|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Market your website effectively! |
|
|
How to Create Killer
Press Releases For By Terry Dean
Do you want to drive your hit counter
crazy and get so many orders that you just can't handle them? If so, then
it is time that you move over into one of the kings of marketing
techniques, the press release. The problem is that around 95% of
press releases (if not more) end up in the round file. So, many marketers
have come to the conclusion that press releases just don't work for them
or their business. This is about the same percentage that
claim the Internet just doesn't work for their business. The Internet does
work, if you know how to work it. Press releases work...if you know how
to work them. As an ezine publisher I receive dozens of press releases
every week, but they almost never get published. Only one or two lines get
read before the delete button gets pressed again. If someone who only gets
a couple of dozen press releases weekly gives them a line or two of
reading, what do you think that those publishers getting hundreds or even
thousands of submissions do with each of their press releases? If you want them to even give your
press release a second glance, it is going to have to be written
correctly, be interesting, and extremely newsworthy. If it is anything
else, your press release will take a quick do not pass go trip directly
into the circular file. The biggest error I see with the press
releases that are sent to me is that they are sales letters for the
person's product. They don't even make an effort to give good information
that a publisher could use. They think that someone is going to publish
their "ad" for free. I don't think so! Before you even begin writing your
press release you must begin to think about it from the publisher's
perspective. They are looking for news. They are not looking for your
product or service. In other words, try to piggy-back your press release
on current trends and stories that are already being published when at all
possible. Once you begin writing, keep it short.
A press release should be one page or less and should never tell the whole
story. Reporters are a busy lot and the ONE goal you have in mind when
writing the release is to perk their interest. Then, they will contact you
for more information. In the upper left hand corner of every
press release, write the words "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" unless there is
time sensitive material involved. If you are involved with something
concerning Valentine's day, you may want to write "FOR RELEASE BEFORE
VALENTINE'S DAY" or some other similar phrase using the date or time
involved. In the upper right hand corner of the
press release, write "Contact: Terry Dean." Substitute your name for mine,
of course. Then, list below that all of your contact information such as
company name, address, phone number, fax number, email address, and web
site address on each line below that.
Never leave out your personal name.
Publications do not want to spend time trying to find out who to contact
personally. Never forget your phone number. They will want to contact you
quickly in most cases. Make sure that phone is available to be answered or
that you can quickly call back if you are unavailable. If you wait even
one day to get back in contact with them you can sometimes miss out on
your free story. Then, you will skip down a couple of
lines and in the middle of the line you will write your headline. Just as
in a sales letter, the headline will make or break the entire press
release. If it doesn't reach out and grab a reporter who is glancing at
hundreds of different press releases, then your whole effort goes down the
drain. Your headline is your primary
opportunity to really sell your concept to the reader. You should spend
around 80% - 95% of your time creating the press release in this one area.
If the headline is exciting and newsworthy, you will start getting calls.
If it isn't, then most publishers will never get past it. In most cases your headline should be
making a bold and exciting claim that you can back up. If your company
sells web sites, don't tell them that there is a new web hosting company
available. Tell them How Anyone can Have a Web Site Designed and Hosted
for their Business in 24 hours or less...if you can do it (remember, you
may be adding a whole boatload of new customers if the release gets
printed). When you write a sales letter, you
have to come up with a USP for your company. You have to know what makes
your product, service, or company unique. Think about the headline of the
press release in the same way. You have to write the headline with an idea
of being so Unique in your approach that it is newsworthy.
Paul Hartunian, who is one of the top
publicity geniuses, says that there are three ways to get publicity for
any business.
1. Have a solution to a problem. Hopefully in your business you don't
want to be seen as the "nut" so I recommend one of the first two options.
Whichever one you choose, make sure that you make a bold headline that
will grab the interest of your prospect: the reporter. Then skip a couple of lines and write
the body of the press release. The body contains three major sections:
summary, credentials, and the close. The summary should be a continuation
of the headline and should tell the entire story in one short paragraph.
Let them know the who, what, when, where, and why so that they would
understand the release without having to read any further. The credentials section will involve
giving your credentials and/or showing a quote which enforces the power
behind the story that you are giving out. In most successful press
releases, this section is based on a quote about the story inside of
quotation marks. Then, the name and the credentials of the person giving
the quote are listed. Make sure that this quote is extremely professional
and specific (just as if you were using a testimonial inside of a sales
letter). In the last section, you will want to
close the sale. This is simply telling the reporter what to do next. Since
the purpose of the press release is to just perk the interest and to get You may want to add an extra
credential or two in this section, but try to avoid making any type of
direct sale. In other words, don't tell them how much your product or
service costs in this section. You just want to get them to call you for
more information or for an interview. Then, in the center of the page at the
bottom of the press release, include the symbol "###" which means that
this is the end.
If your press release was properly
prepared, you can expect to start getting calls after it is sent out. At
this point, it is important that you are ready to respond with answers to
the reporter's questions, have a media kit in hand to mail out, or to
prepare for an interview. Make sure to prepare these things
before you ever send out your press release as you don't want to be taken
unawares when the calls start coming in. Once you have their interest,
don't lose it because you aren't prepared! Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of
Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results
of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single
Month" Click here to Find Out More: |
