Press releases are a critical part of any online marketing strategy. From building brand awareness to generating traffic, these short, compelling pieces of content are perfect for getting the word out about your event, product releases, awards and recognitions, and other newsworthy information about your business.
Great press releases will keep your customers, and industry-at-large, informed about your company’s recent developments. When written well, press release contents pique the interest of journalists, who may want to cover your announcements further.
A great press release is often the stepping stone for a business to secure a TV interview or a magazine feature, which means more visibility for your business and new customers.
At GetFeatured.news, we help businesses of all sizes turn their newsworthy information into releases that generate good press. We know a thing or two about writing great releases and want you to succeed at it.
What is Your Goal?
Before publishing a press release, you should have a goal in mind. After all, press releases are part of marketing and they should generate some ROI.
Your goal can define the tone of the content to be published, the publishing frequency, as well as the distribution platforms to use.
For example, if your goal is to generate backlinks to your site for SEO-purposes, you may want to go all out and get the content published on any high-quality press release sites. On the other hand, if you are promoting an event, you may want the content to be picked up by journalists and publications in your industry.
Knowing your goals beforehand is critical to developing an ROI-driven press release strategy.
Stand Out from the Crowd Like a Purple Cow
Journalists are flooded with potential pitches and stories every day. How will your press release get noticed? By standing out like a purple cow.
Making your press release unique from the banal releases is critical to having a successful campaign.
The format of a press release is fairly basic. However, the content should be anything but basic. Here are eight tested strategies you can use to make your press release stand out and grab the attention of journalists flooded with pitches from your competitors.
1. Grab Attention with The Headline
The headline is everything if you want to get your message read. The headline of your press release can determine whether it will attract journalists looking for new, exciting stories or if it will fade into oblivion without getting any traction, like the thousands released every day.
Your press release headline (as well as the email subject line, if you are pitching a journalist) should be engaging and accurate. Grab the attention of the reader and deliver your promise in the content body.
2. Get to the point in the first paragraph
Reporters are busy people and get hundreds of pitches every day. Therefore, you do not want to waste their time when pitching. Get to the point within the first few sentences of your release. Every important information should be highlighted within the first few lines of the first paragraph.
Use the rest of the paragraphs to support the points you have highlighted in the first paragraph.
3. Include hard numbers
A press release is a great avenue for blowing your horn about your achievements. However, to generate meaningful press and increase the likelihood of the release being picked by journalists, include hard numbers.
Journalists love numbers…they provide perspective on activities. Check the following real press releases and note how they use numbers:
- Canva Raises $40M Round to Earn Unicorn Title
- The Home Depot to Hire 1,000 Technology Professionals
- United Way Helped More Than 2 Million Youth Prepare for College, Work, Life
Use numbers to support the significance of your announcement. Numbers will act as proof for your assertions, and journalists love this.
4. Avoid grammatical errors
It’s the first rule of writing; always proofread your content before submission.
Go through your press release to check its flow and grammar. Get your colleague or another party to go through the press release with a fresh pair of eyes before sending it out. A simple grammatic error can dissuade a press release outlet from taking you seriously.
5. Include quotes in your press release
Give a human element to your press release content by adding some quotes related to your announcement. Perhaps it’s something interesting that the CEO said or what some of your customers have said about your product.
Press releases with quotes provide a human element that makes them stand out. These are the kinds of releases that get publications to want to syndicate across their networks and readers to take action.
6. Include your contact information
A press release should uncover opportunities for your business to get talked about by industry journalists and customers. Therefore, set the stage right for follow-ups by including your contact information.
The contact information should not be the generic [email protected] email. Instead, should assign a point of contact from your company that will be in charge of incoming press requests. On the minimum, you should have the person’s email address and phone number on the press release.
The contact information should be included at the top or bottom of the press release.
7. Keep the press release short
It was Mark Twain who said, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
Like is expected of good writing, keep your press release short. Ideally, the content should fit on one page. If you have more things to say, keep the content to a maximum of two pages. This means the press release should be about 500 to 1000 words.
A short press release makes you get straight to the point about your information. Your readers will find value in every word written and those that need more information can follow up through the contact information provided.
8. Direct readers to more information
A press release should be short and sweet. However, don’t forget your end goals. What would you like to achieve from the press release? Would you like more brand awareness, traffic to your site, products sales, or something else?
Include relevant links in the press release that will help to achieve your goal. For example, if you are promoting an upcoming event, leave a link to the event’s sign up page. If your company has achieved a milestone, publish a dedicated page on your website where writers and other readers can get in-depth information about the accomplishments.
Make it easy for journalists or readers to get the information they need by linking to relevant content on your website or other properties you own.
Contact Get Featured on the News for Great Press Release.
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