Why You Need To Be Creating News Releases For Your Business
Posted Under: Branding Information
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If you’re not creating news releases for your business on a monthly basis, you are at a minimum definitely missing out on a lot of free publicity.
Not only are news releases free, they are one of the best ways to showcase your business to the general public.
Although journalists receive dozens of news releases every day and most of them wind up in the circular file; you should also know that when a news release is used by a journalist, the business will almost always receive instant credibility and a boost in sales.
Free publicity is something everyone looks for in some form.
Budding actors and actresses, sports jocks, stars, small business and large corporations all place a high value on it for good reason. It works.
Many companies spend huge chunks of their budget on creative advertising for their businesses.
Weekly newspaper advertising costs alone can often overwhelm a small business’s budget and achieve only limited success. Radio and television advertising is more fruitful but is also beyond the budgets of most small businesses.
However, if you are willing to put some time, serious thought and creativity into promoting your business, you can save a ton of money on advertising and build a brand identity for your business.
Once the general public is made aware of your brand identity, many businesses only need a minimum of advertising like the Yellow Pages to keep their business fresh in the mind of their customers.
The most important elements for creating news releases for your business that will increase your chances of being accepted by a publisher are listed below.
Your news release must include at least one of the following elements if you ever hope to have it published.
- It should be of general interest to the public
- It should be timely in nature
- It should be humorous if possible
- It should provide conflict to generate discussion (political)
- It could be a human interest story or about a tragedy (Hudson River plane crash)
- It could predict some future outcome (how your business could affect the market)
- It could be about money
- It could be about sex (not pornographic)
Whatever elements you include should spark some interest to a publisher as well as the public.
When creating news releases for your business, there are some rules you should follow to make them appear more professional.
Boldly identify your news release. “News Release” should be prominently displayed.
Date and time your news release. Place the time of your release in caps and underlined just beneath your letterhead.
Use your letterhead. If you don’t have business stationary with your letterhead, use Word or some other word processor to create one. A professional letterhead is important.
Use a lot of “white space”. Journalists like to make notes on their copy so leave wide margins and double space your news release. Make it easy for them to make notes.
It is important that you provide your contact information. Place your contact information at the beginning or the end of your news release, but don’t forget to include it. Include your name, address, a reliable phone number and email address so a publisher can easily contact you.
End your news release with either ### or **END**
When writing your news release, make sure that have a compelling headline and that the most important information is in the first paragraph.
Who, What, When, How, and Why should be in the first paragraph.
Your entire story should be summarized in the first paragraph.
You should be able to understand what the news release is all about by reading the first five or six words of the headline.
For example: “New Restaurant Opens On The Max Brewer Causeway”.
Most journalists are overburdened and somewhat lazy by nature and will only scan their news releases. If the gist of your story is not up front in the copy, they may not even bother reading it.
Succeeding paragraphs should provide more but less important information about your news release.
A well written news release will make sense even if someone only reads the first headline of your first paragraph.
As long as you explain who you are, what you are doing, how you are doing it, where you are doing it and why you are doing it; your news release has an excellent chance of being accepted and published by a journalist.
Online sites like PRWeb.com allow users to send out free news releases. Others charge for the service.
Once you get some practice, you can whip out a good news release in a couple of hours. And, if you create one every month, you can be assured your business brand will stay fresh in the mind of your clients.
If you have not been creating news releases for your business on a monthly basis, you should start today.
