Advice For Authors
1. The best one, two or three paragraph publicity releases
summarize the contents (nonfiction) or storyline (fiction) and if
done well enough are a wheel that doesn't have to therefore be
reinvented by the reviewer in the crafting of a review for
publication or broadcast. What a good reviewer will do, in
addition to utilizing the publicity release in this manner, is to
then add a line or two or three of personal commentary or advice
to the reader of the review as to the value or "recommendability"
of the book the prospective reading public for which the book
would be particularly appropriate.
2. Editors of newspapers, newsletters, magazines and journals are
on deadlines and must occasionally resort to "filler" to round out
the column of a page, or the page of a section, or a section of an
issue. Many editors resort to volunteer reviewers, some of whom
wouldn't know a deadline if it were to bite them on the ankle! So
an editor's resorting to incorporating the publisher's publicity
release info is an ideal tactic to use as a fall back measure to
getting an issue out on time.
3. Still others reviewers are but fledgling in the art and craft
of book reviewing and what they turn in must be augmented by the
incorporation of publicity release info. Don't forget to include
the ISBN number and the suggested retail price. Providing a brief
overview of the book rather than the author's background would
make a whole lot more sense to an editor.
4. Publisher originated publicity releases should be written so
as to be able to be printed verbatim in the pages of a local
newspaper or a national newsletter. Think of it this way -- you
were able to reach that one person with the apparently persuasive
information of why your book should be bought, taken home and
read. That the one person you reached was then able to turn around
and provide that same persuasive information to hundreds, perhaps
thousands of other people is a cause for publisher celebration.
The better crafted your PR; the better your chances of that
"publicity release chain reaction" will take place.
All major newspapers write articles about new
Web sites, redesigned Web sites, and Web sites offering new
content or great promotions. We're talking about USA Today, The
Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, as well as hundreds
of local newspapers and thousands of trade publications.
The combined
reach of all of those publications is in the hundreds of millions.
Any site that is reviewed in a publication carries its implied
endorsement. You can't buy that kind of credibility with an
advertisement or a search engine placement. That's why you simply
can't afford to overlook this marketing tactic.
The
marketing impact of a press release could outdistance that of a
search engine or a banner ad. You could pay thousands of dollars
to a public relations agency to write and distribute a press
release. Or, you could try to do it yourself.
In the traditional world,
the press release is printed on paper and mailed, faxed, or given
to reporters at a press conference or other face-to-face meetings.
In the CyberWorld, press releases are e-mailed to reporters and
posted to company Web sites as well.
A press
release has its own look and feel that must be followed, or
reporters will know the company that sent it just doesn't have a
clue about professional standards. Since reporters get far more
releases than they can ever print, these unprofessional releases
will be tossed first—regardless of content. We'll talk more about
the style elements in the second installment of this series.
What
Makes News?
Many things, including:
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Product: A new product or service or an upgrade to an existing
product |
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Corporate: Strategic alliances, venture funding, mergers,
acquisitions |
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Personnel: Hiring and dismissals on an executive level (for a
trade publication), lower levels as well for a local newspaper
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Milestones: 1 millionth customer or 1,000th sale
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Financial: Earnings, projections, actual figures
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News:
Response to current headlines, trends
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Human
interest: Case studies, "best practices" (proven solutions)
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Contests
and promotions: Announcement of the event and names of winners
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Seasonal: News tied into a seasonal event, such as Valentine's
Day, Mother's Day, or graduation and others
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Web
site: A new Web site, a redesigned Web site, new content, or a
new promotion |
Creating Your Battle Plan
When you sit
down to write the release, you must think about what you are
trying to accomplish for your business. The results can be as
varied as increasing traffic to your Web site, selling products at
your Web site, or increasing brand-name recognition for your
company.
Next, you
need to create the back end to the press release campaign. That
is, what message do you want the readers of the press release to
see so you can reach your goal? In other words, you want your
readers to take some form of action. If you want them to buy a
product, you need to create copy that talks about the product's
features and benefits, as well as a strong offer to convince them
to buy the product. If you want them to enter a contest, you need
to have a page that talks about how to enter and the mechanism
that tracks entries.
Writing a
press release and sending it out without having a plan is not as
effective. Since the Web is so much more versatile than any other
media, you must decide where to send readers and tell them what
you want them to do.
More often
than not, you don't want them to go to the front page. That's
because you don't want to confuse them with a dozen links off of
the home page. They might get distracted by all of the messages
there and leave the site without registering or buying. If that
happens, you've lost.
