Business: press releases: iVillage

How to write and follow up a press release

Lynne Franks takes you through the process of writing and selling in a press release to publicise your new business.

Everyone has their own style of writing, but there are certain standard points youll need to get across in your press release. Mostly, theyre a matter of common sense.

First of all, write a strong heading at the top of the page, getting at the core of your story without giving it all away. For example, if youre going to open an exotic flower shop, perhaps the heading could read SCENTSATIONAL BLOOMS, or if youre starting a marketing consultancy for women entrepreneurs, it could read WHAT WOMEN WANT.

Start the body of the release with the essence of your story, stated briefly, including why it is interesting or unique. Remember that youre writing a press release, not an editorial, and dont over-embellish or exaggerate it can make a journalist cringe.

Use the next two or three paragraphs to tell the details of your story i.e., what, when, where and how. Include a quote from you on the overall vision for your business somewhere in the first half of the release, to set the tone.

Finish off the release, which should never be more than two pages of A4 paper, and preferably less, with some background on you and your business concept, and always add your contact details.

Always leave yourself a little time after writing it and before sending it out, to reread it and see if it needs improving.

Now, write your own press release, describing your enterprise in the third person, in an objective but positive way. Include all the aspects of your business that make it appealing and unique, and write the release in your own sharp, effective style.

Additional materials you could include in your press pack are a business fact sheet or a corporate profile. If you have relevant photographs available of either yourself or your product, include them in either print form or transparencies, together with the press release, fact sheet or corporate profile and enclose all your information in an attractive folder with your letter on top. Soon, press kits will be delivered electronically or on a disc, but for the time being, investing in a professional-looking printed press kit is worth every penny.

Following up

Follow up your letter and press release with a personal phone call. Invite the journalist to lunch or to meet you so you can explain your story in person and, if you have any, show your products. Sound enthusiastic without being too pushy or aggressive.

If whomever youre calling is too busy to get together with you, and most will be, then offer to pop by their office to meet. If they make it clear that they are too busy right now to even see you in their office, which may or may not be a brush-off, disengage with grace, still using the opportunity to explain your story as one that will fit in with their editorial pages.

There is an art to this like any other form of successful communication. Dont bother a journalist until you are ready and prepared to tell your story in a succinct, clear way. You should be able to relate it in sixty seconds or less. When youre next watching the news on TV, notice how the presenters talk in brief sound bites. You need to learn to do the same when necessary.

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