15 New Media Release Writing Guidelines to Improve Your Organization's Exposure

By: Wesley Upchurch

In another article, I told you about 15 ways you can improve your media release. But because I know that, writing a news release can be difficult in the beginning, so I've come up with another 15 guidelines for you.

With a bit of education and experience you can write an excellent news release. To start, just follow the rules below for writing and sending your news release.

1. Identify Yourself Clearly – Your business or organization should be prominently displayed. We recommend displaying the source of the news at the top of the press release.

2. Be Newsworthy – The entire point of a news release is to distribute news related to your business. So if your news release doesn’t contain news, you shouldn’t even bother sending it. If you submit news that isn’t truly newsworthy, the editors will just learn to ignore you.

3. Clear Headlines – Keep in mind that the reader should be able to catch the idea of your story from the headline alone. Focusing on the angle and idea of the story is more important than developing a ‘catchy’ slogan.

4. Personalize Your Distribution – Get the name of the person you are sending your press release to and place it in a prominent position. Be sure to double-check the spelling.

5. Keep Up-To-Date – News by its very nature should be current. If the news in your release is outdated you shouldn’t be sending it. Yesterday’s news is today’s history.

6. Remain Objective – Press releases are not the place for being biased. Journalists are seeking news. It may be ok to use later paragraphs for dispelling or confirming rumors, but it’s best to cover your bases with a little objectivity.

7. Condense The News – You should try to tell the entire story in the first paragraph. The rest of the release can contain more details. But it’s nice to know that if everything else is cut, you still got your main points across. Being “top heavy” is a good thing.

8. Positive Perception – If the local community could perceive your news in a negative manner, you should take extra care to highlight the potential positives of the announcement.

9. Avoid Hype – Press releases are not an appropriate place for marketing copy. You should avoid excessive use of adjectives and other promotional language.

10. Localize It – Using quotes from each of your target markets is a great idea. News editors love quotes from respected individuals in their community or industry. Be sure to include quotes from groups that read the publications you have targeted with your press release.

11. Utilize Proper Attribution – If your press release includes information or quotes from other sources, it’s a good idea to attribute that information to the original source. This allows the journalist to verify the information, plus it provides credibility.

12. Be Prepared – Just because your press release has been sent, doesn’t mean you’re done crafting your message. Be ready to answer calls from journalists and prepare statements for them. Keep a log of the questions they ask, because there’s a good chance that another reporter is going to ask the same thing.

13. Use Controversy – A great way to generate publicity with your press release could be to create controversy (even where there is none). If you run a computer store, for example, you might consider a headline that says “Is your software stolen?” It doesn’t offend anyone, but instantly places you in a position to be the trustworthy whistle blower.

14. Show Professionalism – Using a professional layout and avoid sloppiness to indicating seriousness. Understanding and abiding by industry standards for writing press releases is a great start. For example, always write your press releases in the 3rd person and end your press releases with “-30-” or “XXX”.

15. Avoid Jargon – Industry jargon isn’t appropriate for all publications. You need to keep your readers in mind when writing your release. Using common language makes your release easier to understand.

By applying these guidelines for writing better media releases, you substantially increase the chance of your media release being published. If you want even more ways to improve your press release writing you should view the amazing list of tips to write better news releases.

This article was written by Wes Upchurch of PressDr.com, a leading press release distribution company. You can visit the PressDr Blog for even more press release advice.

Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com

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