The Rules of Crafting a Media Release for Maximum Publicity

By Unknown

Crafting a media release might seem difficult at first to you, but with a little knowledge and practice you can write an effective news release. To start, just follow the rules shown here for writing and sending your news release.

1. Identify Yourself Clearly – Your business or organization should be prominently displayed. We recommend displaying the source of the news at the top of the press release.

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. Compelling Headlines – Just like the rest of your marketing, you need a headline that will catch the attention of your intended audience (in this case the news editor). It will likely be the first thing the editor reads. If it doesn’t catch his attention, it will also be the last.

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 If the news in your release is outdated you shouldn’t be sending it.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. Communicate Pertinent Information – An old rule in journalism says that you should include the 5 W’s and H. This holds true for press releases. Be sure to answer the questions What, Who, When, Where, Why, and How.

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. Be Truthful – It may be tempting to bend the truth to develop a better story, but you should avoid doing so. Media professionals have a rule of verifying information before publication.

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. Make Yourself Reachable – Provide a specific contact person with a phone number where they can be reached. Don’t make contacting you a challenge. In fact it’s a good idea to include an email address, web address, and fax number as well.

13. Be First – If you’re going to send a reporter news on a particular subject, be the first to report that news. You want to be fresh and original, taking something from last week’s paper and putting your name on it isn’t going to work.

14. Show Professionalism – Using a professional layout and avoid sloppiness to indicating seriousness. Understanding and abiding by industry standards for writing press releases is a great start. For example, always write your press releases in the 3rd person and end your press releases with “-30-”.

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 following these rules for improving your media releases, you greatly increase the likelihood of your media release being picked up.

Article Source: http://interpret.zar.vg

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