Tips For Writing An Attention Grabbing Press Release

If you were to ask certain people in the public relations or
marketing field, they would tell you, "Press Releases don't sell.
End of story." Most press releases don't sell, but there's a good
reason for that.

A lot of people just don't care, be it the media or the regular
old public. Don't get me wrong-- I'm not trying to say that
society has fallen into a pit of apathetic lethargy because
that's not true. What I am saying is that in this world of I've-
heard-everything, it takes more than just a professional voice
and a nice writing style to get noticed in the news world.

So what tips can you follow to make your press release more
likely to catch the eye of an editor or the average reader?

*Write your press release about an event that doesn't happen
every day. I've read press releases in the past that were written
to announce someone's promotion in a small to mid size company.
Fact of the matter is, people are out there finding jobs and
getting promoted every single day. If you can find something
uncommon having to do with your announcement, focus on that. It
will certainly capture a readers interest for a longer period of
time.

*Ask yourself how meaningful your topic would to be to a mass
audience. The more people that would be interested, the better
chance you have at getting your story covered.

*Even if you have found something to write your release about
that would be interesting and meaningful to a majority of people,
you might want to consider whether or not the topic will promote
your business. After all, writing the press release was intended
to gain more publicity, right?

*How will the information you provide in the press release
benefit the reader? As much as we hate to admit it, we live in
not a selfless world. Many of us read an article, an ad, or
anything at all only if it serves to benefit our own interest
somehow.

*So, Citizen John has been looking for an architectural firm to
contract with, and that just happens to be exactly what you do.
John runs across an article published in a local paper that was
based entirely on your press release. What would the article have
to do to inspire John to actually hire you instead of someone
else? Call to action. If there are no motivational reasons for
John to get in gear on calling you, you've just lost a sale.

*Finally, don't write your release from your own point of view.
After all, you are already sold on yourself, right? If you want to
grab the attention of the reader, try stepping into their shoes.
Write what would interest them, what they want to hear. It's not
designed to stroke their ego, but rather, focus on what the
public pays the most attention to.

Is writing a press release that follows all these guidelines
guaranteed to bring in more business than you can handle? Not
necessarily, but it might. Alvin Apple, one of our inhouse
editors here at DrNunley.com, wrote a release for customer Gary
Blair last week. A few days later Gary got back to us saying that
Barbara Walter's "The View", a day time talk show, had contacted
him for a guest appearance on account of the information
contained in his press release. Not bad, eh?

That just goes to show that with a little bit of practice and a
lot of determination, press releases really can work, despite
what anybody says.