Advice For Authors
1. The best one, two or three paragraph publicity releases
summarize the contents (nonfiction) or storyline (fiction) and if
done well enough are a wheel that doesn't have to therefore be
reinvented by the reviewer in the crafting of a review for
publication or broadcast. What a good reviewer will do, in
addition to utilizing the publicity release in this manner, is to
then add a line or two or three of personal commentary or advice
to the reader of the review as to the value or "recommendability"
of the book the prospective reading public for which the book
would be particularly appropriate.
2. Editors of newspapers, newsletters, magazines and journals are
on deadlines and must occasionally resort to "filler" to round out
the column of a page, or the page of a section, or a section of an
issue. Many editors resort to volunteer reviewers, some of whom
wouldn't know a deadline if it were to bite them on the ankle! So
an editor's resorting to incorporating the publisher's publicity
release info is an ideal tactic to use as a fall back measure to
getting an issue out on time.
3. Still others reviewers are but fledgling in the art and craft
of book reviewing and what they turn in must be augmented by the
incorporation of publicity release info. Don't forget to include
the ISBN number and the suggested retail price. Providing a brief
overview of the book rather than the author's background would
make a whole lot more sense to an editor.
4. Publisher originated publicity releases should be written so
as to be able to be printed verbatim in the pages of a local
newspaper or a national newsletter. Think of it this way -- you
were able to reach that one person with the apparently persuasive
information of why your book should be bought, taken home and
read. That the one person you reached was then able to turn around
and provide that same persuasive information to hundreds, perhaps
thousands of other people is a cause for publisher celebration.
The better crafted your PR; the better your chances of that
"publicity release chain reaction" will take place.
All major newspapers write articles about new
Web sites, redesigned Web sites, and Web sites offering new
content or great promotions. We're talking about USA Today, The
Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, as well as hundreds
of local newspapers and thousands of trade publications.
The combined reach of all of
those publications is in the hundreds of millions. Any site that
is reviewed in a publication carries its implied endorsement. You
can't buy that kind of credibility with an advertisement or a
search engine placement. That's why you simply can't afford to
overlook this marketing tactic.
The marketing impact of a
press release could outdistance that of a search engine or a
banner ad. You could pay thousands of dollars to a public
relations agency to write and distribute a press release. Or, you
could try to do it yourself.
In the traditional world, the press release is
printed on paper and mailed, faxed, or given to reporters at a
press conference or other face-to-face meetings. In the Cyber
World, press releases are e-mailed to reporters and posted to
company Web sites as well.
A press release has its own
look and feel that must be followed, or reporters will know the
company that sent it just doesn't have a clue about professional
standards. Since reporters get far more releases than they can
ever print, these unprofessional releases will be tossed
first—regardless of content. We'll talk more about the style
elements in the second installment of this series.
What Makes News?
Many things, including:
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Product: A new
product or service or an upgrade to an existing product
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Corporate:
Strategic alliances, venture funding, mergers, acquisitions
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Personnel:
Hiring and dismissals on an executive level (for a trade
publication), lower levels as well for a local newspaper
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Milestones: 1
millionth customer or 1,000th sale
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Financial:
Earnings, projections, actual figures
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News: Response
to current headlines, trends
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Human interest:
Case studies, "best practices" (proven solutions)
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Contests and
promotions: Announcement of the event and names of winners
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Seasonal: News
tied into a seasonal event, such as Valentine's Day, Mother's
Day, or graduation and others
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Web site: A new
Web site, a redesigned Web site, new content, or a new promotion
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Creating Your Battle Plan
As you sit down to write the
release, you must think about what you are trying to accomplish
for your company. The results can be as varied as increasing
traffic to your Web site, selling products at your Web site, or
increasing brand-name recognition for your company.
Next, you need to create the
back end to the press release campaign. That is, what message do
you want the readers of the press release to see so you can reach
your goal? In other words, you want your readers to take some form
of action. If you want them to buy a product, you need to create
copy that talks about the product's features and benefits, as well
as a strong offer to convince them to buy the product. If you want
them to enter a contest, you need to have a page that talks about
how to enter and the mechanism that tracks entries.
Writing a press release and
sending it out without having a plan is not as effective. Since
the Web is so much more versatile than any other media, you must
decide where to send readers and tell them what you want them to
do.
More often than not, you
don't want them to go to the front page. That's because you don't
want to confuse them with a dozen links off of the home page. They
might get distracted by all of the messages there and leave the
site without registering or buying. If that happens, you've lost.
