Your voice is one of the most powerful tools you possess and using the media is a great way to get your voice heard. The most profitable and often overlooked free publicity generator is the news release. A news release is a brief written summary alerting the local media about your business news and activities. News releases are not only great marketing tools but also far more credible and believable than advertising since they appear to come from an objective third party.
So, what makes a good story? While the answer to such a
subjective question can be difficult, here are a few pointers in order to guide
you in writing your news releases.
Be Remarkable
Reporters like stories that are related to a current event
or issue, or those that have emotional appeal. A news release should provide
enough information to generate interest but just enough to incite them to want
to know more. In doing so, it is only logical that it must provide good contact
information if they wish to follow-up. You would be amazed to know how many
news releases fail to mention even the simplest of things, like a phone number
or a contact name.
More importantly, your news release must be devoid of any
obvious fluff or overt advertising. You need to write it to read like a news
story because a news reporter will be using it. Look at it from the reporter's
perspective. In other words, write the story for them.
What can a news release do? They can announce important
company changes, new recruits or appointments within the organization, recently
or soon-to-be launched products or services, and so on. There are many more
ways that new releases may be used, including identity branding or pre-empting
negative publicity. If you have no hard news, you can create some. For example,
if a national organization announces facts that are relevant to your business,
you could make a good story by asking local experts for their reactions. In
short, it could be anything new -- hence, the preference of the word "news
release" over "press release."
