Press Releases are a crucial part of marketing, in fact they are one of the few traditional marketing tools that have flourished in the new media or Digital Brand Age. There are six major types of press releases.
- General News
- Event
- Launch
- Staff or Executive Announcement
- Expert Positioning
- Product
Each of these press releases may have differentiating information, but should take one single overall format. And while it is important to be certain that your press release will help to boost your company’s search engine rankings, it is also critical to consider what will happen once people do find and read your press or news releases.
Creating Your Press Release
Many elements in the creation of the press release are very important.
Title Creation
Above all, you need to make sure the title is compelling. This is what draws the reader in and drives them to continue to read past the first sentence. It is good practice to be sure your title supplies a question that would appeal to those whom your marketing efforts target.
Subheadings
Subheadings or bullet points provides visual breaks in the content. Although some readers may not be bothered by massive chunks of text that contain many sentences, most readers can quickly become overwhelmed by the ‘job’ that reading five hundred words in a few paragraphs may be.
Body Content
Create the strongest lead paragraph you can formulate. Try to remember the five important W’s that should be incorporated into the first two paragraphs.
- Who
- What
- When
- Why
- Where
Try to make these two paragraphs read to a viewer so that even if they do not continue to read beyond this point, they understand the general idea of the press release.
Supply quotes and statistics. Depending on the direction your press release is taking, gather related quotes from company engineers, experts in the industry or even customers who have tried, and enjoyed your products or services. Select the most shining example that you have.
Boilerplate
The last part, or the last few sentences of your press release can sometimes be referred to as the boilerplate. The text used here should be very standard and for this reason could be used on any other press releases regardless of their nature. This information always immediately precedes the use of # # # which signals the end of a press release.
This informative selection of text should include the contact information or instructions on how or where you can get more information on the news, product or service behind the press release itself. Phone contacts, physical location and website information are all common elements of the boilerplate.
Before setting your press release in stone by submitting it online or even to a physical news source, be sure you have reviewed it and while doing so keep an eye out for common mistakes in press releases.
- It should never exceed one page and a half. Even if you have much more to say, this size of press release is fairly large. The ideal press release will fit on one digital document or one sheet of paper.
- Avoid writing in singular or plural. Stick to a third party, neutral source point-of-view.
- Use reader-friendly English, not tech jargon understood by only a few.
- Do not use overly hyped language in your press release. Phrases such as breaking news, most unique, the best are all considerably generic terms that may turn your viewers off instead of compel them to read on.
- Most important aspects of the press release are in the first two or three paragraphs.
- Always include a means to reach a live contact.
- Proofread and edit for typos or other grammatical issues.
All of these elements are important in creating a press release that can provide coverage for your news and information on your company’s products or services in one tight article.
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