How to write and follow up a press release

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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Read more from Lynne Franks' SEED Handbook: the feminine way to create business.