We all know that factual information and news are the mainstays of press releases.  The ‘who, what, how, when, why’ are essential elements of any news release.  Putting your words together so that they are pleasant sounding and pleasing to the eye is an important byproduct of effective press release writing.  A melodic press release packs a powerful punch, the least important of which is that it will get read sooner.

Words can be musical without being sung.  In fact, good writing matches the rhythm and cadence of good music.  The pitch, the variation, the highs and lows of words blend together to make word music.  Music has the advantage of almost universal appeal.  Why not make your words more appealing by giving more thought to pacing, tempo and beat?

Pacing has to do with speed and velocity, how your words move in thought and sound.  You speed up the pace with action verbs; you slow it down with ‘ing’ words.  An example is the following sentence:  The ball shattered the glass.  (fast) The ball was hitting the glass.  (slow)

Tempo is the rhythm that is created with word pacing.  An example is the following:

As the ball hit, the glass shattered.  (’As’ slows it down; ’shattered’ (action verb) speeds it up thus the tempo is balanced.

Beat is created by inflection.  An example is the following:  Baseball bats shatter windows.  (Each of the two syllable words emphasizes the first syllable as in base, shatter and windows.)  The result is a rhythmic sentence with a definite beat.

Become your own word maestro by paying close attention to these three elements, pace, tempo and beat.  Soon you’ll be leading your own verbal orchestra to the tune of sweeter press releases.

One of the biggest complaints we get from media people regarding press releases (not written by us) is the phony salesmanship that comes across the page.  Too much hype turns people off.

Remember the old stories about snake oil salesmen? At the turn of the century, traveling ‘healers’ would ride into towns pulling their horse-driven wagons filled with bottles of ‘cure-all’ tonics.  Some of the so-called liquid magic was dubbed “Snake-oil,” a word that took on a derogatory connotation because it was a big lie.  Snake oil salesmen were slimy like both snakes and oil.  Most of their products were not what they were touted to be.

Today’s version of snake oil salesmen are people who oversell a product by attributing too much hype and glory to it.  You need to avoid the perception of this in your press releases.  While being enthusiastic and passionate about your subject is important, don’t overstep the bounds of good taste.  Good salesmanship does the job without the exaggeration.  In fact, good salesmanship often understates.

So how do you avoid being a snake-oil salesman in your press-release writing?

The following 10 suggestions should help.

1.  Omit all adjectives.

2.  Omit all adverbs.

3.  Omit all exclamation points.

4.  State the facts simply.

5.  Give examples of products’ benefits.

6.  Use personal testimonies of credible customers or people in general.

7.  Cite specific uses for product.

8.  Qualify the company or people involved with product.

9.  Outline track record of product or company.

10.  Quote experts.

1. To promote a person, product, event or idea (hereafter referred to as ‘the product.’)
2. To inform the public.
3. To jump start a new business.
4. To keep the name of your product in the news.
5. To tell of a new aspect, development or circumstance of ‘the product.’
6. To update the media.
7. To announce good news.
8. To inform of a major or minor change.
9. To attract an audience.
10. To educate a specific group.

The first question you should ask yourself before writing a press release is “why am I writing this?“  You’d be surprised at the number of press releases we see that wander all over the place and don’t focus on the main reason for writing it.

Too often, people do not think of creative reasons to send press releases so they follow the same, old tired pattern of who, what, why, where and when.  While these five questions should certainly be answered in the press release, when appropriate, a more creative approach makes for fresher copy.

The next time you write a release, glance over the 10 reasons above and select the most important one.  This should serve as your guide throughout the process of writing the release.  Secondary ones can be listed afterwards.  But keep the main focus on number one.

Many artists and performers send press releases to let potential clients know they are available for special assignments or gigs.  They also benefit if a profile on them appears in the local newspaper, radio or TV station.

If you write your own, it’s best to write in the third person, as it is difficult to toot your own horn without appearing arrogant.  Just write it as if you were someone else.

State your name and whatever you specialize in, whether authoring books or articles or performing at parties and shows.  If you have credits of past published works or have appeared in venues, state that.

