Re: Press Release & Publicity Tips?

From: Svetlana Savitskaya <svs_at_csp.org.by>
Date: Fri 11 Aug 2000 11:03:49 +0300

KYLE YAMNITZ <c598249_at_showme.missouri.edu> WROTE:
> Anyway, how would I go about creating a Press Release
> about the new design and distributing it to magazines
> and such? Any tips on designing the press release?
> Are there any links that would be helpful?

Hello, I'm a sales manager of Web Space Station and
have been working a long time on press release writing
and distributing. What about designing press release
(PR): each media has its own requirements to PRs. We
made the whole database with list of medias and
description of their requirements. But in spite of
this, there are many things that should be included and
considered in any press release.

There are seven basic elements that every press release
should have in terms of content and how it appears:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
These words should appear in the upper left-hand
margin, just under your letterhead. You should
capitalize every letter.

Contact Information:
Skip a line or two after release statement and list the
name, title, telephone and fax numbers of your company
spokesperson (the person with the most information). It
is important to give your home number since reporters
often work on deadlines and may not be available until
after hours.

Headline:
It's the first thing the reader will see to determine
if the subjectis of interest to him. It needs to convey
enough information to grab his orher attention but not
so much as to be confusing. The title or heading is the
most important part. That does not mean that the body
of the press release isnot equally important. It just
means that if the title is no good, the restof the
release can be a work of genius but nobody will read
it. The best way we've found to create an effective
heading is to summarize themessage we are trying to get
across.

Dateline:
This should be the city your press release is issued
from and the date you are mailing your release.

Lead Paragraph:
The first paragraph is a summary of what the release is
about. In the trade it is called the "lead." These
important three lines (never more than four!) determine
whether your release sinks or swims. The first
paragraph needs to grasp the readers attention and
should contain the relevant information to your message
such as the five W's (who, what, when, where, why).

Text:
The main body of your press release where your message
should fully develop. Write the rest of your news
release in logical order. Simple sentences. Short
paragraphs.

Company info:
In the , add data on the company such as "A1 Associates
is a small business specializing in information
management on mainframe computers." Conclude with
contact information for the reader. A simple statement
like "For further information, call Paula Peters at
(123) 456-7890" will do.

Visit
http://www.morebusiness.com/templates_worksheets/press/
to find tamplates for different occasions.

Please contact me if you need more help and advise.

Best regards,
Svetlana Savitskaya
Sales manager
WEB SPACE STATION - web site design, programming, services.
E-mail: marketing_at_web-space-station.com
http://www.web-space-station.com





Received on Fri Aug 11 2000 - 03:03:49 CDT