The Press Release as a News Bulletin

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The original purpose of a press release was to announce a piece of news. It was to tell the world, so to speak, about some breakthrough discovery, some electrifying innovation, some great new happening or event.

Media people still cling to that original purpose and for good reason; news sells newspapers. Keep this purpose in mind when writing your own press releases. Think, “What’s new?” Find one thing that is new about your product, person or event and build your press release around that. Your chances of attracting media interest increases greatly with “newsy” press releases.

The reason people watch T.V. news, read newspapers and magazines and search news stories on the Internet is because people are curious. They also want to stay informed of current events. If nothing else, it makes for good conversation or party talk. Everybody wants to be the first to “break the news.”

When you create your press release, think of the person who will be the first to read your release. Think second about the person who makes the decision to write about your news. Think third about the person who will be interested enough in the subject to read a published piece about your news.

For instance, if your company has been in business for 10 years and has been selling the best widget on the market, how do you come up with something new? First, think if you can add something to change or enhance the product. If the product is not new and you have not made any innovations or improvements, think about a new use for the product.

For example, an Internet franchise-type company named “Atomic Pages” sought our help in creating a press release to advertise their business. Well, how many Internet franchise companies are there out there? A gazillion! So what’s new here? What would attract a media person? What would interest the people to whom the company wants to sell?

We came up with the newness of the method. We opened with the unique concept of “revealing positioning secrets of search engines.” This was different than what other Internet franchises promised. We later explained “The gurus at Atomic Pages have developed a unique application that analyzes what people are searching for and collects the information in a data base they can share with customers. This method goes beyond the typical search engine pecking order. The breakthrough technique allows you to put your links or banners on automatically generated pages containing links related to selected search phrases.”

So the method became the news. The product was not different or new. The delivery was not different from other similar companies. But the “method” of positioning the search engines was new! That was our news to the media and to Internet companies seeking to increase Web traffic. The release falls into the category of a news bulletin, just what the media likes. So the next time you write a press release, look for the ‘new’ in news’ and remember to make it a “news bulletin.”

This continuing feature series will give illustrative examples from actual press releases that we’ve done for our clients. By showing examples of these, you will be able to see the dynamics that have shaped successful press releases. Stay tuned for the next newsletter feature article to help you frame your own artful press releases.