The mistakes that will kill your press release
By Publicity Heaven writer Michael Barratt
Press releases are a great way to generate free publicity for your business but it is vital that you format the release properly and include an attention grabbing headline. The excitement and rush to get your business publicity can often lead to some very avoidable mistakes that mean you don’t receive coverage.
Journalists are bombarded with press releases every day and it is important that your release stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Because they receive so many, journalists will eliminate press releases based on the strength of the headline alone, but don’t let this put you off. A well written and structured press release will definitely improve your chances of coverage.
As well as having an attention grabbing headline, your press release needs to be newsworthy, clear, easy to read and grammatically accurate. It sounds like a lot but failing to follow these guidelines can make the difference between free publicity and no publicity.
Here are some important things that you should be aware of when writing a press release:
Your press release should read like a news story not an advertisement
Your press release should highlight a clear benefit to the target audience. Simply talking about a discounted offer or a new service is not enough. Try and tie your new product or service in with a recent news story or trend. For example, if you create a service that improves people’s chances of finding work, link it to recent unemployment figures and explain how the service will help.
Grammatical errors will affect your credibility
You might have a great headline and a newsworthy press release but grammatical errors are a big turn off for all journalists. A clear and concise press release is much more likely to be picked up than a release that is newsworthy and riddled with errors. You may have the best product or service available but grammatical errors can knock your credibility and chances of future publicity.
Don’t go over the top
It is important to keep your press release simple. When you have a unique service to offer it is very difficult to talk about a single feature or achievement, but it is vital that you do. Too many stories in a single release will mean that the journalist has to create an angle, something that the release should do for them. Make sure that you use one news story per press release.
Keep it to a minimum
Press releases are typically 500 words in length. It doesn’t matter whether you are writing a press release for trade or consumer publications, you aren’t going to be able to keep the interest of the reader if you write 1000 words. Your release needs to beneficial and straight to the point, encouraging the journalist to find out more about your business. When they call, you then expand on the information that you included in the press release.
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