How to Write a Press Release Quick and Efficient

There are many different kinds and styles of press releases that are written and distributed every day to media organizations. If these news releases don't contain a certain type of flair, creativity, or attention grabbing circumstance -- then the likelihood of them gaining news coverage becomes very slim.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF GETTING THE MEDIA'S ATTENTION?

Newsrooms across the country receive numerous emails on a daily basis from groups, organizations, political leaders, businesses, and others. Many of these issues or events may be very worthy causes, but may never make it to air or print for various reasons. Here are some explanations:

1. Anyone who submits a press release is fighting for a news station's airtime or newspaper's print space in the hopes of bringing more attention to their cause, situation, event, or issue. But a great deal of that air time or print space is already allocated to the main stories of the day, which help shape the news cycle for the next 24 hours. That doesn't leave room for much else when hundreds, if not thousands, are submitting press releases to compete for the attention of a broadcast station or newspaper.

2. Since there is limited air time or print space -- TV and radio stations, as well as newspapers and online publications, tend to be very selective about the stories they will air or print. This fact is especially true in major markets, such as New York, Chicago, or LA, where there are plenty of news events occurring on a regular basis.

3. The competition in TV news between the ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates in every major market is extremely fierce -- so specific types of stories may be given more precedence in order to attract the largest audiences. The same holds true for radio stations, newspapers, and online publications.

4. A sizable portion of press releases do not result in any type of media coverage, but the reason that makes submitting them worthwhile is the potential for mass attention. Honestly, you cannot have this type of impact or receive this type of value anywhere else.

INCREASING YOUR CHANCES OF NEWS COVERAGE

Since most press releases are fighting an uphill battle when it involves gaining news coverage, what can you do improve your odds? In my press release course -- you will learn some basic, but critical skills to help your press release capture the media's attention. Here are some things that will be taught in my course:

1. Make News Releases Attention Grabbing and Eye Catching

As I stated at the beginning, there are all kinds and styles of press releases. We will discuss news releases that are more effective and ones that may not be as effective. The ones that tend to be more successful use a combination of things in order to capture the eyes of the media. This can range anywhere from the appearance of a press release, they manner in which it is presented, whether the writing is engaging, and other factors. If you can incorporate all of these critical things into a news release, your success rate for coverage significantly increases.

2. Recognizing and Understanding Various Types of News Releases

Since there are different types of news releases, you will need to be able to recognize and identify them. In addition, you will need to know what specific type of news release will work best for the cause, issue, event, or circumstance that you are attempting to promote. Recognizing and understanding your specific topic will help you recognize and understand the type of press release that will serve you best to capture the media's attention. In my course, we will discuss five different persuasive news releases that will help entice media attention.

3. News Release Writing

This portion of the news release course will be heavily covered. The bottom line is if you can't write well, then you can't communicate effectively. But the good news is that if you have a creative mind and can properly express that creativity on paper, then you have a decent chance of gaining coverage for your news release.

There are plenty of well written press releases that are submitted to news organizations on a daily basis. They use proper grammar and punctuation, they are concisely written, and they use standardized formatting. All of these are outlined from A to Z in the Public Relations text book on the basics of how to correctly write a CONVENTIONAL press release.

I placed the word, CONVENTIONAL, in all caps to prove a point. I agree that everyone must learn the basics before they can master writing news releases, but one thing that I learned working in broadcast newsrooms for more than two decades is that conventional doesn't stand out to media representatives.

If you recall, I spoke earlier about newsrooms receiving hundreds -- if not thousands -- of news releases a day. Since that is the case, you need to find some way to make your news release pop in the eyes of the assignment editor or producer. Creativity and your willingness to take risks by expressing it on paper make up the true ingredients of a successful press release.