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Seven Hot Tips for Writing Successful Press Releases
Benjamin Franklin wrote,
"If it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, there is no end to what can be accomplished." That’s the way
we feel about helping our readers write their press
releases. We want to give you the "know-how" without taking any credit. We want you to write press
releases like the pros
do. To inform and educate is precisely the purpose of our
newsletter. We
also want to give you other points of view from successful
communicators.
This months expert
is Diane Lane, Communications Manager of Aspen Skiing
Company. In a personal interview with Ms. Lane we picked
up some pearls. We asked her what successful strategies
she has found that get the best results from the hundreds
of press releases her company sends out on a daily basis.
As Manager of the
Communications Team at Aspen Skiing Company, Ms. Lane has extensive
experience dealing with broadcast media as well as print
media. Last year, the team hosted over 25 broadcast crews
from around the world and sent out hundreds of press
releases.
Her Seven Timely Tips are as follows:
1. Grab the reader
in the first 3 seconds or you lose him/her. Start with a
fascinating factoid (for example: Is skiing a dangerous
sport? Your chances of falling and hurting yourself in the
bathtub are far greater than falling and getting injured
on skis.)
2. Start your
release with an interesting quote. For example: Olympic
skier claims, "Skiing saved my life."
3. Use charts,
bullets and boldface to outline pertinent facts within the
body of the release.
4. Include
information about your product or company on every
release.
5. Identify the type
of information you’re sending somewhere on the release.
Aspen Skiing Company uses the right margin to indicate
type of info (restaurants, hotels, best ski trails,
weather etc.)
6. Try and make
press release just one page. Two is acceptable but using
both sides of one page is better than two pages.
7. Present your
facts up front. Don’t beat around the bush.
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