3 Mistakes You Can’t Afford To Make When You Write A Press Release

Writen by Paul Hartunian

You have the story of a lifetime. Editors are going to drop their jaws in amazement. You just can’t wait to get the press release on their desk. You fire up the fax machine, hit the go button and then rush over to your phone to wait for the calls. And nothing happens. You check your confirmation sheet, 500 faxes sent out successfully, but still nothing happens. Chances are you’ve made one of the 3 fatal mistakes people often make when sending out a press release.

The first mistake many people make in writing a press release is they allow their own biases to taint their story. Who cares what you think? It may be important to you, but what really matters is what the editor and the audience he sells to believes.

Andrew Carnegie explains that he loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but he discovered a long time ago that when he goes fishing the fish much prefer worms, not peanut and butter. As you write the headline to your press release, be sure it pulls at the needs, wants or interests of your intended audience. Every press release needs to be either fascinating, shocking or relevant.

Some stories may seem hard to frame for the general public, but it’s usually just a matter of looking for the proper spin to frame it in. The fact that the city mall installed an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) may sound incredibly important to you, but most of the general public will only wonder how much of their tax money was wasted keeping some doctor happy. If, on the other hand, your headline read “20 Lives Could Have Been Saved If We Had Installed The Automatic External Defibrillator A Year Earlier”, now you have the world’s attention. Which lives? Could it save my life? What is it? Suddenly the “common folk” see a purpose for it.

The second deadly mistake many beginners make in sending press releases is to package them in flowery color. They want to catch the editors attention. They hire a graphic artist to draw incredible artwork along the borders, they mold their type into the shape of a tree. Anything you do to set you apart from the crowd will do just that, set you apart from the crowd. Editors will realize before even reading your release that you’re a beginner. The old timers know better. The very fact that it’s being faxed as a news story gets the editors attention. He’s in the news business. He has to sort though what’s going on to find the information they need during their news breaks. The headline on your news release needs to be in larger bold type, something that gets their attention. Everything else needs to look simple and tidy. Delivering your release along with a dozen long stemmed roses will probably get a smile out of the editor, but chances are she won’t bother reading it.

The final mistake many make in composing press releases is to say too much. They’re worried the editor won’t find the story interesting enough unless they get all the details. If you can’t make the story interesting in 150 words or less, then you probably need to go back to point number one and reframe the story. A professional press release always fits entirely on one, single spaced page. And that includes contact information and a bold headline on top. A cardinal rule that’ll keep you out of a lot of problems is to remember always that THE ONLY goal of a press release is to get the editor to call you. You just need to convince him or her that there may be something worth looking into here. If they’re at all interested, they’ll pick up the phone and find out more.

Avoid these three deadly mistakes, and you’ll be well on your way. As you write your release, be sure you:

1. Give them what they’re looking for, and not necessarily what you think is important.

2. Keep it simple, don’t use gimmicks,

3. Keep it short and to the point.

And then go sit by your phone and wait for the calls.

Author’s Bio

Paul Hartunian is widely considered the world’s leading authority on writing press releases and getting publicity for any product, service, cause or issue.

Subscribe to Paul’s free publicity ezine “Million Dollar Publicity Tactics”. By going to http://www.Hartunian.com/ezine.

Also be sure to check out all the great free publicity resources at his website http://www.Hartunian.com

Also be sure to read the story of how Paul used press releases and publicity to become the first person in history to really sell the world famous Brooklyn Bridge. You can read the story at http://www.Hartunian.com/bridge.html

You can reach Paul at (973) 857-4142 or by email at Paul@Hartunian.com.

Getting in the News Frame

Writen by Bryan Thompson

If you plan on using PR and publicity to increase your sales and expand your business, you will probably use press releases to get your story out to the media. However, many press releases that are released are never covered because the writer forgot one major point; objectivity.

Journalists are trained to be objective and it is their job to exercise it at all times. When they find a news release that is not objective, they cannot use it without radically changing the entire release. They will not do this, in most cases, and will simply discard the release.

If you want to be covered by the media and reap the rewards it offers, you must learn how to be objective about your product or service. With this in mind, entrepreneurs live their business every day and find it very hard to detach themselves from it and speak objectively. However, there are some things that you can do to improve the objectivity of your press release and increase the chance that it will be used.

