After a flurry of work into some exciting and upcoming developments that are about to be launched we are back again. Enough about that though, that can all wait for the press for you to see elsewhere.
You won’t find us putting in Miracle’s upcoming news in our blog. This can be suicide for a company’s brand, transforming it into a faceless corporation. Let’s face it nobody is as excited about your new up and coming “state-of-the-art”, “revolutionary”, “groundbreaking” product/service as you are. So relax a bit with the sell, sell, sell mode that you are so good at and show your blog readers that you are a few human beings that make up your proficient company.
Blogs are a communication tool that builds brand awareness and nurtures a sense of engagement and not a medium to waffle on about your company; this will only make your customers turn away from you. This distinction needs to be made. Don’t follow the hype and “experts” that have made claims that “the press release is dead” and that they have made way for blogs. Blogs are becoming increasingly important, but they should hold a different communication strategy to the public then that of the press release.
The traditional Press release does need to altered, that much is true. The press release is still vital for company to get in front of the media, it just need to written with smarts so that it can be found through press release optimization and to grab the attention of journalists who see hundreds of press releases per day.
So many get this wrong and end up writing their press release so its looks and sounds like an advertisement. Be weary of this of doing this, the journalist could not care less about the product you sell, the amazing customer service. Instead there are a set of guidelines that should be followed to develop a press release that will be found, grab the attention of discerning journalists.
Here I will introduce to you four key factors that should be taken into account with a little help from the father of advertising, David Ogilvy:
1. Heading – First we should start off with the heading. Include your brand in your heading, what the article is on. Leave the spin to the journalists, but also give it some bite so it grabs that eye. Avoid superlatives, puns etc.
“On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. Unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money”
– D. Ogilvy
2. Newsworthy -Add some news to headline. Journalists are looking for something that is original, produces news, which will impress their editor and capture their readers. Remember in this digital world consumers have become incredibly discerning, they hate being overly marketed to. So give them just that. Start off by making your headline newsworthy with a loud and clear statement.
“Headlines which contain news are sure-fire. On average, ads with news are recalled by 22 percent more people than ads without news”
– D. Ogilvy
3. Content – Once you have created a newsworthy headline, your press release is on its way to being findable. I few more tricks need to be added to the body. Keywords need to be included, but not to the extent that it becomes unreadable, there needs to be a fine balance. There is no need for jargon, double meaning, and puns. Journalists will take what they want any way to try not to sell too much and create spin. Give them the facts and truth; leave the spin to the journalist. They will appreciate this because it will make things easier to make their readers and editor happy. That’s what you want too!
”Copy should be written in the language people use in the everyday conversations”
– D. Ogilvy
4. Length – When it comes to the length brevity is the key. Try to give depth, while ensuring that the reader does not have to endure a thesis. Anything that is too short ends a looking like an advertisement, therefore as a rule it should be at least 200 words. Those that have depth and are longer will in most cases sell better than short press release, if only through the image the portray and the connotations that come with the different lengths. Try to stay below 600 words as a maximum.
“I must warn you that if you want your long copy to be read, you had better write it well.”
– D. Ogilvy
Tags: david ogilvy, Internet Marketing, pres release, press release copywriting, press release optimization
