land Rover sales grew 6% in 2002

In a market slow to recover, Land Rover showed strong recovery in 2002, achieving the company's second highest sales level ever with USA sales growing by 5.70% (27,214 to 40,987) and UK sales growing by 4.9% (44,749 to 46,929). Ford decided to tackle problems at Land Rover head on by adding customer-requested features, creating a more aggressive pricepoint and increasing the warranty to 10 years or 100,000 miles. "This is a terrific result for a brand that goes from strength to strength," said Bob Dover, managing director of Land Rover and COO of the Premier Automotive Group. He added, "After two years of sustained investment in Land Rover products and facilities, we are now beginning to see the results."

The rest of your release should support and further explain the important points you’ve mentioned in your first paragraph. The press release many times is meant to whet the appetite for future publicity. By keeping your release straightforward, you leave the door open for reporters to develop your press release into a full-length article, if it catches their eye. Make sure that you spell out any acronyms or industry jargon that outsiders may not be familiar with—assume the lowest common denominator when writing your press releases so that all editors understand its important. Submit copy that’s easy-to-read, using a font like Helvetica or Times New Roman. And, make sure to include a separate graphic file with a high-quality (300 dpi) 4-color or black and white photo—pictures catch the readers’ eye and increase readership.

Step 3: How you submit your press release is as important as writing the release. If you are targeting business-to-business customers, you’ll want to submit it to your industry’s publications—making sure that you send it to the current editorial contact. Keep a database of which publications you sent releases to, the date, contact information with a call-back appointment, to ensure personal follow-up. That’s just the beginning. Submit your press releases to your local newspapers—if the news is worthy enough, you may get a company write-up that you can then include in your annual report or customer proposals. You’ll also want to submit your release to reporters at the major wire services like The Associated Press or Reuters, again following up with a phone call to see if there is further interest. Publication lead times may be as long as 6 months or as short as 4 weeks. Keep this in mind when writing and submitting your releases, giving the information a "timeless" quality, to ensure broader publication.

Step 4: Remember to get copies of the release that ran, from the different publications. If the release gives way to an article, considering purchasing "reprints" of the article that you can include in your customer information. It’s an inexpensive and credible way to promote your company with objective sources. Your goal should be to submit a relevant press release each month, so you get consistent coverage during the year. Remember, it’s free and it’s a great way to get new product and company image information out to your customers and prospects. A PR campaign works nicely with yearly advertising, direct mail campaigns, newsletters and brochures.