Successful News Releases
- 7 Must-Know Tips
By Barrie Zwicker
Before you send out your next news release review the following:
- Make sure it's important enough. One or two "ho-hum"
news releases are like crying wolf. If you get a reputation for
sending out releases when they aren't warranted, you may end up
being ignored when your organization has something really important
to tell the world.
- Make it short, preferably one page.
- Include the Five W's: who, what, when, where, why. If you have
useful background material, send it as an attachment.
- Use clear ordinary language.
- Be sure to include the name or names of people in your organization
who can be reached before and after office hours in case of questions.
List business and home phone numbers. One unanswered phone can
"turn off" a reporter on a bad day.
- Consider how and when to release your information. Keep deadlines
in mind. You could release your information - if it's important
enough - on a riverbank (pollution story), courthouse steps (legal
case) or at the home of your president.
- At the end of every news release, include "See our listing
on page of the current edition of Sources,
or at www.sources.com"
This reminds journalists of an excellent additional source of
information about you - one at their fingertips. It shows how
serious and organized you are about media relations. The journalist
recipients of your press release will tend to remember - between
press releases -they can find you in Sources.
Barrie
Zwicker is Publisher Emeritus of Sources
and Parliamentary
Names & Numbers and a Segment Presenter specializing
in media criticism and the Internet on Vision-TV's daily human affairs
program Skylight. He can be reached at 416-651-558.
See also:
News
releases that work -- and those that don't
The
Princess and the Press
Put
it in writing
Using
History to Write Powerful Leads
Free
for the asking
6
Tips for Writing a Successful VNR
Video
News Releases
How
to Make Your B-roll Work
Sources
News Release Service
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