Seven Hot Tips for Writing Successful Press Releases

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Benjamin Franklin wrote, “If it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, there is  no end to what can be accomplished.” That’s the way we feel about helping our readers write their press releases. We want to give you the “know-how” without taking any credit. 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 month’s expert is Diane Lane, Communications Manager of Aspen Skiing Company. In a personal interview with Ms. Lane we picked up some pearls. We asked her what successful strategies she has found that get the best results from the hundreds of press releases her company sends out on a daily basis.

As Manager of the Communications Team at Aspen Skiing Company, Ms. Lane has extensive experience dealing with broadcast media as well as print media. Last year, the team hosted over 25 broadcast crews from around the world and sent out hundreds of press releases.

Her Seven Timely Tips are as follows:

1. Grab the reader in the first 3 seconds or you lose him/her. Start with a fascinating factoid (for example: Is skiing a dangerous sport? Your chances of falling and hurting yourself in the bathtub are far greater than falling and getting injured on skis.)
2. Start your release with an interesting quote. For example: Olympic skier claims, “Skiing saved my life.”
3. Use charts, bullets and boldface to outline pertinent facts within the body of the release.
4. Include information about your product or company on every release.
5. Identify the type of information you’re sending somewhere on the release. Aspen Skiing Company uses the right margin to indicate type of info (restaurants, hotels, best ski trails, weather etc.)
6. Try and make press release just one page. Two is acceptable but using both sides of one page is better than two pages.
7. Present your facts up front. Don’t beat around the bush.