Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Creating a Newsworthy Press Release

By Elisa Whealer

It's important to know the effectiveness of your press release. But how can you really know this? You need some measures to find out what is working and gives value to the readers, media, editors and their journalists.

Do you know if your press release is working for your company? You have to assess the contents, what information are included so that the journalists or the press people as a whole would get curious and will see the worthiness of making a big news out of it. Every business wants to be known far and wide and so it needs exposure by press release.

Let us take a look at what makes some releases tick, and what makes others become bound to the journalists wastebasket. The points are quite simple really; and you will find these practical but often overlooked.

Five Things to Note When preparing a press release

1.)Does it really have news value? If it will be of interest to the audience of the media you are submitting to, then you can safely say that it has news value. It will also boil down to whether the editors will find it interesting; otherwise, your efforts will go to waste as well.

2.)Does it pass the standards of the journalists, news reporters and media in general? There are certain standards that media will expect from your release. They expect it to follow a commonly accepted release format; it must be well-written, concise and to-the-point. Fluff must be cut off, and only the news should be given focus.

3.) Beware on posting your press release to have free publicity. You will only jeopardize your chance of being taken seriously by the media. Once they notice your main purpose, to have free publicity, they will reject your work. Even more detrimental, you could be asked to pay for the space as your ad space.

4.) Is your press release fresh with the times? The media will not tolerate out of date news. Therefore it is imperative that your release must be attuned with today's interest and news. The media will be turned off with old news and information.

5.) Is it Factual and Accurate? And a further question: Do you have all the facts straight? All should be in order, with the needed details supporting the news. This will make the media's job easier and they will appreciate the completeness of your release.

Following these 5 most practical tips, you are now on the road to hitting a gold mine for your business. Your press release will surely gain the excitement of the media to write about it and therefore enabling your business to be more known, exposing it to wider audience and thus drawing in more traffic to your company.

If you observe these pointers and follow them diligently, there is a much better chance that you have written a press release which will appeal to the press and media prompting them to make a hot news out of it and so reaching to the far corners of your targeted audience. Then you can stand back and anticipate great results for your business.

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