| In baseball, it’s said that you know
an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If he’s doing his job, he
won’t call attention to himself in any way. It’s much the same for the writer of
a press release. When the recipient of a release focuses only on its content -- and not on
its creation -- the writer has succeeded. With that in mind, here's The 10 Commandments of
Press Releases:
1. Thou Shalt Be Professional.
No goofy fonts, rainbow paper or silly gimmicks. Even
lighthearted press releases represent a communication between one professional and
another.
2. Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional.
If you can’t get enough objective distance from your
company to write a press release that’s not filled with hype and puffery, hire
someone to write it for you.
3. Thou Shalt Not Be Boring.
Even the driest subject matter allows for some sparks of
creativity. Journalists like knowing that there’s a human being communicating with
them, not some corporate robot.
4. Thou Shalt Be Brief.
Learn to cut out extraneous words. Keep your sentences
short. Include only the points necessary to sell the story. The well-crafted one page
press release is a thing of beauty.
5. Thou Shalt Know Thy Recipient.
A features or lifestyle editor is a very different creature
from a city desk editor. If you’re promoting the opening of a new winery, the food
and wine editor may be interested in all the details about what kind of aging process and
wine press you’re using. The city desk editor just wants to know when the grand
opening is and what’s going to happen there.
6. Thou Shalt Use The Proper Tense.
When writing a hard news release -- a contract signing, a
stock split, a major announcement, etc.) use the past tense (Acme Industries has changed
its name to AcmeCo, the company announced today...) When writing a soft news release -- a
trend story, a personal profile, etc. -- use the present tense (Jane Smith is one of the
best marathon runners over 40. She’s also blind. Thanks to new technology from
AcmeCo, Jane is able to...).
7. Thou Shalt Think Visually.
A press release is more than words -- it’s a visual
document that will first be assessed by how it looks.
I’m referring to more than font size or letterhead.
I’m talking about the actual layout of the words. Whether received by mail, fax or
e-mail, a journalist -- often unconsciously -- will make decisions about whether to read
the release based on how the release is laid out. Big blocks of text and long paragraphs
are daunting and uninviting. Short paragraphs and sentences make for a much more visually
inviting look.
When writing a non-hard news release, I often use a simple
formula -- the lead paragraph should be one or two sentences at most. The next paragraph
should be very, very short.
Like this.
8. Thou Shalt Tell A Story.
How to arrange the facts of a hard news release is pretty
much cut and dried. The old "who, what, when, where and how" lead and
"inverted pyramid" concepts still hold. (Rather than engage you in a course in
basic news writing, I’ll direct you to a really good discussion of what the inverted
pyramid is.
Check out:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=38693
So let’s focus on a soft news release. The trend
story, the feel- good company story, the "gee-whiz, I didn’t know anyone was
doing that!" release. The difference between these releases and the hard news release
is simply a mirror of the difference between a feature story in, say, the entertainment
section of your newspaper and the breaking news report on page one. The hard news story is
about cold, hard facts (A mudslide closed portions of Interstate 70 last night, causing
massive delays). A feature article about the guy who spends all day looking at seismograph
readouts trying to predict where the next mudslide will occur will be very different.
It’s likely to be in present tense, it won’t load all the facts upfront and it
will be designed to draw the reader deep into the text. It is, in short, all about
storytelling.
Here’s the formula I use for these kinds of releases.
I call it the 3S approach -- Situation/Surprise/Support.
The first paragraph sets up the situation. The second
paragraph reveals the surprise. The third paragraph supports the claim made in the second
paragraph.
One very typical 3S is discussing a common problem in the
first paragraph (For centuries, people have accepted memory loss as an inevitable result
of aging.) The "surprise" paragraph announces the solution to the problem (But
one local man says he’s ready to prove the medical establishment wrong.) The
"support" paragraph then tells the story. (John Smith, an Anytown entrepreneur,
says he’s found the key to retaining a strong memory function far into old age. His
"Memory Maker" software is based on ancient Chinese texts that were used more
than 2000 years ago to...)
Another 3S -- let’s revisit our mudslide watching
friend. How would you start his story using this method?
While John Smith’s colleagues at the National
Atmospheric Center are watching the skies for signs of lightning and tornadoes, his
attention is focused elsewhere.
John Smith is listening to the mud.
As the Chief Mudslide Analyst at the NAC, Smith spends his
days glued to a seismograph, eyes and ears peeled for the telltale signs on an impending
slide.
Along with the 3S in action, I also followed the 7th
Commandment. That really short second paragraph is a visual grabber, and will keep the
journalist reading right into the meat of the release.
9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness.
This may seem an obvious point, but it always bears
repeating.
Tell the truth.
Don’t inflate, don’t confabulate, don’t
exaggerate. Don’t twist facts, don’t make up numbers, don’t make
unsubstantiated claims. Any decent journalist will be able to see right through this. If
you’re lucky, you’re release will just get tossed out. If you’re unlucky,
you’ll be exposed.
It’s a chance not at all worth taking. Make sure every
release you write is honest and on the level.
10. Thou Shalt Know Thy Limitations.
Not everyone can write a press release. A good feature
release, in particular, isn’t an easy thing to craft. If you just don’t feel
like you have the chops to get the job done, hire a professional.
One last tip: right before you start writing your release,
spend an hour or two reading your daily paper, paying special attention to stories similar
in feel to yours. Immerse yourself in how the pros do it and you’ll be in the right
frame of mind to tackle the job! To view professional press releases updated daily, go to:
http://www.publicityinsider.com and click on the "Press Release Gallery" |