If you have not, write what you can and will do, with enthusiasm.  Include a quote or two from a former employer or person who has knowledge of your work.

Include a unique angle, telling what makes you slightly or greatly different from the competition–why they should hire you rather than a competitor.  Include any awards or honors you have received for your work, when you are available for an interview and how they can contact you most conveniently.  A photo is an added enticement.

Many companies hire public relations firms to handle their press releases and that is fine.  Chances are they will be professionally written and sent to niche markets, most likely by standard mail or special courier.  This is probably the most costly method.  You may also have accomplished staff writers within your company who are capable of writing adequate press releases.  This method is often more cost-effective because the employee is already being paid for his or her time.  If, however, the release is not as well written as it could be, the cost effective benefits will be nullified, because the chances of the press release not receiving media attention will be increased.  You must, then, rely on expensive advertising to achieve exposure for your company, product or service.

If you write your release yourself, be sure to review our tips and articles on techniques for successful press release writing.  Writing a press release is more of an art and a learned skill than you may think.

In our high tech electronic age, sending press releases has become more popular and less difficult.  To take advantage of faster and more accurate methods, using an online press release writing and distribution service is both cost-efficient and practical.  Through the Internet, press releases can be distributed to thousands of media outlets that subscribe (opt-in) to such professional companies as http://www.press-release-writing.com.

Without a doubt, the Internet has changed the way companies distribute press releases and select press release writing services.  More and more companies are turning to online press release services to reduce costs and increase effectiveness of their PR campaign.

A press release is perhaps the most efficient, most economical way of advertising your product, person or service to a broad audience.  Newspapers as well as radio and television outlets pick up press releases easily and frequently because they need news to fill their empty slots.  Media outlets also need to inform and entertain their audiences.  Therefore,the more unique and interesting your press release presentation is, the more likely it is to be attractive to media people.  Thus chances of getting your information published will be increased dramatically.

In today’s high tech age of mass communication rapidly disseminated, just one press release is generally not enough.  While you don’t want to ‘flood the market’ with repetitive information, it’s important to keep your news on the forefront of media attention.  In the many requests we’ve had to distribute press releases for businesses, small and large, we have found that once a week is a good barometer to measure media interest.  This is not to recommend sending the same information every week.  You send a press release once a week with a new piece of news or a new angle to your product or business.  Every improvement you make to your product is essentially news to the public.  Each addition or change to your product is news.  Phrase it in interesting terms and angle it for media interest and you’ll have your name in print on a regular basis, an ideal situation for any business.

Good press releases must adhere to the rules of any other writing.  You write so the reader will read.  Laziness in writing is settling for overused verbs that are easy but totally boring.  Active verbs add sparkle to your writing, in any form.  The verb “to be” is overused ‘ad nauseam.’  i.e.  “I am, he is, you are, they are, we are.”  Search around for quicker and slicker verbs such as:

Instead of:  “He is happy” Use:  “He glows”

Instead of:  “They are fishing” Use:  “They throw lines”

Instead of:  “He ran fast” Use:  “He hustled”

Instead of:  “The board was creaking” Use:  “The board creaked”

The above are simple examples of how you can choose sparkling verbs to pepper your sentences, adding texture and spice.  Here’s how you can you do it yourself.

Ten Easy Ways to Find Zestier Verbs

1.  Read, read, and read!  The Sunday paper fairly blooms with succinct verbs because of all the human-interest stories and special features.

2.  Skim your daily papers for feature stories; they usually frame better verbs in their picture stories.

3.  Save and scan your Magazines!  Articles frequently fill space with active verbs and the old issues are as good as the new for this purpose.

4.  Read such literary masters as Feodor Dostoevsky, Charles Dickens, Henry James and William Shakespeare.  Just skimming some of the works of these gifted writers may produce some priceless pearls of language, particularly verbs.

5.  Read poetry.  Such wordsmiths as Dylan Thomas, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe and Elizabeth Barrett Browning rose above the mundane in their use of verbs.  Most poetry, for that matter, affords a view of unique word usage.