Instead of sending readers
to the home page, send them to a page created solely for this
promotion. For example, if I were writing a press release about a
contest that I wanted people to enter, I would send readers
directly to a page that talks about the contest.
The same is true if I were
doing any other target marketing, such as sending people directly
to the recruiting page to apply for a job, to a specific new
product page to buy the latest gizmo, or to the financial
relations section if I had sent out a press release on an earnings
report.
When would I send people to
the home page? Whenever I wanted people to get a good overview of
the company, its products, and its people (if I were promoting a
professional services firm such as lawyers or accountants). So if
I issue a press release with my Top 10 Predictions for E-Commerce,
I want people to go to the front page so they could learn more
about my services as a speaker, consultant, and writer. I'd let
them decide which avenue to pursue.
Complete URLs
To make this tactic work,
you must put the complete URL in the press release. For example,
if I want to increase the number of subscribers to my free
e-marketing newsletters, I would include the link:
http://www.web-promotions.net . If I want to direct meeting
planners to my credentials as a speaker in the hopes they would
hire me for their next convention, I would use
http://www.janal.com/speaking.html. That way, the audience goes
directly to information that meets its needs—and mine.
You might be wondering how
people can remember those long URLs. They don't have to if the
media outlet is online. The link is embedded into the on-line
text. All they have to do is click on the link to be transported
to the correct page. It is actually very simple. You've probably
done this a hundred times without realizing it whenever you click
on banner ads that use this tactic. There's no reason we can't use
the same device in publicity. Many print ads have longer URLS now,
as well. So people are beginning to accept these longer URLs. It
is hopeful that reporters writing about your site will use the
correct, longer form URL to draw people directly to the correct
page.
That said—the shorter and
simpler you can make your promotional url, the better. And if it's
longer, make sure it's logical, and easy to type. It's too easy to
make mistakes on URLs that contain a numbers, so try to stick to
text that people can easily remember and type.
One word of warning—sometimes
long links get broken up by e-mail software and then do not work
correctly because only part of them is translated into a working
link. So if you have a long link, test it with several e-mail
programs first, or see if there's any way to make it shorter.
Tip: When including a
URL in any kind of e-mail, make sure to format it with http://
first. While some e-mail software will turn plain www.eFuse.com
into a link, others won't. But almost all e-mail software turns
anything starting with http:// into a link, so make sure to
include it.
While no one can guarantee
your release will be published or used for an article, there are
things you can do to improve your chances. The biggest obstacle to
most press releases is the release itself.
Your release should be:
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Concise - editors
receive hundreds of releases a week (perhaps more) and appreciate
releases that are brief and to the point. |
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Well-written - a
good way to ensure your release a place in the waste basket is
poor copy: bad spelling, poor grammar, and illogical or
unsubstantiated claims. |
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Factual - stick to
logical and substantiated claims, avoiding statements of belief:
we're the best, the cheapest, etc. |
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Honest - avoid the
padded quotes by company officers; even if they are experts, they
come across as biased. |
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Timely - if your
release isn't topical, consider incorporating it with a recent
news event -- but don't stretch it. |
Questions to consider
before you write:
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Who is your preferred
audience? |
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What do you want readers
to take away from your release? |
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What does your release
provide: invaluable information or just another offer?
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What is the support or
justification for the information in your release? |
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What is the tone of your
release? |
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Are you aware of possible
pitfalls or areas to avoid? |
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What do you want to
accomplish with your release: increase business, disseminate
information, or both? |
The Goals Of A Press
Release
Press Releases are the
accepted bridge between the business world and the editorial
world and your effective use of this tool can contribute a lot
to your promotional success.
When you send a release to
the press, it's probably never going to be used in that form.
Press releases aren't typically considered news. However, they
*carry* news. So your goal in sending a release is not to see
your actual release used. There are a number of things you
should be hoping for when distributing your press release:
1. That your release makes
an editor or reporter aware of your business, service, book or
company.
2. That something in your
release sparks an idea for a story and that you (or your author)
are used as a source.
3. That something in your
release runs into a story currently in the planning stages and
-- again -- you (or your author) are used as a source.
Most every newsroom has a
person whose responsibility it is to scan the releases that come
into the press office. In some news organizations this is done
by the editor (or section editor) who flags the ones they find
interesting and passes them to the relevant reporter. In others
it's done by a very junior person who then passes their
selection to a more senior staff member. In either case,
releases are read and some are sent directly into the news
stream.
Press
Release I
Sample Press Release I
Distribution List I
Write A Press Release
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