Tell Your Company’s Story With A Well-Crafted Press Release
Two of the hottest trends in online marketing these days are storytelling and publishing press releases. Combining the two can boost your results and get you the kind of media attention your company deserves.
What is marketing through storytelling?
Marketing through storytelling is about engaging your target audience’s feelings and emotions to develop brand interest and loyalty. Every business has a story to tell. But it isn’t just about excitement or a fairy tale ending. It’s about what makes you unique from all other businesses.
What is a press release?
A press release is an official communication written by a business to tell journalists and other media representatives about what is new at their company. The goal of issuing a press release is to get media pickups.
Journalists are usually working on tight deadlines, so a well-written and interesting press release can be exactly what they need to do their job. When working in a particular niche, journalists find press releases a great source for stories.
Why use storytelling in your press releases?
Almost everyone loves a good story. A good story has a beginning, middle and end, and a clear message or point to the story. Your press release will not only contain the news story you wish to tell, but a background story to place the news item in context.
The two levels of storytelling
You will have 2 levels of storytelling in your press release:
The first is the purpose of the press release itself. You should only issue one when you have something genuinely newsworthy to report.
Examples include:
- A new product release
- A new free item you are giving away online, such as an ebook or special report (in order to get more subscribers)
- A live event you will be hosting
- A new milestone like your fifth anniversary
- The latest financial results if you are a publicly traded company
- A new round of funding being obtained
and so on.
The story needs to tell the most important facts, which are known as the 5Ws of journalism:
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
Journalists use this as a checklist to make sure they don’t leave out anything. This formula also reminds them to write tightly, because, in the days of newspaper journalism, space was very limited. Therefore, they tried to fit the most important information in the first paragraph, with any other paragraphs offering useful supporting information.
The second part of your story is the last paragraph of your press release: the Boilerplate.
The boilerplate can best be described as a mini-biography of you and your company.
Who are you, what do you do, and why are you in business? Use your company’s mission statement as your starting point to help describe what you do and why.
A good boilerplate will help establish credentials, credibility, and can help make you an expert in your niche. It should also be impressive enough for a journalist to be willing to give you attention. Who knows, you might even be contacted to speak on a current event, gaining you more recognition!
Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278