6.  Check your thesaurus and dictionary for new ideas.  A newly published book called “The Oxford English Dictionary for Writers” is a good, new source.

7.  Cover the advertisements in newspapers and magazines; they always contain some catchy verbs.

8.  Pay attention to conversations around you, on television and in films.  Carry a small notebook so you can notate unusual verbs you hear.

9.  Do crossword puzzles and other word games such as scrabble, acrostics and charades.

10.  Check Internet ads for appealing verbs.

This article will deal with the use of press releases for the Online Press Room.  The value of press releases has been reiterated over and over again in the Press-Release-Writing.com newsletter.  The many tips and techniques we offer have a proven track record with professional journalists and press release writers such as those on our PRW staff.

After you distribute your press releases to the media, tack them up on your Web site for easy, accessible information for journalists who need input to write a story. The information should be just as clear and upfront as it is in any good press release.  Leave out the hype and the fluff.  Stick to the facts, examples and solid information that someone would want to know about your service or product.  If you were writing a story for a newspaper or magazine, what would you want to know to get a good story?  What would the readers want to know?  What’s important; what’s not?

What is an Online Press Room?

Companies post information on their Web sites that is accessible to qualified press people.  This has become especially prevalent with the brick and mortar companies as well as Internet companies.  Many sites require registration and passwords, presumably to keep out the public or customers with complaints.  This obviously limits accessibility as journalists click onto a Press Room to get fast information and do not like roadblocks.  They’ll just move on to another company and another story.  So think hard about making your Online Press Room accessible to everyone.  Put in a contact number for people other than journalists.  But keep your Press Room open to all.

Contact numbers are imperative.  Always include contacts directly to your public relations staff so journalists can field their questions to the people trained to answer them.  If you want to avoid phones ringing off the hook from callers who are not journalists, use e-mail addresses instead.  Make it clear that certain numbers or addresses are for media only.  Give alternate contacts for other business.  That way, even if people pay no attention and your emailboxes become stuffed, you can at least weed out the non-journalists and direct their answers to other staff.

Professionally Written Press Releases are Worth Their Time and Cost

While it’s true that everyone knows how to write and probably learned how in first grade, it’s wise to remember that press-release writing is an art as well as a learned skill.  So even if you decide to write your own press releases, make sure you follow the tips from PRW newsletters, past and future.  If you use professional distribution for your press release, don’t think it’s wasted if no news story comes of it.  Timing and relevance are everything.  The media wants and needs news.  Sometimes your news is not what they are seeking at the time you submit it.  By posting well-written press releases on your Web site, the information will be there for journalists to use when they do need the information.

You can get a lot of mileage out of your press releases.  Not only are they missiles of information to be shot out to the press, they are informative articles to dress up your Web site.  Make sure they’re not just window dressing.  Remember to include relevant facts, performance history where appropriate, brief financial info and a lot of contact numbers for the many needs of journalists, potential customers and future shareholders.  Use press releases to develop an Online Press Room that journalists will find fast, reliable and informative.

Lately, it seems everybody is breaking all kinds of rules and getting away with it.  Fact is, no matter what you write, rules still apply.  Grammar guidelines, such as the use of commas, have relaxed as well as have the use of newly coined words and phrases that have not made it to the dictionary yet.

Case in point, an entire vocabulary has arisen out of the technology world. Some examples of that are I ‘e-mailed’ my mother, visit our ‘Website,’ he ‘downloaded’ the files, to name a few.  Cyberspace, ezines, and urls are other new word examples from the electronic age.

Current slang expressions have also born brand new word babies that veer away from their traditional meanings.  Examples of that are it ’sucks,’(it stinks); ‘hello!’  (what a dumb idea); he has ‘issues,’ (personal problems.)  You can think up plenty of your own.  Just listen around the water cooler or in the chat rooms.  Or tune into the latest soap.

All that aside, rules of grammar still rule, especially with the media types who will be most likely to receive your press releases such as editors and writers.  These people have rules to abide by in their publications and they surely don’t need to spend their time cleaning up yours.  In most cases, they won’t.

