David Meerman Scott, who recorded an interview with me a few weeks ago called “The New Rules of Press Releases: How to Write Them for Buyers, Not Only for Journalists,” says that when he used to work as a reporter, he never read a press release, then wrote a story directly from the release. If he… Read More
Press Releases
Press releases or news releases? Which is it?
After I announced my free 89-day tutorial this week called “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases,” Publicity Hound Jim Nugent emailed me with this question: “In keeping with what you say about press releases, shouldn’t this series be renamed either ’89 Ways To Write Better News Releases?’ or maybe ‘Media Releases’ or perhaps, ‘Universal Information Pitches?’ After… Read More
Publicity stunts to try when the idea well is dry
Author Marcia Yudkin is one of the most creative people I know. Her book “6 Steps to Free Publicity” is perhaps my very favorite book on how to work with the media. I’m one of her groupies, and I read her ezine “Marketing Minute” each week. So I was thrilled when she gave me permission… Read More
Press releases just got easier thanks to this free tutorial
Writing press releases isn’t easy. If you think I’m wrong, take this little quiz. Answer true or false to the following statements: I write press releases primarily to encourage journalists at newspapers and magazines to write articles about my company, or for broadcasters who will feature us on the news or invite us as guests on talk shows.… Read More
Gift List includes press release writing, distribution services
The Gift List, the fee-based service that provides leads on media outlets planning special coverage of things that make great gifts, will now write your news releases and distribute them to the media. That means people who sell various products and services no longer have to spend time tracking down special sections where their product would… Read More
Write press releases for the media and Google News
Here’s a big mistake that many PR people make when they start writing a press release. They write the release for only one audience: the media. Twenty years ago, when most of us were snail-mailing releases, that would have been fine. But today, you should be writing press releases so people in your target audience,… Read More
PR Web Canada a great way for fitness trainer to give advice to Canada’s portly prime minister
If you can be the local angle to a national story, you can have the media clamoring for your story, and PR Web Canada, the press release distribution service, is a great resource for spreading the word in Canada. Catherine Pruissen, a personal fitness trainer in Canada, asked me how she can piggyback off recent news photos of Canada’s newly elected… Read More
Article directories, free online press releases work hand in hand to generate publicity
I just hired someone to start submitting my many articles about free publicity to online article directories, using ArticleSubmitterPro, which makes the job easy. The same day my assistant started registering me at various sites, Publicity Hound Paulette Ensign, a.k.a. The Tips Booklet Queen, sent me this interesting thread at a discussion board about the power of submitting online… Read More
Publicity tip–Survey shows PR people think following Associated Press style in press releases is still important
A new survey by a group of business communicators shows that if you aren’t referring to an Associated Press stylebook when writing press releases, letters to the editor or anything else for the media, it shows you really don’t know how to play the publicity game. The AP stylebook is the journalist’s bible. It includes all the rules dictating things such as the… Read More
Publicity tip–PR pro customizes nine press releases for one event
When you write a press release, how many different versions do you write? Just one? You’ll kick yourself when you hear about what Publicity Hound Kathi Petersen does. When Kathi told me she wrote nine versions of one release for a fund-raiser she was publicizing, I thought she was kidding. Then she told me about… Read More