Instead of
sending readers to the home page, send them to a page created
solely for this promotion. For example, if I were writing a press
release about a contest that I wanted people to enter, I would
send readers directly to a page that talks about the contest.
The same is
true if I were doing any other target marketing, such as sending
people directly to the recruiting page to apply for a job, to a
specific new product page to buy the latest gizmo, or to the
financial relations section if I had sent out a press release on
an earnings report.
When would I
send people to the home page? Whenever I wanted people to get a
good overview of the company, its products, and its people (if I
were promoting a professional services firm such as lawyers or
accountants). So if I issue a press release with my Top 10
Predictions for E-Commerce, I want people to go to the front page
so they could learn more about my services as a speaker,
consultant, and writer. I'd let them decide which avenue to
pursue.
Complete URLs
To
make this trick work, you must put the complete URL in the press
release. For example, if I want to increase the number of
subscribers to my free e-marketing newsletters, I would include
the link:
http://www.press-releases.biz
. If
I want to direct meeting planners to my credentials as a speaker
in the hopes they would hire me for their next convention, I would
use http://www.janal.com/speaking.html. That way, the audience
goes directly to information that meets its needs—and mine.
You might be
wondering how people can remember those long URLs. They don't have
to if the media outlet is online. The link is embedded into the
on-line text. All they have to do is click on the link to be
transported to the correct page. It is actually very simple.
You've probably done this a hundred times without realizing it
whenever you click on banner ads that use this tactic. There's no
reason we can't use the same device in publicity. Many print ads
have longer URLS now, as well. So people are beginning to accept
these longer URLs. It is hopeful that reporters writing about your
site will use the correct, longer form URL to draw people directly
to the correct page.
That
said—the shorter and simpler you can make your promotional url,
the better. And if it's longer, make sure it's logical, and easy
to type. It's too easy to make mistakes on URLs that contain a
numbers, so try to stick to text that people can easily remember
and type.
One word
of warning—sometimes long links get broken up by e-mail
software and then do not work correctly because only part of them
is translated into a working link. So if you have a long link,
test it with several e-mail programs first, or see if there's any
way to make it shorter.
Tip:
When including a URL in any kind of e-mail, make sure to format it
with http:// first. While some e-mail software will turn plain
www.eFuse.com into a link, others won't. But almost all e-mail
software turns anything starting with http:// into a link, so make
sure to include it.
While no one
can guarantee your release will be published or used for an
article, there are things you can do to improve your chances. The
biggest obstacle to most press releases is the release itself.
Your release should be:
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Concise - editors receive hundreds of releases a week
(perhaps more) and appreciate releases that are brief and to the
point. |
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Well-written - a good way to ensure your release a place in
the waste basket is poor copy: bad spelling, poor grammar, and
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illogical or unsubstantiated claims.
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Factual - stick to logical and substantiated claims,
avoiding statements of belief: we're the best, the cheapest,
etc. |
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Honest - avoid the padded quotes by company officers; even
if they are experts, they come across as biased.
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Timely - if your release isn't topical, consider
incorporating it with a recent news event -- but don't stretch
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Questions
to consider before you write:
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Who is
your preferred audience?
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What do
you want readers to take away from your release?
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What
does your release provide: invaluable information or just
another offer? |
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What is
the support or justification for the information in your
release? |
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What is
the tone of your release?
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Are you
aware of possible pitfalls or areas to avoid?
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What do
you want to accomplish with your release: increase business,
disseminate information, or both?
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Goals
Of A Press Release
Press
Releases are the accepted bridge between the business world and
the editorial world and your effective use of this tool can
contribute a lot to your promotional success.
When you
send a release to the press, it's probably never going to be
used in that form. Press releases aren't typically considered
news. However, they *carry* news. So your goal in sending a
release is not to see your actual release used. There are a
number of things you should be hoping for when distributing your
press release:
1. That
your release makes an editor or reporter aware of your business,
service, book or company.
2. That
something in your release sparks an idea for a story and that
you (or your author) are used as a source.
3. That
something in your release runs into a story currently in the
planning stages and -- again -- you (or your author) are used as
a source.
Every
newsroom has a person whose responsibility it is to scan the
releases that come into the press office. In some news
organizations this is done by the editor (or section editor) who
flags the ones they find interesting and passes them to the
relevant reporter. In others it's done by a very junior person
who then passes their selection to a more senior staff member.
In either case, releases are read and some are sent directly
into the news stream.
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