Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow Essex CM20 2JE England and Associated Companies throughout the world

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2 Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow Essex CM20 2JE England and Associated Companies throughout the world Visit us on the World Wide Web at: Pearson Education Limited 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement of this book by such owners. ISBN 10: ISBN 10: ISBN 13: ISBN 13: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed in the United States of America

3 Tips for Success Rules for Writing a News Release All news releases should be news centered. Here is a list of guidelines primarily from Schubert Communications, a Pennsylvania public relations firm, but also supplemented with other sources: + Use short, succinct headlines and subheads to highlight main points and pique interest. They should not simply be a repeat of the information in the lead-in paragraph. + Don t use generic words and phrases such as the leading provider or world-class to position your company. Be specific; use phrases such as with annual revenues of. + Don t describe products using phrases such as unique or total solution. Use specific terms or examples to demonstrate the product s distinctness. + Use descriptive and creative words to grab an editor s attention, but make sure they are accurate and not exaggerated. Press releases aren t dead, but a poorly written news release is a waste of time for both the company and the reader. Jenn Riggle, associate vice president and social media leader, CRT/Tanaka + Don t highlight the name of your company or product in the headline of a news release if it is not highly recognized. If you are not a household name, focus on the news instead. + Tell the news. Focus on how your announcement affects your industry and lead with that rather than overtly promoting your product or company. Localize whenever possible. A local news angle trumps a generic news release. + Critique your writing by asking yourself, Who cares? Why should readers be interested in this information? + Verify all facts and statistics that you are using. Provide attribution for credibility. + Don t use lame quotes. Write like someone is actually talking eliminate the corporatese that editors love to ignore. Craft quotes that provide additional perspective or information, not clichés about how how excited we are about a product or how pleased we are to get the contract. + Target your writing. Create two different tailored releases that will go out to different types of media rather than a general release that isn t of great interest to either group. + Look for creative ways to tie your announcement in to current news or trends. + Write simply. Use contractions, write in active voice, be direct, avoid paired words like clear and simple, and incorporate common actionoriented phrases to generate excitement. Sentences should be no longer than 25 or 30 words. + Follow the Associated Press Stylebook and specific publications editorial standards for dates, technical terms, abbreviations, punctuation, spellings, capitalization, etc. + Proofread for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Don t rely exclusively on a spell-checker. + Don t overdo it. It s important to write colorfully, to focus on small specific details, to include descriptions of people, places, and events, but do not write poetry when you want press. + Don t be formulaic in your news release writing. Not every release must start with the name of the company or product. Break out of the mold to attract media attention. + Don t expect editors to print your entire release. Important information should be in the first two paragraphs. + Be accessible at all times to answer any follow-up queries from reporters and bloggers. 136

4 News Release Formats The Traditional News Release The standard news release, as pointed out at the beginning of the chapter, has been around for more than a century with only minor changes to its original format. Essentially, it s a double-spaced document on 8.5- by 11-inch paper that is mailed or faxed to newspapers and broadcast media Today, they continue to be used by many organizations and civic clubs despite pronouncements by social media gurus that they are relics of the stone age. One only needs to review the stacks of news releases that still arrive by snail mail at newspaper offices around the country, or even the media kits that are still being produced in paper form. As one publicist explains, Our job is to offer the information in any format that the journalist or media outlet desires. For example, even if you visit a corporate newsroom on the Web you will find any number of traditional double-spaced news releases posted on the site that can be downloaded by journalists and the public. Standard margins for a traditional news release are 2 inches from the top of the page and about 1.5 inches from each side and the bottom of the page. If you have a letterhead, start writing copy about 2 inches below it. See Figure 3 for an example of a standard news release distributed by McCormick & Company. Some other formatting rules for a traditional release are as follows:» Use 10- or 12-point standard type. Courier and Times Roman are popular fonts because they are easy to read. Avoid squeezing copy to fit on one page by reducing the size of type: This is self-defeating.» Don t split sentences or paragraphs between pages.» Never hyphenate a word at the end of a line. Unjustified right margins are acceptable.» Number the pages of a news release.» Place a slug line (a short description) at the top of each page after the first one. This identifies the story in case the pages get separated.» Write more at the end of each page if the news release continues.» Use ### at the end of your news release. This has replaced the old journalistic -30- The Online News Release Journalists, especially those who sit on those panels where they hate on PR people, usually say how much they despise them, but as soon as you speak to them about a news story, they ask Do you have a press Jackson Wightman, in a post on release? Although the traditional news release is still used, particularly among weekly newspapers in small towns across the nation, the vast majority of news releases today are prepared for distribution by or via electronic distribution services such as BusinessWire. In fact, most surveys shows that up to 90 percent of journalists prefer to receive news releases via . See Figure 4 for an example of an online news 137

