Advertising and Marketing blog

How to write a press release that generates free publicity is a great skill to have.

This analysis, of the seven deadly sins of how to write a press release and how to avoid them, contains press release sample writing and a how to write a press release sample.

Learn how to write a good press release with more impact in less time.

This is a question critical to gaining ongoing media coverage in a consistent way for any organisation and individual.

And sometimes the quality of news releases actually sent out to the media is pretty poor.

Take this example put out by Tasmanian Liberal shadow treasurer Brett Whiteley in a press release issued on May 24, 2005 and highlighted in The Australian newspaper (June 2nd, 2005 page 20).

“All State Liberal Policy pledges are official State Liberal policy, as are Policy Position Statements. All Policy Position Statements and Policy Pledges are fully costed. The only difference between our Policy Position Statements and Policy Pledges is that further detail associated with our Policy Pledges will be released at a later date. This detail will be released at the time of our choosing.”

Phew! What did he say?

We see bad examples of media releases all the time. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here is my take on how to write a press release: the seven deadly sins and how to avoid them:

1. No News Value

Your media release must have a strong news value and not be trying to sell something or be blatant advertising. The media will see through this.

Ask: what is new about what we’re doing?

2. A Poorly Written Headline

A headline must grab the attention of the editor or reporter.

Read more about writing headlines in this article

3. A Poorly Written Lead Paragraph

A lead paragraph must continue to hold the attention of the editor or reporter.

Read more about writing lead paragraphs in this article

4. No Quotable Quotes

Quotable quotes add credibility and human interest to a media release. They are the flesh that goes on the facts or bare bones of the story. They must be memorable and well crafted.

Take this recent quote from 1992 Olympian, Irish Boxer Kevin McBride in the lead up to his fight with Mike Tyson on June 11th 2005: “I’m not a pretender, I’m a contender”.

Nice work Kevin – simple, memorable and direct. The media love it because of its structure and rhyming nature.

5. Lack of Clarity In Writing Style

Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking as my Tasmanian Polly Speak example above demonstrates.

6. No Call To Action

Your media release must end with a call to action. What is it you want people to do after reading or hearing your message?

7. No Comprehensive Contact Details

A news release should always contain current contacts details for the media to follow-up.

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries.

You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom’s blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com.

Getting Started

Often, especially if you are just getting started, you will find that pre-packaged promotional materials are a big time-and-money saver, and you can learn a lot by starting with them. After all, they were designed by professionals in the church marketing field.

On the other hand, such materials are often too generic, and do not specifically address your own church’s strengths, ministry message, or calling.

Another option is to employ the services of church marketing professionals or an agency to create customized and tailored promotional materials especially for you to use.

This can “quick-start” your efforts, and save you much time, and many dollars, in “trial-and-error” experimenting, but it usually will involve substantial front-end cost.

In the end however, it is how well that you actually meet needs and wants that will attract and retain people, not how “slick” your promotional materials are. Again, knowing your community and your target audience will better enable you to identify effective and appropriate methods of reaching them.

Step 4 – Following Up

There are two sides to the following-up stage. One is to follow-up with and evaluate the effectiveness of your various marketing and communication efforts, and the other is to follow up with the people that your efforts actually attract.

As we touched on earlier in this report, your efforts will be a colossal waste of time (and money) if they are not producing the results that you want – which is, getting your message out to the people, and getting them to actively respond.

And just what is your intended message? Ultimately, it may be to fulfill your role in the Great Commission, and to “make disciples of all nations”, or it may be simply to attract more people to become worshippers and members of your own local church, and thus to increase the amount of resources available for your church to conduct it’s ministry mission.

Are your media messages primarily positive “feel-good” inspirational messages? Or are your efforts intended to get people into the church, attending your worship services, and actively participating in your ministries and missions?

If they are the latter, just how effective has the particular channel or media been in inspiring worshippers to attend? Which method or message has been more effective? Time to evaluate, assess, and adjust your planning.

Find out how people found out about you. Ask them what specifically inspired them to begin attending, or participating in your church. What messages have they seen or heard out there in the various media? Do they use your website? Do they read your newsletters?

Assimilation

The other aspect of evangelism and church ministry marketing that is most often ignored, is doing something with the people once we’ve gotten them in the door.

Is your church a warm, welcoming, and friendly place? Is it really? Most churches think they are, but from the first-time visitor’s perspective, they are very often a closed, inward-looking group of insiders.

