Ideas for Crafting Your Press Release
Crafting your press release begins before you formulate any content. It is important to understand the market, to have your outline in place, and to verify the facts or information you plan on citing in your release. Once you tackle these three steps you will be ready to craft a strong press release that will help you gain valuable earned media.
Top Three Steps for Crafting a Press Release
Step One: Understand the Market
Precision holds the key to getting the attention of the media. While many people send out a general press release, those that target specific markets get the better results. Before you begin writing the content of your press release, you should learn about the readers, the media outlets, and the individual associates within those outlets.
- Learn the voice of the outlet. Review articles or productions to see if they are intellectual, humorous, or serious in nature. You will want to craft a press release that corresponds with the tone of the existing content.
- Know the target market. You want to be certain that the story you have will be of interest to the target market of the publication or show. A little research will go a long ways towards helping you choose better media outlets.
- Get to know the media professionals (including journalists, editors, personalities, and producers). Learning their likes, interests, and passions can provide you with a key element for crafting a targeted press release.
Step Two: Create an Outline
Write down the reasons you are crafting the press release in the first place. It may be to feature and award or accomplishment. You may be announcing a new product or service. Add bullet points listing the benefits that readers will get from the story. Seek out quotes from those involved and from those in authority within the niche or industry. A strong outline will make the way for a strong press release.
Step Three: Verify the Information
Review the spelling of names and locations. Confirm the positions of the individuals involved. Check the dates. Follow links to be certain that they are active and that they lead to the right locations. Even before you write the content of the press release, you want to verify the information that you will be including.
Taking these three simple steps will give you the right foundation for the story completion. Start with the outlet – the place that you want to contact with your story. Learn the voice of the different media outlets and then choose those that match your voice, your target, and even your focus.
Develop a storyline that will produce the results you need and still align with the media outlets. Use bullet points, quotes from those individuals involved, and other elements that will highlight your information. Edit the content for correct spellings, dates, and links.
There may be a lot of competition within the media outlets to develop earned media. You can gain an edge on the competition by putting to work these three steps for crafting your press release.
