News Release Writing Doesn't Have To Be Overwhelming
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Writing a news release may be overwhelming at first to the new marketer, but with some know-how and experience you can write an effective story. To begin, just follow the guidelines shown here for writing and sending your media release.

1. Include Company Information – If your company is going to take the time to write a news article, you should probably take the time to write a paragraph about the company. This gives the reporters a little background information on the business and qualifies the source of information.

2. Interest Your Audience – Keep your audience and the publications readers in mind. Before writing your press release you should consider why the news matters to them. Ask yourself if you’d want to read the press release, if you were in their shoes.

3. Clear Headlines – Keep in mind that the reader should be able to catch the idea of your story from the headline alone. Focusing on the angle and idea of the story is more important than developing a ‘catchy’ slogan.

4. Target Your Media – You should always write for the media type your targeting, but the same goes for submitting your news release. For a reporter, there is nothing more annoying than getting flooded with articles that aren’t at all related to your publication. So get your release into the right hands.

5. Keep Up-To-Date – News by its very nature should be current. If the news in your release is outdated you shouldn’t be sending it. Yesterday’s news is today’s history.

6. Build Credibility – Quotes from your company’s senior executives should do. News releases are taken a much more seriously when the boss’s name is on the line.

7. Condense The News – You should try to tell the entire story in the first paragraph. The rest of the release can contain more details. But it’s nice to know that if everything else is cut, you still got your main points across. Being “top heavy” is a good thing.

8. Positive Perception – If the local community could perceive your news in a negative manner, you should take extra care to highlight the potential positives of the announcement.

9. Deal With Facts – News articles should include factual information. Leave the opinions for the editorial column. It is ok, however, to include quotes that feature opinions.

10. Appropriate Demographics – If you have an executive that better matches the demographics of your target audience, it is a good idea to use their quotes in the story. For example, a magazine on women’s business is much more likely to run a story, with a female spokesperson.

11. Utilize Proper Attribution – If your press release includes information or quotes from other sources, it’s a good idea to attribute that information to the original source. This allows the journalist to verify the information, plus it provides credibility.

12. Be Prepared – Just because your press release has been sent, doesn’t mean you’re done crafting your message. Be ready to answer calls from journalists and prepare statements for them. Keep a log of the questions they ask, because there’s a good chance that another reporter is going to ask the same thing.

13. Solve Problems – The media loves stories that explain how human innovation and creativity are solving our everyday problems. If you can explain how to fix a common problem, you’ll appear to be the expert. Alternatively, you might demonstrate how a solution is being developed.

14. Proofread and Edit – You should always read over your press release before submitting it and have someone else look it over. A second set of eyes can often catch typos that you might miss.

15. Verify Accuracy – When it comes to numbers, names, and locations it’s easy to make mistakes. You should always double-check everything to avoid embarrassing mistakes.

By applying these rules for writing better press releases, you greatly increase the chance of your media release being used. If you’d like additional ways to improve your media release writing you should check out the huge list of tips to improve your media release writing.

Formating Your Press Release
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Some publications may require you to fax or mail your press release. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact it’s been shown that media kits and press releases that are distributed by mail, often have better results than emailed releases. Just keep in mind that mailing or faxing your resume means you have to follow some additional formatting rules.

Your press release should always be printed on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with at least one-inch margins, using only one side of the paper. Leave the back blank.

You headlines should be in bold typeface or a larger font to draw attention to them, but don’t use all uppercase. Your headline should be written like the title of an article or book. This means you should capitalize all words except articles and prepositions. If you have a subhead, you should consider italicizing it, to separate it from the body.

If you need to use more than one sheet of paper, you should ensure that you don’t split any paragraph between two pages, you should complete your paragraph instead of carrying it over onto the next page. If the paragraph won’t fit, move it to the next page. Should two pages be required, center the word the word "more" between two dashes at the bottom of the first page to let reporters know that another page follows. (”– more –“)

You should indicate the end of your press release by using three pound signs (“# # # “) after the last paragraph to indicate the end of the press release. Alternatively, you could use the number 30 between two dashes. (“– 30 –“).

Press Release Lead Writing

The lead paragraph should answer the basic journalism questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story. If a journalist were to read nothing more than the lead of a good press release, he should have everything he needs to begin writing his story.

When writing your lead it’s important to avoid selling and hype.  I can’t say this enough. Just include the facts, and nothing more. So you can see the difference, I’ve crafted the two examples below.

A Poorly Written Press Release Lead:
Recently truth.org, an public awareness website dedicated to preventing smoking in our nations youth, held an open forum at Central University about the dangers of smoking and a discussion on whether smokers had a right to smoke or whether the nonsmokers had a right to clean air and the students spoke up for the later.