So what rules are most important if you’re writing your own press releases?  Spelling goes without saying.  That’s simple; just spellcheck it (another computer-generated word.)  The trouble with spellcheck is that sometimes the same spelled word has different meanings and the computer will not pick up on it.  For example, ‘love’ can be a verb or a noun or a score in tennis.  The computer, while checking spelling, would not pick up the nuances of meaning.  Another example is the word ‘cut.’  It could be a verb (cut a flower,) a noun (a good cut referring to a hairdo,) or ‘cut’ a rug, (a verb meaning to dance.)  The subtleties of meaning in the English language make it almost imperative to have some understanding while using spellcheck.

Subject-verb agreement is another important element of the rules of grammar.  Everyone does rather than everyone do; each of Mary and Harry’s children ‘does’ well in school, not ‘do’ well.  The board of directors ‘was’ meeting, not ‘were’ meeting.  Board is a singular unit of members who are all doing the same thing-’meeting.’

Tense agreement must always follow the rule.  He went to the store.  He is buying a gift.  That’s wrong.  Switching tenses is a sign of the amateur.  Whichever tense you choose, be consistent.  If you choose the past tense, ‘he went to the store,’ stick with it and say he ‘bought’ a gift.  If you choose the present tense, ‘he goes to the store,’ follow up with the same tense:  ‘he buys a gift.’

A rule of thumb for press releases, though not an absolute rule of grammar, is to use the active rather than the passive voice.  For example, “I remember my first date,” rather than “my first date will be remembered.”  The first is far more vigorous than the second.  “I sign my name on the document,” rather than “my name is signed on the document.”  You see the difference.

Basically, rules of grammar were written to make writing clear and concise, not to complicate your life.  The cleaner and simpler the words and format are, the easier it is to understand the writing.  This is vitally important in a press release because nobody has to read it; reading your release is a choice.

Follow these basic rules and your press release will ring with clarity and authority.  More importantly, the information will be understandable.

The next time you write a press release, keep basic rules of grammar and style high on your priority list.

In the last newsletter, we discussed different types of interviews to use to get good quotes for press releases.  Whichever type you choose, you must first telephone to set it up.  Don’t ever put the interviewee on the spot by calling and interviewing without a previous appointment, unless the subject suggests it and prefers it.  When you call and speak to the subject or an assistant, suggest dates and times that would be convenient, based on your own schedule but respecting that of the interviewee’s.  Give the approximate time it will take, preferably not longer than 15 or 20 minutes.  Try and make it a telephone interview unless you need or want to see the interviewee in his or her business setting.  A telephone interview takes much less time and is basically more efficient than the in-person interview.

Whether or not you use a tape recorder, it’s a good idea to take notes as well.  Technology is wonderful, but sometimes it breaks down.  Don’t rely totally on your memory either.  We prefer note taking to tape-recording and only use the recorded interview for clearing up any questions or if notes are illegible.  (write neat!)

The most difficult problem with an interview is not, as popularly thought, getting the subject to talk, but getting the subject to stop talking!  Seriously, just about everybody likes to talk about themselves and their business, hobby or pastime.  Once you get into their interests, they usually can talk non-stop for hours.  Not all will but some will.  Be prepared ahead for this problem should it occur.  Set your stopwatch or clock for the length of time you allotted for the interview.  When it goes off, explain you must stop as you have another appointment.  Most people will respect this.

With this in mind, get to the meat of the interview first.  Ask the big questions first and help the subject stay on track by repeating the question, if necessary.  Don’t allow the subject to drift off into other areas.  Always keep the prime question on the table and keep coming back to it if necessary.  As you come to the end of the interview, tell the subject that you have just one more question.  That alerts him or her to the fact that you are winding up the interview and gives the subject a chance to elaborate on the last question.

Be friendly and polite but be decisive in getting the information you need.  Thank the interviewee and ask if you may call again if necessary to clarify anything.  A hand-written thank-you note or even e-mail is a nice follow-up to the interview.  After all, the person gave you his or her time and you may need it again.