If you’re going to start kicking out press releases, understand the term “newsworthy”. It differs greatly depending on the audience, whether it’s a trade or consumer publication, etc. Doing generic “we have a new product” press releases may not get you as far as you hope, since everyone else is pretty much doing the same thing. Media people are *flooded* with those things and simply don’t have the time to read them. They get canned.

Take a good look at your “release” and seriously ask yourself: if you were a reporter or staff writer, reading this, where is the story? Take a step back and get a feeling for the overall theme – what exactly about this announcement is truly relevant to your readers? Are you aiming to inform, educate and entertain, or is it nothing more than a generically formatted plug? Learn to think like a staff writer – you’ll get much farther with your releases if you give the editorial staff what they need instead of what *you* need.

Also – having done this kind of thing myself (on both ends), Andrew is very, very right about reporters on deadline. Respect it and prepare for it. Make sure that a reporter on a two-hour deadline can reach you for relevant followup. That very often means the difference between publication and not.

Very timely primer on writing press releases Andrew. How about an article on where to submit them next, you only briefly touched on that and mentioned only two places.

The decision on where to send press releases is one that the company should make for itself. It is also a decision that should already by alluded to in your business plan or marketing strategy. If your company produces software for accountants, then your press releases should be sent to publications that accountants read. If you want to sell services to zoologists, send your press to release to a magazine that zoologists read.

TIA,
Steve

“We have a new website” isn’t news. “Our traffic jumped up 20% over the weekend” isn’t either. But “my client’s life changed, and James Interactive was there” MIGHT be. Or “we’re releasing a new product with significant consumer advantages” could be, if you’re aiming for a trade audience.

If you were a member of the general reading public, is this a story that would truly interest you?

The story should always come first, because that’s how an editorial staff is going to see it. When that story is there, send the release.. otherwise, bide your time. If your business is flooding local media with useless releases, they may just ignore the good one when it comes along.

Your points are all right on. Thanks!

Andrew