A Well Written Press Release Lead:
Students at Central University are angry about their schools policy on smoking which permits smoking anywhere on campus, and many say they have a right to breath clean air as they walk across campus.  These findings are gleaned from the overwhelming majority students that attended the schools open forum, presented by truth.org. According to truth.org founder, John Doe, the students understand the consequences of smoking and displayed anger and resentment toward the faculty for not revising their outdated policies.

Press Releases for SEO: What's the Purpose?
Not to long ago, press releases were written to entice journalists to write
a story about the subject of the release. If you didn't effectively pitch
the story, that was the end of it. The story wasn't published. But in our
modern technology-driven world, press releases are no longer written solely
for editors. Now they are often submitted online and made available for
search engines and the general public. That being said, are press releases
still useful?

Yes, of course. The primary difference in the online press release market is
competition for exposure. There are so many ways to different ways to get
press releases published. Some publish it on their own site, hoping for the
best. Others submit it to press release directories. Some distribute it via
feeds online. And others have it distributed to the many reporters, editors,
and bloggers in their particular nitch. With so many ways to publish your
press release and that much competition, you need to be certain to write
highly focused and targeted copy. Because if your press release is poorly
written then nobody is ever going to read it. That's one thing that hasn't
changed.

If you want people to link to your press release, to blog about it, to
publish stories about it, then you'd better be sure your press release
doesn't suck. Now you're probably wondering…what makes a press release
suck?
The short answer: Selling something. If you are selling
something—anything—nobody is going to read your press release. Why not?
Because, nobody wants to be told to buy something. People don't like being
begged or manipulated. Save the selling for your paid advertisements. News
editors and readers don't want whatever it is you're selling. They just want
news.

How to you send a press release out about your new product to get people to
buy your product? Well, you don't. What you should be doing instead is
looking for another angle to market your product less directly. Sometimes
you have to create these ways. You can write around the product by talking
about something related, without directly selling your product.

Let me give you an example, if you run a donut shop you shouldn't talk about
your new double chocolate glazed donut. It would be much better to write a
story about how you gave away 1000 donuts to your local school in during
reading week, to celebrate the importance of literacy. In this release, you
could of course mention the product and the business. Of course you'd
actually have to give away those donuts.

Now, lets get back to the actual goal of press releases in search engine
marketing, which is increasing organic exposure. Traditionally, the goal of
press releases was to get them published and read. The goal of press
releases in SEO marketing, however, is to have them found in search engines,
get them read, and build back links for your business.

To accomplish these tasks, you have to write something that people want to
read, using terms that people are searching for and present it in such a way
that people want to link to it, which makes your job even harder now. So
how is it done?

1. *First focus on creating a compelling headline—*preferably using a
target keyword if possible.
2. *Write a well-formed release—*with proper grammar. Be sure to use
quotes and establish the who, what, where, when, and why.
3. *Focus on your keywords and links.* Just writing a compelling and
interesting release, isn't enough, you need to mention your target keywords
for search engine purposes.
4. *Get the release out there.* There are many press release
distribution services out there—so use them. Publish them all over and hope
they get picked up and republished.

Posted by pressdr at 2:30 PM EST
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How to Write a Press Release Subhead

A subhead can be a remarkably useful tool. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked by press release writers. Now what exactly is the purpose of a subhead? Well, the subhead of a press release gives you the opportunity to flesh out your specific news angle and further hook the reporter without diluting the dramatic statement of the press release headline.

Here is a headline and subhead combination that one might use on their press release:

Today's Youth Health Conscience, Want Smoking Banned.
Students weigh in at open discussion: Believe smoking isn’t a right, but clean air is. One student group is petitioning for a smoking ban on campus.

How To Avoid Press Release Mistakes

Writing a Headline for your Press Release

Before you even write a single world, I want to pound one idea into your head: There is not a single reporter who cares about driving visitors to your website or helping your company make money. What a reporter is interested in is finding a story that will entertain or inform his readers, that will please his editor.

 

What's this mean? It means that he doesn't care about your huge selection and inventory. And he doesn't care your flawless customer service and satisfaction. Take your natural inclination to sell and promote your brand out of the equation.

 

Well now that that's out of the way, there are just two important rules...

• Be Interesting. Make your headline similar to the headlines you see in the news every day.
• Be brief. State your most exciting finding or announcement in as few words as possible.

The idea is to throw a hook at the reporter with hopes that he bites.

Of course I want to help you visualize a really bad press release headline, so here is one absolutely horrible example: New Website Selling Smoking Cessation Options Allows High School Students to Speak Out Against Smoking in Public Places.

Of course this could be made into a great headline.  Here is a much better choice: Today's Youth Health Conscience, Want Smoking Banned.

 

Seven Tips for Writing Powerful Press Releases
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