Stop and think, and do not act first!
Before you pick up that pen, pad, keyboard or even quill, to write that next press release. Take some time to think. We spend a lot of our time being busy, however stopping and taking time to think can be just as productive if not more benificial than just going striaght into it. Stopping and thinking is not a bad thing and we should be encouraged to do it more often.
I believe the seeds of great press releases really come from the preparation work done before you even think of the idea for your press release content.
The first thing to think about is – who are the people you are trying to reach?
One of the most common complaints we hear from journalists, bloggers and editors about the press releases they get is that the people writing those releases haven’t thought about the ultimate consumer of their communications – the reader. This is where the "it's all about me" attitude has to stop and a honest look at who this is for is so important.
A journalist’s job is almost entirely dictated by the whims and fancies of the reader. The objective of any publication, whether online, print, trade or consumer, is to appeal to a closely defined audience.
Think about the audience you want to appeal to, and the sort of publications serving this audience. Get into their collective mind, and you’ll create ‘copy’ (that’s journalist speak for a bunch of words drawn together to form all or part of an article) that appeals to the right people. Start to think about your audience right from the start of the whole process. As you get better at writing press releases you’ll do this automatically. If you have several different target audiences that your story is relevant to, you can even consider drafting subtly different releases for distribution in each sector. This maximises the chance of your story being picked up by publications with widely different audiences.
Do you agree or disagree? Let us know your thoughts.