In our great technological age, we have come to rely upon advanced devices to help our writing skills. For example, consider the wonderful innovation of Spell Check. So many new writers use it like the last word, thinking it’s infallible. Trust me, it’s not. Our staff of full-time professional writers spends a lot of time correcting mistakes made by Spell Check. It’s the old story, you have to know what you’re doing in order to benefit from the shortcuts.
A recent study of Spell Check users at the University of Pittsburgh had surprising results. Read more »
“In general, those who have nothing to say contrive to spend the longest time doing it.” Lowell wrote this truism eons ago in An Oriental Apologue.
Some things never change. Those wise words still pack a wallop today. Think about the monologues you must listen to daily for business purposes or just because you’re too polite to say, ‘Enough already!’
Nobody likes to listen to endless chatter. The same is true with press releases. In general, Read more »
We’ve had a large number of requests from our subscribers for information on how to put together a press kit for sending by snail mail. While our main focus at PRW is electronic distribution, there is always a place and need for good old-fashioned snail mail. In this newsletter, we will share some tips on press kits from Cheryl Andrews of Cheryl Andrews Marketing and Communications, a longtime and well-respected public relations firm in Coral Gables. Specializing in travel, the firm’s client list includes Trinidad and Tobago, The Ocean Club in the Turks & Caicos, Sunsail in Antigua, and the new Miami Beach Marriott Resort in South Beach.
Question: What is the purpose of a press kit? Read more »
We write hundreds of press releases and we receive dozens and dozens of questions from people who are just learning to write them. Even people who write press releases regularly have questions. The pros want to improve too.
We also interview experts who share tips on what works for them. Since one of our main goals is to help you write better press releases, we like to share that great store of combined knowledge and know-how with you. Read more »
In conducting a series of interviews with editors and journalists across the country, we asked the question: What single factor influences you most in choosing which press releases you read? The responses were overwhelmingly slanted to one thing: “Keep it relevant.” To quote Barnaby Feder of The New York Times who perhaps said it best, Read more »
Since the purpose of this newsletter is to help you write successful press releases, we try to make it a point to share some of the techniques that we and other communication experts have learned through experience. In this edition of the PRW newsletter, we will re-visit an interview with expert Richard Westlund of Westlund Communications Group in Miami, FL. In a personal question and answer session with Mr. Westlund, we gleaned some valuable tools. Read more »
Benjamin Disraeli wrote, “Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.”
The qualities of time and truth can be guiding lights in writing press releases. Keep foremost in your mind that time is at a premium with most busy professionals, and especially for media personnel. They often receive hundreds of press releases a day touting this product or that service, this company or that artist. They become very discriminating at knowing immediately if they are interested or they toss it in the trash. Brevity is king. They also can detect truth from just a lot of hype. So don’t dress up your words with fancy adjectives and fluffy descriptions. Stick to the facts, M’am, Strictly the facts.
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 issue’s expert is a featured columnist, editor and journalist with worldwide Knight Ridder Newspapers.
Interview with Howard Cohen, journalist/editor, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Question: In your opinion, what is the one thing that really separates the good press releases from the mediocre ones? Read more »
Your company’s Web site isn’t just for your customers. Remember that interested media may be stopping by to research your company, product, or recent news. If they’ve taken the time to come to your Web site, make sure that Read more »
With 35 years of experience in the public relations field, Susan Neuman has both written and submitted a lot of press releases for hundreds of clients. What’s more, this former reporter for the Miami Herald’s City Desk has been on both sides of the fence and has received many press releases. She’s also been Editor-in-Chief of Miami Magazine. As a former media person herself, she knows Read more »
Every company wants to attract new clients, but in the process often loses sight on the value of keeping existing ones. Since it usually only takes around 20% of the marketing budget to keep an existing client rather than trying to gain a new one, it’s amazing that more and more companies continue to neglect them as yesterday’s news. To attract new customers, you need to send Read more »
