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In
today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, small business
owners should actively pursue every possible opportunity available
to receive positive public exposure.
While not every press release will give your business a
banner headline on page one or the lead story in the late-news
feature, a news release is free and an effective way of getting
exposure.
Step One: Find a News Angle for Your Headline
There
are a number of very good reasons for sending out a news release
and generating as much favorable publicity for your business.
Anyone
of these ideas could be used as your media hooks.
- Something new about
your business or organization.
You start-up a new business or establish a new division
or group (the more unusual, the better).
- What's distinctive
about you or your business. These are backgrounders, which are
press releases that generally provides detailed or in-depth
background information on your product, business or
organization.
- An upcoming event.
This could be an upcoming anniversary of your business, the
length of your CEO’s tenure, opening of a new store locally
or manufacturing facility in another area.
- Connection between
what you offer and current news. An example is when you issue
a position statement regarding some social, community,
national, legislative or industry issue.
- Survey or poll
research
- A contest or award.
Your business, or an individual in your organization has
received an award, recognition, commendation from a
professional or trade organization, the government or the
community. You
can also issue press releases when your business presents an
award or other recognition to an employee or client. You can also issue press releases when your business
sponsors a significant community festival, awards, or event
open to the public.
- Tie-in with a
holiday or anniversary
- Connection between
what you offer and a current trend
- Controversial or
surprising claim
- Humorous
announcement
Compose
an eye-catching, informative headline using that hook. Remember,
you have no more than 10 seconds to interest a reader.
Your headline should be a brief statement of the most
important or vital fact of your story. Just as in newspaper
headlines, you can use a compressed, telegraphic style.
Here
are some examples of titles of recently issued press releases:
Step Two: Basic Facts of your News Angle
Always
present the Five Ws of journalism in your news release: Who? What?
When? Where? Why (or how)? Incomplete or inaccurate information is
a sure-fire way to get your news release crumpled and thrown to
the trash can. Check and double-check your news releases to make
sure all information is complete and clear.
Always follow the rule: never leave unanswered questions in
the reader’s mind.
If
you are inviting the public to a charity event sponsored by your
organization, for example, be sure to include the date, time,
location or venue, the reason for the event, who can attend, RSVP
details, attire to be worn and other pertinent information.
Give out the complete address; never assume the people will
immediately know where the “Civic Center” is.
If
you are trying to tell the public of a great new product your
company is launching, then make sure that you explain what the
product is, why is it different from other existing products in
the market, how can it benefit the consumers, among others.
Weave
your who, what, when, where, and why together in an opening
paragraph for your release, taking no more than one or two
sentences to make your main point. Always make your lead (or
first) paragraph the most important item in the article. Your
opening sentence should be able to convince media that this is a
noteworthy piece of news that they should use. Be able to tell the
readers that they should care – because if media thinks that
their readers or viewers will want your story, then the higher is
the likelihood that the media will use it! (This is the whole
point for making press releases). Make your pitch catchy, although
a straightforward, factual style does the job, too. Be succinct,
but thorough!
For
example, the lead paragraph for the announcement headline –
POWERHOMEBIZ.COM SIGNS CONTENT PARTNERSHIP WITH INC.COM – reads:
“Power HomeBiz Guides, a new online magazine offering a
wide-range of high-quality information and tools for home
businesses, today announced that it has been named as an Inc.com
Content Provider. PowerHomeBiz.com was chosen, following Inc.com's
rigorous process of due diligence and recommendation, as the best
of breed for providing information for small businesses
entrepreneurs.”
Step Three: Gather or Create a Lively Quote That
Elaborates on the Basic Facts
Direct
quotations from someone who can back up the basic claim of the
release -- you; the company president; the originator of the
event, product, or service; a satisfied customer; or someone who
carries special weight with your target audience – lends greater
credence to the news release. Dynamic blurbs injects strength in
any press kit or press releases. Quotes enable you to bring the
story to life, provide perspective, or add star appeal. For
example, in the PowerHomeBiz.com release, I used comments from
publisher Nach Maravilla on the significance of the partnership
agreement with Inc.com.
Step Four: Elaborate Further the Basic Facts
What
else do you want to communicate to editors and producers?
Follow-up the facts of your story in descending order of
importance. You can
include additional quotes, or report additional facts that support
your claims in straight prose.
You might want to place a brief description of your
company, or historical data about your subject here.
Don't distract; support your story!
One
seemingly minor but very important point: if the main text does go
to another page, write MORE or CONTINUED at the bottom of the page
to indicate that this is not the end. On your second page, make
sure to include a header with the title of your release and the
page (or what they call “slugline”). Putting your headline at the top of page will make it easier
to reassemble the pages in proper order should the pages get
separated.
Step Five: End with the
Nitty-Gritty Details
Include
additional information supporting your news release – such as
prices, addresses, dates, phone numbers, how to
register, etc. -- that any media notice about your subject
should include. You
can include the date, time and place of a news conference or site
visitation; information on how to get media credentials; schedule
for photo opportunity and/or interview availability, and other
details.
Also,
make sure that you put either three pound signs, “# # #”, or
the word “END” to signal the end of the main text of your news
release.
Step Six: Send It Out
Consider
sending your release to the local newspapers, magazines that focus
on your industry, specialized business newspapers (most major
metropolitan areas have them), local radio stations that cover
business news, newsletters that cover your industry and local
television shows that cover business topics.
It may be a long shot, but it is also worth trying sending
your releases to the major dailies and business newspapers. Who
knows, they might like your story hook enough to run the piece
(even a teeny-weeny mention in a major newspaper won’t hurt!)
To
increase the chances of media picking up your story, make every
effort to address releases to a specific editor or producer by
name (if you are positive that the specific person handles your
area and is in fact still on the staff). In most cases, though, it
is best to simply address your news release to a job title –
Managing Editor for the print media, News Director for electronic
media. Also, make
sure that the media person/outfit that really runs stories similar
to your release. Don’t expect a high-tech publication to cover your
press release on your new line of dolls that is not even available
online!
You
can send your press releases through three ways: the traditional
snail-mail, by email, or by fax.
Sending releases through mail is still the most widely used
form of distribution; but it is not advisable if you are sending
an extremely time sensitive information.
Fax distribution has become a quick way to send out
releases; however, there is no assurance that your press release
arrived in one piece to the intended recipients. Lastly, sending news releases through email has become the
common practice, but make sure that email is not considered spam. Combine these three approaches for maximum effectivity.
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