What programs and mechanisms do you have in place for getting the first-time visitor involved and included in the various activities of your church? Do they have a reason to return, week after week?

Is your church a place that they are likely to want to bring their friends or other family members? Before you say “yes”, think about this carefully, and be honest with yourself. You may need to face some unpleasant truths.

In religious circles, this process of involving new members is known as “assimilation”, now a popular buzzword for turning first-time visitors into active and continuing participants, and hopefully members.

You need a well-thought-out program and plan of follow-up and assimilation, just as much as you need one for marketing and evangelism.

The fastest-growing churches, and those most likely to survive and thrive, are those who know how to follow-up well with both new attenders, and also with current members, worshippers, and participants.

Recommended Church Development and Ministry Marketing Resources (all are available online through Amazon.com):

Double Your Church Attendance – Bob Hinds

ABC’s of Natural Church Development – Christian Schwartz

Market Research Made Easy – Margaret Doman

Focus Group Research Handbook – Holly Edmund

The Purpose-Driven Church – Rick Warren

Permission Evangelism: When to Talk, When to Walk – Michael L. Simpson

The New Marketing Paradigm: Integrated Marketing Communications – Don E. Schultz

Christopher B. Nelson-Jeffers is CEO of Breckshire Communications, which offers a free Church Growth Newsletter and articles to churches interested in church ministry development. He may be contacted at http://Double-Your-Church-Attendance.com

You might be asking, what’s the importance of press releases? After all, you advertise your business and spend good money to get the word out about the invaluable services you are providing your customers. You might be thinking that you have no need for press releases or the media; you’re not in the business of making news, but of making money.

Well, you might be surprised to discover that there’s a simple answer to why press releases for your business are so important. Most people never think about it, they are more concerned with creating a successful company, but once they do, and follow through, in just a short period of time — weeks or just a few months — they may begin to see a major change in the way the media, and most importantly, their clients, see them.

Advertising and publicity are two completely separate tools that businesses often confuse with each other. While advertising is used to keep your company, products, and/or services in the mind of the public, publicity that is presented in the form of a news-worthy story is usually viewed in a more trusted and positive light by the general public.

Surprisingly, it’s estimated that 70 percent of “news” comes from sources outside of the traditional media sources. In other words, a good amount of the stories that are being printed in your local paper are coming from people just like yourself who have taken the time to approach the media. Most “news” arrives on a paper’s editorial desk in the form of press releases. These press releases are then picked up, reported on and delivered to the public as “news”.

Surprised? Don’t be. There is a new Web-based service that can help. PublicityParadise.com is in the business of making your life easier while connecting your company directly to the media to help you sell more products and services. PublicityParadise.com works to create long-lasting, personal relationships with people within your company and people in the media, such as reporters, editors and columnists. No only do we craft press releases for your company — which can be nothing more than advertising but with a news hook and makes them more appetizing to the media – but the information we put in the press release is truly newsworthy – something the public would want, need or care to know about. Otherwise, your press release will be filed in the circular (read: trash) file and never reach its intended audience.

To ensure that your press release is newsworthy, you will need to remain objective. This may be difficult since you the one dealing with your own company every day where all developments there are considered important and newsworthy. However, step back and write your press release as if you were a third party, such as PublicityParadise.com, looking in at your organization. Would they find the information you are presenting newsworthy? Is it something that you would want to read about, something that you would care about, something that you could learn from? Why?

But remember, you have to try not to get discouraged if your press release is not picked up immediately, or if it takes several releases and attempts until you finally get the coverage you want. Nobody is perfect, even the professionals at a firm like PublicityParadise.com gets every release turned into a news story and we do this all the time. It may take a lot of persistence to make the news, but sending press releases regularly — monthly or even weekly — will increase the chances of your press release being picked up. And once it is, you’ll begin to see a direct correlation between your press release being picked up by the media and an increase in sales after your story has been printed.

The media, more so than advertisements alone, with help to validate your company, and create a sense of trust between you and the readers of the newspaper. Essentially, since you took the time to have a press release created and sent, you’ve take the first step in creating a profitable, quality and trusted public image.

For more on that, simply click on www.PublicityParadise.com.

Scott Rupp has more than 10 years of experience working in the media as a reporter and editor and as the directing of public relations and marketing for several companies in the United States. Based in Las Vegas, NV, PublicityParadise.com helps to fuel businesses growth by working with the media to spread the word about products and services.