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How to Create Killer
Press Releases For By Terry Dean
Do you want to drive
your hit counter crazy and get so many orders that you just can't handle
them? If so, then it is time that you move over into one of the kings of
marketing techniques, the press release. The problem is that
around 95% of press releases (if not more) end up in the round file. So,
many marketers have come to the conclusion that press releases just don't
work for them or their business. This is about the same
percentage that claim the Internet just doesn't work for their business.
The Internet does work, if you know how to work it. Press releases
work...if you know how to work them. As an ezine publisher I receive
dozens of press releases every week, but they almost never get published.
Only one or two lines get read before the delete button gets pressed
again. If someone who only gets a couple of dozen press releases weekly
gives them a line or two of reading, what do you think that those
publishers getting hundreds or even thousands of submissions do with each
of their press releases? If you want them to
even give your press release a second glance, it is going to have to be
written correctly, be interesting, and extremely newsworthy. If it is
anything else, your press release will take a quick do not pass go trip
directly into the circular file. The biggest error I
see with the press releases that are sent to me is that they are sales
letters for the person's product. They don't even make an effort to give
good information that a publisher could use. They think that someone is
going to publish their "ad" for free. I don't think so! Before you even begin
writing your press release you must begin to think about it from the
publisher's perspective. They are looking for news. They are not looking
for your product or service. In other words, try to piggy-back your press
release on current trends and stories that are already being published
when at all possible. Once you begin
writing, keep it short. A press release should be one page or less and
should never tell the whole story. Reporters are a busy lot and the ONE
goal you have in mind when writing the release is to perk their interest.
Then, they will contact you for more information. In the upper left hand
corner of every press release, write the words "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE"
unless there is time sensitive material involved. If you are involved with
something concerning Valentine's day, you may want to write "FOR RELEASE
BEFORE VALENTINE'S DAY" or some other similar phrase using the date or
time involved. In the upper right
hand corner of the press release, write "Contact: Terry Dean." Substitute
your name for mine, of course. Then, list below that all of your contact
information such as company name, address, phone number, fax number, email
address, and web site address on each line below that.
Never leave out your
personal name. Publications do not want to spend time trying to find out
who to contact personally. Never forget your phone number. They will want
to contact you quickly in most cases. Make sure that phone is available to
be answered or that you can quickly call back if you are unavailable. If
you wait even one day to get back in contact with them you can sometimes
miss out on your free story. Then, you will skip
down a couple of lines and in the middle of the line you will write your
headline. Just as in a sales letter, the headline will make or break the
entire press release. If it doesn't reach out and grab a reporter who is
glancing at hundreds of different press releases, then your whole effort
goes down the drain. Your headline is your
primary opportunity to really sell your concept to the reader. You should
spend around 80% - 95% of your time creating the press release in this one
area. If the headline is exciting and newsworthy, you will start getting
calls. If it isn't, then most publishers will never get past it. In most cases your
headline should be making a bold and exciting claim that you can back up.
If your company sells web sites, don't tell them that there is a new web
hosting company available. Tell them How Anyone can Have a Web Site
Designed and Hosted for their Business in 24 hours or less...if you can do
it (remember, you may be adding a whole boatload of new customers if the
release gets printed). When you write a sales
letter, you have to come up with a USP for your company. You have to know
what makes your product, service, or company unique. Think about the
headline of the press release in the same way. You have to write the
headline with an idea of being so Unique in your approach that it is
newsworthy.
Paul Hartunian, who is
one of the top publicity geniuses, says that there are three ways to get
publicity for any business.
1. Have a solution to
a problem. Hopefully in your
business you don't want to be seen as the "nut" so I recommend one of the
first two options. Whichever one you choose, make sure that you make a
bold headline that will grab the interest of your prospect: the reporter. Then skip a couple of
lines and write the body of the press release. The body contains three
major sections: summary, credentials, and the close. The summary should be
a continuation of the headline and should tell the entire story in one
short paragraph. Let them know the who, what, when, where, and why so that
they would understand the release without having to read any further. The credentials
section will involve giving your credentials and/or showing a quote which
enforces the power behind the story that you are giving out. In most
successful press releases, this section is based on a quote about the
story inside of quotation marks. Then, the name and the credentials of the
person giving the quote are listed. Make sure that this quote is extremely
professional and specific (just as if you were using a testimonial inside
of a sales letter). In the last section,
you will want to close the sale. This is simply telling the reporter what
to do next. Since the purpose of the press release is to just perk the
interest and to get You may want to add an
extra credential or two in this section, but try to avoid making any type
of direct sale. In other words, don't tell them how much your product or
service costs in this section. You just want to get them to call you for
more information or for an interview. Then, in the center of
the page at the bottom of the press release, include the symbol "###"
which means that this is the end.
If your press release
was properly prepared, you can expect to start getting calls after it is
sent out. At this point, it is important that you are ready to respond
with answers to the reporter's questions, have a media kit in hand to mail
out, or to prepare for an interview. Make sure to prepare
these things before you ever send out your press release as you don't want
to be taken unawares when the calls start coming in. Once you have their
interest, don't lose it because you aren't prepared! Terry Dean, a 5 year
veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You
Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses
Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: |
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