iVillage logo
Search iVillage
Home & Garden
Food & Drink
Work & Money
Travel
Beauty & Fashion
Diet & Fitness
Health
Entertainment
Relationships
Pregnancy
Parenting
Horoscopes
Top of the frocks
Dresses for every occasion
Video nasty
Jordan wants movie about her life
Get the look
Try a virtual makeover today
Work & Money 
  |  Starting a business  |  Marketing & Launch  |  How to write and follow up a press release
Advertisement
Topics
Succeeding & Surviving
Finding a Job
Community
Computers and Internet
Money
Office Culture
Starting a business
Marketing & Launch
Financing
Preparing
Planning
Staffing
Working from home
Work-Life Balance
iVillage shopping

Hot stuff
Write a Will
Save money on holidays
Olympics 2008
Make extra cash!
Beat the credit crunch
Interview howlers
Are you a BARBIE?
Vote for a good cause
Try our Mensa workout
Competitions
Special offers
Newsletters
sign up for FREE!




 
Promotions

How to write and follow up a press release

by Lynne Franks seed logo
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.



    •  1 |  2 | next print printer friendly send to a friend
      
    Delicious     Digg     reddit     Facebook     StumbleUpon