press releases 2300

Reporters get so many press releases throughout the course of one day, it has become extremely important to make yours stand out. There are many different ways to do this, and different approaches will work for different reporters. In "Writing the Bulletproof Press Release," by Yvonne Buchanan, there are several tips that I found helpful.

There are the obvious ones such as making sure you send it to the correct reporter. If you send your press release about current events to the sports reporter, you can be sure it will be sent straight to the trash.

A good point that was made is to avoid 'hype.' This inculdes using words and phrases such as “revolutionary,” “best” and “leading-edge.” Unless these are backed up by unbiased third party statistics, leave them out. Even then, do you really need to use those words? Find a better way to make your point. If a reporter choses to write a story on your press release, you can be sure that it will not contain these words anyway. Alos, avoid technical terms the common reader will not understand. If the reporter needs a dictionary to understand what you are trying to say, it will probably just get deleted.

Another obvious, but sometimes overlooked point is to use inverted pyramid style. Journalists spend their entire careers using this style, and it is easy for them to read. Stick with it! Be brief and to the point, and don't use two pages when two paragraphs will do.