The importance of a good press release
Your business needs not only promotion but also good publicity. The more publicity you do for your business, the more recognition it receives. Hence it’s important to make use of publicity tools that gets you a good publicity in a correct way so that it draws maximum attention. Here comes the all important role of a well written, well informative Press Release. A Press Release is an important tool in building a robust communications architecture for your business and website. The trick is in making use of the Press Release in the correct way to draw attention to your site. The readers should not feel that they are reading an advertisement. Also they have more credibility than the other publicity tools because Press Releases are published by editors and columnists, who do not generally publish anything unauthentic.
Timing and placement are really important for an effective Press Release. The timing will depend on how much lead-time an organization needs. Decide to whom should be the Press Release distributed to-news agencies, trade publications and general publications. The Press Release should be targeted to the media representatives who will appreciate to assist.
While writing a Press Release make sure that it gets noticed amongst the millions of Press Releases that are published everyday. To start off with, your Press Release must be news worthy. Nobody will read the Press Release if it has no importance in it. More importantly, a Press Release is not an advertisement, so don’t make it sound like one. It should just consist of all the details about your business-your products and services; that is. Do not exaggerate. Try reading the Press Release as a customer and then judge how it is. If as a customer you yourself did not like it, there is no chance that others will. You can do a variety of Press Releases on different products or services, in fact that will enhance your company’s profile.
As an old proverb goes, “Well begun is half done”, a well written first paragraph will save your day. Since editors are busy and will not find time to read your Press Release, make the first paragraph sound good and interesting as well as informative. If the editors find the first paragraph interesting, they will take the efforts to read the entire Press Release. It’s always a bonus if your Press Release has a minimum of three relevant keywords suited for the target audience. This makes it easier for the users to find your Press Release from the search engines. You should also add links in your Press Release that will lead to your website’s content. The biggest benefit in having an online Press Release is that it can have a viral.
Focus on the headlines. Make it interesting and informative. After the headlines, focus on the body. Answer the basics- who, what, when, where, why and how? Don’t keep it long so that it is not boring. The sequence should be:
a) Headlines
b) Introduction
c) Event
d) The product
e) The people
f) Summary
g) Background of the company
It is very important to end your Press Release with the contact details of the director of communications, so that journalists and media houses can easily contact your organization.
