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Avoid Costly Advertising - Free Publicity - A Good Press Release Program Will Boost Your Profits....Automatically Build Attention Getting Press Releases
A good press release program will grow your profits and avoid expensive advertising. Full page ads in an industry journal can cost almost $6,000. But there is a way to use the same publications to promote your business free of charge. Journalists want and need one key thing. NEWS! They'll gladly write about you, your business services or products provided you know what to feed them and do it in the right way. This is a great way to promote your business FREE. How can you make the most of the media? Learn how to write a press release and submit it correctly to the journalists so that it gets read and published. Remember journalists have an in-satiable appetite for news. So give them news. News is central to journalism. What makes news. * Significance - anything which will affect reader's lives. * Drama - accidents, disease outbreaks, armed actions. * Pop - sex, scandal. * Surprise - anything that surprises. * Proximity - anything dramatic which relates to a person or place. * Scale - job boost, 6,000 new jobs. * Money - lottery winner nets $30million * Elite issues - President, Royalty, Film Stars. * Vogue issues - this is 'journalese' for trends/fashions. * Big guys v Little guys - pensioner defeats government. * Death and destruction - tsunami/earthquake. * Negative - as above. * New - if it's new it's news. How to write news.
* What happened. * How it happened. * Amplify * Tie up loose ends. Essential tips for writing Press Releases. 1. Make sure the information is news worthy. 2. Tell the audience the information is for them and why they should continue to read it. 3. Start with a brief description of the news, then distinguish who announced it, and not the other way round. 4. Ask yourself, "How are people going to relate to this and will they be able to connect?" 5. Make sure the first ten words of your release are effective, as they are the most important. 6. Avoid excessive used of adjectives and fancy language. 7. Deal with the facts. 8. Provide as much contact information as possible; Individual to be contacted, address, phone, email, Web site address. 9. Make sure you have something with enough substance to issue a press release. 10. Make it as easy as possible for media representatives to do their jobs. How to write a press release. * Date - top left hand corner, say's it new. * Headline - make as 'newsy' as possible - get your USP in. * Para 1 - who, what, when and where, why it's important. * Para 2 - expand on para 1. Don't stray off topic. * Quote - From someone in authority who is independent. * Offer FREE fact sheet. * Full contact details, including home contact - they work all hours! * Notes for editors, facts and background on the story, you or your company/business. When issuing paper use A4 Make margins 1" minimum. Make the piece easy to read - double space. Use a bold typeface for the headlines to draw attention. Capitalise the first letter of all headline words (with the exception of; "a", "an", "the", or the prepositions such as; "of", "to", or "from"). The combination of upper and lower case makes reading easier. Complete a paragraph on one page instead of carrying it over onto the next page. Use only one side of each sheet of paper. Use the word "more" between two dashes and centre it at the bottom of the page to let reporters know that another page follows. Follow these guide lines and you should not go too far wrong. Newspapers and journals receive hundreds of submissions each day. Ninety percent of them end up in the bin. Those that survive do so because they are well written and give a news angle. If yours are going to be published it is important that you know how to write a good press release. Remember you are getting free publicity for your business and they always need news. Life just got better! You can Automatically Build Attention Getting FREE Publicity. So it's worth persevering. Here is a few further thoughts on construction and topics you may wish to cover
1. You should submit news which sounds like news, not an ad. 2. You should only send to the media related to the topic of your press release. 3. Try to keep your copy to one page in length. 4. Your header, contact information and issue date should be clear, readily visible and correctly positioned on the page. 5. Use short sentences and double space your lines. 6. Your header and first few sentences should grab the readers’ attention. 7. You should tell a story and mention your business, product or service in the body. 8. Proofread many times. Look for grammar and spelling mistakes. 9. Write about the new products or services you're offering. 10. Create a press release about the results of surveys or polls you have completed. 11. Submit news about a trade show or seminar you're hosting. 12. Write about no cost chat room classes you are teaching. 13. Create a piece about your opening of a new web site. 14. Submit a press release about any awards your business or web site has won. 15. Write about a free e-zine you're publishing. 16. Create a press release about products or services you're giving away. 17. Submit a press release about a business association or club you're starting. 18. Write about a famous person that's endorsing your business. 19. Create a press release about a joint venture you are doing with another business. 20. Submit about a new book or e-book you have written. 21. Write about an expert who is speaking in your chat room. 22. Create a press release about a fundraising event you're doing. 23. Submit a press release about a new contest or sweepstakes you're promoting. 24. Write about major sponsorships you're doing. Once you have started a press release program it should be a regular event not a one off exercise. Get used to thinking about issuing press releases regularly. They will pay you back.
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