Use Human Interest to Capture Media Attention

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Your business head often takes over when writing a press release. Bear in mind who’s going to read it. Hopefully, it will capture the attention of a media person, a fellow human being with feelings, hopes, dreams and interests much like yours. Facts, research and statistics are important, but remember the human element.

One thing that adds a human-interest angle to your press release is a real, live quote from a person, whether in the form of a testimonial or a colorful quote from a person involved in the subject of your release. Make sure the direct quote is said in such an interesting way that it deserves quote marks. Otherwise, you can easily paraphrase it.

Recently, we did a press release on how an inventor came up with his creation. We talked about his struggle and how long he had to work on it through trial and error and how he kept improving it. When he read it, he said, “Leave all that superfluous stuff out about how it was discovered and designed. Just say that it works.”

What happened was that he killed the article and greatly lowered his chances of getting media attention. Media people want to hear about the human aspect, the struggle, and the victory as well as about the finished product or event. They want to know just who the person is that is involved. They catch a glimmer of this in quotes and background material. It should be an underlying theme, not a glaring ego trip.

Remember, you’re not writing a novel here but don’t exclude the human element. Otherwise, your press release is just another sales pitch.