5 Figure 4 McCormick & Company prepares news releases in various formats to accommodate the needs of the media and social network sites. Figure 3 shows the traditional news release, and this is the online version. It s a single-spaced format with a number of photos embedded that journalists can easily download to complement the story. The company also formats news releases for mobile distribution, which requires narrow margins to fit the screen of a smartphone. 138

6 release posted in the newsroom of McCormick & Company s website. Compare this with the same information posted as a standard news release, shown in Figure 3. The basic components of the traditional news release are still present, but releases have several format differences:» Copy is now single-spaced instead of double spaced.» The ideal length is 200 to 250 words instead of up to 400 words.» The emphasis is on brevity so journalists see most of the release on one screen without having to scroll.» The subject line in the , instead of the release headline, becomes the most important factor in determining whether a recipient clicks open or delete.» Contact information is often given at the bottom of the release instead of at the top.» A quote in larger type is often highlighted in the body of the news release.» A photo or logo is often embedded in the release for possible use with the story. See Figure 5. B. L. Ochman, writing in The Strategist, suggests that you should think of the electronic news release as a teaser to get a reporter or editor to your website for additional information. He makes the following additional suggestions:» The subject line must, in a few words, say exactly what the news release is about. Don t be too cute or vague.» Use bullets to convey key points.» Write only two or three short sentences in each of the five paragraphs. Figure 5 Anyone for a brewpub burger? News releases often include photos and other graphics to complement the story. McCormick & Company, which makes a variety of spices, often includes highresolution photos and recipes in its online news releases to highlight how its products are used. 139

7 » Above the headline, or at the bottom of the release, be sure to provide a contact name, phone number, address, and URL for additional information.» Never send a release as an attachment. Journalists, because of possible virus infections, rarely open attachments unless they know and trust the source. Ochman concludes, Write like you have 10 seconds to make a point. Because online, you do. From press materials to the blog posts that we recommend our clients write, we always keep an eye on SEO because Google is the place where everyone starts these Todd Defren, principal with Boston-based Shift days. Communications The Vital Need for SEO News releases distributed online are only effective, however, if the writer carefully uses what is known as search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. Essentially, SEO is the process of selecting keywords for the news release that make the content easily retrievable if a journalist or even a consumer conducts a search on Google, Bing, or Yahoo!. Another aspect is using one or two keywords within the first characters of the headline and in the first two paragraphs of your news release because search engines, like us, read from top to bottom. A cruise line, for example, might want to publicize its eco-friendly tours but most people would probably use the term green cruises in a search. Therefore, the cruise line should use green as a keyword in its news release. Or a university may want to publicize a major fundraising campaign as part of its University Advancement activities, but most people don t use this somewhat jargonized term. So the university should probably use fundraising donations or gifts as a keyword in the news release headline and in the body of the story. The headline might say, Ohio State Launches Major Fundraising Campaign for Donations. Anyone using the words Ohio State and Donations or Fundraising would probably come across the news release in a search. So how do you know what keywords would generate the most search results for you? Fortunately, Google has some tools that give you guidance. One tool is Google s AdWords, which gives you insight into what phrases are searched most frequently. Remember that informal words are used most frequently by people, so avoid industry jargon and product service names as keywords. The Google External Keyword tool is also helpful because it lists other words associated with a major keyword and how much they are searched. The strawberry industry may decide to issue a news release about Valentine s Day recipes, but not many searches are done on this topic. However, Valentine s Day ideas gets thousands of searches, so perhaps a good news release headline might be Need an Idea for Valentine s Day? Try a Recipe Using Fresh Strawberries. Google Trends is also a good tool to find out when to issue a news release. In the case of Valentine s Day, the data available from Google indicate that people don t really start searching for Valentine s Day ideas until the first part of February, so your strawberry recipes news release should probably be sent to journalists and bloggers at that time instead of sometime in January. 140