Writing Press Releases - Part 1

The Language and Timing for the Right Media

Somewhere in your stack of marketing information, you’ve probably gotten a few short statements or vague descriptions about writing a press release.  Yeah – the ‘free’ marketing solution.  It’s not always as easy as that though, because NOTHING is free.

But if you do your research, spend some time finding the right contacts, and write the press release correctly, you can get publicity without shelling out the big bucks.  The point is that you have to treat this like any other marketing / publicity campaign.  You can’t just rip one off and expect the smell to linger.

Writing a Press Release at the Right Time

Let’s start with the timing for your press release.  Picture this…

You’ve got a new service that helps connect different people for fantasy football.  You want some publicity in the sports columns.  So you send your press release to different newspapers three days before the World Series.  Guess where your press release winds up – that’s right…in the trash.  They’re busy with the pre-game stuff, then they’ll stay busy with the post-game stuff.

The best time to put your word out is when NOTHING else is going on.  Because reporters are more interested in reporting news than they are in giving you free publicity.  Try to stick to the middle of seasons.  Scan the papers right before sending out your release to make sure nothing huge is coming up.  You don’t want anyone stealing your thunder.

But at the same time, watch for related events that might be creating a market buzz.  For example, right now the real estate industry is dying and everyone’s talking about it.  So news organizations are more likely to pick up on something that relates to it…if it’s a good story.  And that brings us to the next point.

Writing a Press Release with a Real Story

If you’re writing a story to inform people about yet another new business, your odds of getting published are pretty slim.  That’s not to say they won’t pick it up, but you have to remember that they get hundreds of such press releases every day.  Unless your release contains a news-worthy element, they’ll probably pitch it in the trash.

Here are a few tips to make it news-worthy and noticeable:

• Hold an event to tie in to your campaign.  You could have a public product demo where you give away free hotdogs.  You could donate ten of your products to a non-profit organization.  You could have an employee appreciation week where the boss has to spend one hour doing the job of each of his employees.  These are all fun and interesting, and more likely to get a good spot.
  
• Crisis, Sex, Money, and Health make headlines.  If you can find a way to tie your campaign to any of these (and it can’t be a simple ‘how to make more money’ tie-in) then you’re going to catch a few eyes.  This works especially well if you can find a related study.  Search for statistics.  “New Product Guarantees Weight Loss” won’t pull in nearly as many responses as “Three Hundred Thousand Obese Americans Find New Hope In Local Product”.
  
• Add human interest to the story.  Two marketing companies start up in the same city.  Both send out press releases to local radio shows.  One simply talks about the benefits of using their services.  The other gives a detailed story of how every day, 5% of senior citizens get taken advantage of by online marketing companies promising to help them start their own businesses.  Which do you think will get show hosts calling them for interviews?

Stories aren’t easy to come by.  If your company isn’t doing anything news-worthy, then it’s not like you can just pull something out of thin air.  But if you research your market well enough, find an underlying problem in that market, and prepare a full report on it, you’ll at least have a shot at gaining some of the spot light.

Check out part 2 of Writing Press Releases where I discuss how to give your press release the right language and format for different media, including sample press releases for radio and newsprint...