A press release picked up by editors can give your marketing campaign long legs and far reaching results when executed properly. But how do you grab the attention of these editors and readers to encourage them to take a nibble of your story bait long enough so you can reel them in?
When working the press release, consider a few best practices:
- Grab ‘em early! In other words, the headline. The first few words of your headline might be the only words read by an editor if it isn’t something that grabs their attention immediately. It needs to be short, intriguing and stands out against the sea of other stories out there. The maximum characters a search engine will show is 70 (Google) and some are even less (only 65 for Bing). So in short, make it interesting for a quick glance to want to read on.
- The right format! If it isn’t in a standard format, forget it. Go with Arial, Times New Roman or Cambria fonts. Cute, quirky fonts may seem pretty to you, but to an editor it’s a big ‘delete’ indicator. It means it wasn’t written professionally, and they don’t want to waste the time. Also be sure to include the date you would like it to be published. If that means immediately, indicate as such so an editor knows when the release is going to be relevant.
- SEO! Key words in your title and body content relevant to the story give it a better chance to be found in a search. If you notice the title above, Press Release and Marketing are two key terms that a search engine looks for.
- Content that is clear! Be sure to write tight paragraphs with content that emphasizes benefits and a reason to want to follow a link to your products.
Not get out there and start spreading the word in your PR campaigns!
Source: Business 2 Community
Image: Scott Liddel