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Set Your Press Release Apart From the Other 350 The Editor Got That Day

Guest post by: Shel Horowitz

Article Overview: Editors get overwhelmed by vast numbers of press releases--make yours stand out in the crowd.

Set Your Press Release Apart From the Other 350 The Editor Got That Day

Editors get overwhelmed by vast numbers of press releases--make yours stand out in the crowd.

The majority of press releases go straight into the recycle bin—or simply get lost in the deluge of press materials. And some of the reason is that an amazing number of releases break some of the basic rules.

So set yours apart from the crowd—do it right! That, along with proper follow up, will boost your odds significantly.

The crucial part is not so much in the structure of the release, but in the ingredients. Just as when you bake a cake, it needs flour, eggs, flavoring agents, and sweetener—but you can assemble them in thousands of different permutations within that basic "cake structure"

So here's what you should have in your computer cupboard when sending a release:

1) A news hook—something to pin the story on that makes people want to read past the first couple of lines. You are competing with a huge number of inputs so yours has to be memorable

2) An understanding of who's reading the release and what they're looking for, i.e., one size definitely does *not* fit all. This is why I always ask my press release clients who will be reading it. Some audiences want something sexy, overdramatic, others want just the facts, others want a local or niche angle.

3) The right list to send it to, preferably with individual editors'/reporters' names, recently verified

4) Full contact info! The best release in the world is useless if the reporter doesn't have the tools to follow up.

5) A format that's accessible to the news media. In my view, this includes double-spacing, even if that forces it to an extra page. Reason: those print traditionalists like me prefer to mark up their paper copy with insertions and rewrites, and only then punch in the changes. It also means keeping it to one side of a page, letting reporters know if your release jumps to the next page, etc.

Likewise, complete info about the product or event (including ordering information, if appropriate)

Other things are nice to have, but not essential: some sort of third-party validation, for example, or quotes from the principal person involved, or a summary.

Eventually, it becomes second nature. I can knock off an easy release (say, for a community happening) in about 20 minutes, and the papers will pick it up. For a project with a national audience and significantly more research involved, it still usually only takes me one to two hours.

Related Articles
  Writing a great media release
  Publicity and Press Release Basics
  5 Benefits of Publishing a Press Release
  Power of the press release
  Smashing the Myth of the Press Release

Article Tags: audiences, br 3, computer cupboard, couple of lines, crowd, deluge, double spacing, eggs, flavoring agents, flour, full contact, hook, insertions, mdash, news media, niche, permutations, press materials, sweetener, traditionalists



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