The Press Release aka Tell Me Your Story In One Page Or Less By Anthony Mora Copyright© Anthony Mora 2006 Ah, the infamous press release. What is it? Traditionally, a press release is a one-to five-page document that tells your story. Unlike a letter, there is no salutation, nor is the release personalized or written to a particular person. It is a general document you can use for the different media. There are some set-in-stone, very specific guidelines to press releases, such as covering the who, what, where, and when information, adhering to the press release format, and keeping it double-spaced. Personally, I break more of these set-in-stone rules than I keep.
Most press releases are horribly, terrifically boring. They are dry, and chock-full of dull, tedious facts, or they are overly cute.
Since I concentrate solely on media relations, as far as I am concerned, there is only one purpose for a press release - to interest the media, to interest editors, writers, or producers in my clients and their stories. And that ain't necessarily easy. The press is inundated with press releases, and most receive releases that are filled with information that is unusable or inappropriate. Don't become known as a one of the monotonous release senders. Once you're identified as a part of the "don't bother" lot, your releases will be tossed in the circular file as soon as they arrive.
Cutting Your Trailer: I have a hard-and-fast rule at my company that press releases cannot exceed one-page, and I will sacrifice double-spacing in order to come up with a one-page release. But, you argue, you have so much interesting and important information to impart. You couldn't possibly say all you wanted to in one page. You're right. So don't. You're not going to tell them your life story in one release. There will be more releases. Only give them the headlines, the teasers. Imagine that you're cutting a trailer for an upcoming movie. You're not concerned with trying to let the audience see the entire film. Your job is to interest the public enough to plunk down their money to see the movie. It's the same with your press release. You want your release to act as a teaser; you want to interest the media, grab their attention.
For further information visit:
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The Press Release aka Tell Me Your Story In One Page Or Less - To learn more about this author, visit Anthony Mora's Website.
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Anthony Mora
(Visit Anthony's Website)
Anthony Mora Communications, Inc. is a Los
Angeles-based public relations firm that
focuses in the areas of media relations,
image development and media training.
Anthony Mora Communications regularly
places clients in major media outlets,
including Time, Newsweek, Oprah, the New
York Times, CNN, the Today Show, the Wall
Street Journal and hundreds of other media
outlets. Through media placement, you are
not presented within the context of an ad
or commercial. You're not positioned as
an ad but as the news.
President and CEO, Anthony Mora, has been
featured in: USA Today, Newsweek, The New
York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The
Wall Street Journal, The BBC, CNN, E!
Entertainment Television, Entrepreneur,
Fox News, MSNBC, and other media. He has
written three books, the most the most
recent, a how-to on PR called Spin to
Win.
For further information visit:
www.AnthonyMor
a.com
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