When you write a press release, it’s important that it becomes a powerful marketing tool for you and your small business. You certainly don’t want to invest your time writing and distributing your release, only to discover that it didn’t bring you any traffic, leads or sales.
To ensure that your press release writing efforts are not in vain, here are ten tips for writing powerful press releases that work:
1) Provide Newsworthy Content. Make sure that your press release is timely and relevant to your readers. You can accomplish this by tying your story to current events, recent headlines or social trends.
2) Write Like a Reporter. When writing your release, use third-person (he, she, etc.) and a reporter-like format. Take a look at today’s newspaper to reacquaint yourself with the way that journalists write articles.
3) Capture Your Reader’s Attention Instantly. You only have a few seconds to capture your reader’s interest. Therefore, take time to create a compelling headline and a strong first paragraph.
4) Use Important Keywords. In order to optimize your press release for the search engines, identify what keyword phrase your readers will use when searching for your topic. For instance, if you are writing a press release about a new Twitter application that you invented, your important keyword phrase is: “new Twitter applications.” Incorporate your keyword phrase into your headline and throughout the body of your release.
5) Utilize Links, Files, Images and Videos. Many press release distribution services allow you to insert relevant files, images, links and videos to augment your press release. This allows your readers the chance to interact more fully and completely with your small business.
6) Provide Solutions. Illustrate to your readers how your small business has solved real-life problems for your clients and customers. In addition, if you can insert testimonials into your release, it will further enhance its effectiveness.
7) Just The Facts. Avoid exaggerations, hype or embellishments. Remember that today’s consumers are highly skeptical and that it’s important to establish an atmosphere of trust with your readers. The “truth and nothing but the truth” should be your small business motto.
Be Concise. Avoid long, drawn-out paragraphs, excessive use of adjectives and unnecessary redundancy. Make sure that your release is straight-forward and to the point. Save your flowery language for your poetry class.
9) Proofread. Don’t forget to proofread your press release for spelling and grammatical errors. Simple proofreading errors will instantly discredit your company’s professionalism.
10) Provide a Clear Call To Action. It should be crystal clear exactly what you want your readers to do after they read your press release. Do you want them to call a 1-800 number? Visit a website? Download a free offer? If you don’t tell your readers what to do, chances are they won’t do anything.
It’s important to remember that press releases work. However, you do need to follow a few simple tips to ensure that your press release will be successful.
About Jessica Swanson
