Why Every Business Should Write Press Releases

A press release is an outlet for your business to get free, yes free, publicity that attracts favorable media attention and extensive coverage. In plain terms, a press release is a news story written in third person that communicates something newsworthy about a person or a business and is submitted to the media.

Press Releases can benefit everyone

Every business needs to promote themselves and gain brand recognition among the desired target market.  Whether you are a small local business with less than 5 employees or a multi-million dollar national corporation, writing press releases to generate publicity can benefit your business tremendously. The key is to know what to write your press release about, how to write and format is correctly, and who to send the press release to.

If done correctly, a press release can improve your business’s visibility, improve name recognition, increase traffic to your website, and build rapport with important media contacts. Not to mention, submitting online press releases can improve search engine optimization (SEO), which means increasing the number of links to your site which will improve your site’s ranking on search engines like Google and Yahoo. Online press release optimization is only as good as the presentation, position, and performance of the release, however.

What do I write a press release about?

Your press release should be interesting and newsworthy. It should also be timely which means it is relative to the events happening at large as well as relative to a publication’s editorial calendar. If it’s not then no one will want to read it and the news media won’t publish it. Press releases can be written about new products or services that you recently introduced, the addition of new employees, partnerships or acquisitions, announcing the opening or relocation of your business, sponsorship of charitable events, gaining important contracts with other companies, awards and community recognition, or any other news that is a story - not an advertisement. Virtually anything can be a story as long as you put the right spin on it and give it the angle it needs to generate interest.

Remember to K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Your press release should answer all the “W” questions: who, what, where, when, and why. Keep in mind you’re not writing for your target market like you would with advertising copy; you are writing to appeal to journalists and fulfill their requirements by answering the question “Why would readers care?”. Your headline should not boast your product or service benefits, but rather proclaim your story’s newsworthiness. You only have a few seconds to capture the reader’s attention, so make your headline count.

How to write a press release correctly in 8 simple steps

Once you have determined what you will write your press release about, you need to make sure that you format is correctly.

Step 1 - You need to include release instructions, whether it is for “immediate release” or “for release on some future date.” Make sure you include this at the top of your release.

Step 2 - It is important to list contact information including a contact person, company name, phone, fax, website URL, and e-mail address.

Step 3 - The headline should be short (aim for less than 10 words) and attention-grabbing. DO NOT WRITE IN ALL CAPS or use exclamation marks!!!

Step 4 - Write a summary of a few sentences which summarizes what your press release is about and acts as an extenstion to your headline.

Step 5 - The body of your press release should always begin with: City, State, Month, Day, Year- Then you can begin your story.  Aim to keep the body within 400-500 words maximum. Make sure your story is relevant, and give it a sense of urgency.

Step 6 - Don’t forget to include an about section which should summarize your company. Include your product or service offering and where the business is located and conducts business. Do not forget to include a link to your website at the end of this section. This gives you an opportunity to drive potential customers to your website who otherwise might not have stumbled upon it.

Step 7 - You should always include a section that lets readers know where they can go for additional information. Make sure you include a contact person, their position, the name of the company, a phone number, and an e-mail address where this person can be reached.

Step 8 - When you are finished with your press release, end it with ### centered at the bottom. The three #’s signal the end of the press release.

You can view some cample press release formats at the following sites:
Example 1, Example #2

Where should you send your press release?

When submitting a press release to the media, there are a variety of different sources to distribute the release including print, television, and online sites. If you are submitting your press release to a print or television source, make sure to send it to the most relevant contact person available and that the source you send it to makes sense for your business.

For example, if your press release is about the grand opening of a local restaurant, then you would want to send the release to a local newspaper that is read by your target market, or a local television station. Make sure that the contact person is the most relevant person to your story. You shouldn’t just default to sending the release to the editor-in-chief or the publisher. Do your research and send it to the person in charge of press releases, or someone who handles local news coverage. This will give your story a better chance of getting published.

In addition to submitting your press release to print and television media, you should take advantage of the press release sites that the web has to offer, both free and paid are available. There are many free press release websites for you to take advantage of. They create free backlinks to your website which helps with search engine optimization (SEO). Just make sure you follow each site’s guidelines for submission carefully, or else your press release will be rejected by the editor. A few good free press release websites are www.24-7pressrelease.com, www.1888pressrelease.com, www.PRlog.org, www.newswiretoday.com, and www.PRcompass.com. You can also try to Google ‘free press release websites’ for a list of more sites.

If you want to gain more exposure for your press release whether it’s for SEO purposes or to try to get your story picked up by more news media, you can also utilize paid press release sites. Some good ones to try are www.PRweb.com (better for SEO purposes), www.PRnewswire.com (best for getting your story picked up by the media), and www.PRleap.com. Remember: You get what you pay for.  Free press release sites are good if you are trying to create more links for SEO purposes, but if you are looking for something more than you might want to consider spending some money.

I hope that this gives you some insight into writing press releases and welcome additional questions and comments.

Tags: benefits of press releases, brand recognition, free publicity, how to write a press release, increase website traffic, link building, linkbacks, media attention, news story, press release distribution, press release topics, press releases, search engine optimization, seo, small business, website benefits

This entry was posted on October 28th, 2008 and is filed under Web Marketing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.