Developing a news release might seem like a daunting task at first to you, but with a little know-how and practice you can write an excellent piece. To start, just follow the rules shown here for writing and sending your news release. 1. Place News First – Because readers want news, you should always include the news before the source. So before you state who made the announcement, you should actually write the announcement. For example, a news story about a new tobacco study should describe the results of the study, before describing who conducted it. 2. Interest Your Audience – Keep your audience and the publications readers in mind. Before writing your press release you should consider why the news matters to them. Ask yourself if you’d want to read the press release, if you were in their shoes. 3. Clear Headlines – Keep in mind that the reader should be able to catch the idea of your story from the headline alone. Focusing on the angle and idea of the story is more important than developing a ‘catchy’ slogan. 4. Personalize The Angle – As soon as possible, you should provide your personal angle. The personal angle on the news is usually what is getting your organization plugged in the story. An effective way to do this is by utilizing quotes from well-known or qualified individuals. 5. Stay Relevant – Journalists want news that is relevant to their audience. Writing to meet the needs of the publication your submitting to greatly improves your odds of inclusion. 6. Build Credibility – Quotes from your company’s senior executives should do. News releases are taken a much more seriously when the boss’s name is on the line. 7. Condense The News – You should try to tell the entire story in the first paragraph. The rest of the release can contain more details. But it’s nice to know that if everything else is cut, you still got your main points across. Being “top heavy” is a good thing. 8. Demonstrate Positive Intentions – If space permits, allow an executive of your organization to inject some human interest to the story. These types of quotes can be used to demonstrate compassion, show good intentions, or simply transition a negative story back to a positive tone. 9. Be Truthful – It may be tempting to bend the truth to develop a better story, but you should avoid doing so. Media professionals have a rule of verifying information before publication. 10. Localize It – Using quotes from each of your target markets is a great idea. News editors love quotes from respected individuals in their community or industry. Be sure to include quotes from groups that read the publications you have targeted with your press release. 11. Get Permission – When including individual’s quotes in your press release it’s always a good idea to get permission. Verbal permission is always that is usually required, but this can prevent future problems as well as clarify any misunderstandings. 12. Be Prepared – Just because your press release has been sent, doesn’t mean you’re done crafting your message. Be ready to answer calls from journalists and prepare statements for them. Keep a log of the questions they ask, because there’s a good chance that another reporter is going to ask the same thing. 13. Be First – If you’re going to send a reporter news on a particular subject, be the first to report that news. You want to be fresh and original, taking something from last week’s paper and putting your name on it isn’t going to work. 14. Proofread and Edit – You should always read over your press release before submitting it and have someone else look it over. A second set of eyes can often catch typos that you might miss. 15. Timely Release – For local events it is best to send your release to newspapers and television stations about 3 weeks before the event. For national magazines you will have to submit your event several months in advance. If you follow these tips for writing powerful news releases, you greatly increase the likelihood of your news release being used.
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Developing a news release might seem like a daunting task at first to you, but with a little know-how and practice you can write an excellent piece. To start, just follow the rules shown here for writing and sending your news release.
This Article was written by Wes Upchurch of PressDr.com, an experienced reputation management and media relations firm. To discover even more ways to improve your media release
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