Friday, December 26, 2008

Press Release Writing

Writing A Press Release

Press release writing is a cinch, once you have your basics in order. The most important thing to remember is that although it’s promotion you are after, you can’t be brazen about it. Remember, you submit your press release to a reporter, and whether your product’s name lands up on a newspaper page is totally in his hands. So, it pays to tread the following arc while writing press releases:

DON’T WRITE A PROMOTIONAL ARTICLE. WRITE A NEWS STORY.

The reporter doesn’t care about your product. He doesn’t want to know about your company’s new hair dryer, or your website’s awesome range of products. The reporter wants an angle, an issue; he wants a story that his readers will be interested in. PR writing is all about this: give the reporter that story.

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

To begin with, you may not have a story to tell. Search for it. Suppose your product is a website selling health products. Ask yourself these questions:
  1. Does it feature a vitamin that benefits heart patients?
  2. How prevalent is heart disease in the country?
  3. Can you get a quote from an eminent cardiologist on how to reduce the chances of heart disease?
Now you have a topic: an authentic view on how to prevent heart disease. When you write press release, this is your story’s lead. Your website is merely in the background, mentioned as a source for a feature in a newspaper.

HOW THIS WORKS AND WHY YOU DON’T NEED TO DO MORE TO PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCT

You hand the reporter starting material for an interesting story. He may have space for it in the Lifestyle section of his newspaper. People will read it, people will talk about it. What will they talk about?
  1. That they saw an informative piece in so-and-so newspaper about heart diseases
  2. That such-and-such are its causes and so forth a cardiologist’s suggestion
  3. That there’s this vitamin on this website that helps heart patients
There you have it. Your PR led to a story on how to prevent a disease, a disease without which your product is irrelevant! And yet, wait till people hop onto your web store and begin browsing for not just that vitamin, but other health products they come across. Such is the power of one line of visibility in a newspaper.

This is, from an ideation viewpoint, how to write a press release. For formatting and other optimizations, select a popular press release writing service, and you are done!

Please click here to visit the epressreleases.org leading online PR distribution site.