First, try to imagine what a person who has never heard of your product or service before would think when they first hear about it. Ask people you know but who are not directly involved in your business what they think about it. This can help you get into the right mindset.

Second, imagine what the journalist who first reads the release will think. The average editor receives anywhere from dozens to hundreds of news releases every day so you must ask yourself what sets your news apart.

Finally, make sure you do not exaggerate about your product or service. Journalists hate exaggerations and can see right through them, so make sure that your report “just the facts”.

You may find that it is hard to think objectively about your product. That isn’t always a bad thing and can help an entrepreneur keep his or her perseverance, but it will not necessarily help you get press. If you are unable to think objectively about your product even after some work, you may want to think about hiring a freelance writer or company to write your press release for you. This can help ensure accuracy that will make your news appeal to journalists everywhere.

Bryan Thompson is a young entrepreneur and President of PR Writing Online. In his experience as a freelance publicist, writer and entrepreneur, he has worked with dozens of small, mid-size and large companies. You may contact him at http://www.prwriting.net

Public Relations for Architects

Writen by Lance Winslow

Architects often do not do very much public relations and many of them do quite well over time simply living off the wonderful referral jobs coming in. But breaking into the business is not easy at all and it takes a little bit of hard work and thought. It makes sense for architects to develop community goodwill and be cognizant of the need for positive publicity and public relations from the start of their businesses. What can architects do to promote good public relations?

Well there are many things and they can be quite simple. For instance they might go ahead and contact a homeowners associate and volunteer to design the recreation room or a community park. Little things like this will generate much word of mouth advertising for an architect or architectural firm and also simultaneously generate interest, word-of-mouth advertising and perhaps some instant referrals for jobs such as local remodels to get the ball rolling.

These things are especially important for those architects just starting out. Once a new architect establishes a baseline of clientele they can expect continued referrals through word-of-mouth advertising and eventually they can cherry pick the jobs they wish to take.

A little public relations and community goodwill for an architect along with open communication lines with the local media perhaps through a Chamber of Commerce membership or volunteerism in a service club locally can also be a major factor in getting the ball rolling. Please consider all this in 2006.

Auto Detailing Public Relations; United Way Withholding

Writen by Lance Winslow

As a mobile detailing company it is important to have some key corporate accounts where you can show up weekly and wash and detail cars for executives. One promotion you can do to help secure such accounts is to join in with the United Way in their promotion. The United Way depends on employees of large companies to donate 1% or 1.5% of their income through payroll withholding.

Many employees obviously might be reluctant to do this. So along with representatives from the United Way, you take your mobile washing rigs to the corporations and let the company managers wash the cars of the employees that agree to withhold money from their paychecks so as to make a contribution to the United Way. The employees get a real kick out of watching their bosses slave away washing their cars. And they will be doing it using your rigs. Therefore you get the Public Relations plug. Any employee agreeing to the deduction gets their car washed by their boss.

Since they are using your equipment you can be sure to block off the storm drains to prevent pollution and this gives another public relations plug to the event as completely EPA compliant. This works well and a great synergy takes over. We also recommend to have the United Way representative call all the newspapers. The employees, managers and executives love it. It’s also great P.R. for you. Who knows maybe your auto detailing company will be on the front page of your newspaper the next day. That is what usually happens to us.

Lance Winslow

Two Super Secrets of News Releases

Writen by Angela Booth

Up to 90 per cent of stories in newspapers and on the TV news appear because someone sent out a press release. Can you imagine what that means?

What would happen to your business if you appeared on Oprah? Or if a major magazine did a feature story on you? Or a major newspaper? Your business would never be the same again. No amount of paid advertising can match free publicity.

And yet, very few small businesses ever bother sending out a press release. (The terms “press release” and “news release” are interchangeable, but I prefer “news release” because it reminds me that the release must contain news of some kind.)

=> Super Secret #1: Send out news releases regularly, to your local media, national media, and post them online too.

This means educating yourself as to what constitutes a news release. And that education is VITAL. Nothing ticks off a reporter more than receiving a blatant ad masquerading as a news release. I’m a computer journalist, and I receive news release every day that are nothing more than blatant advertising. My editors’ attitude is: “If you want to advertise, buy an ad. If you want free publicity, give us a story in return.”

Here’s a brilliant resource which tells you everything need to know about crafting news releases that not only get read, but also get used:

http://sprite.netnation.com/~greenbri/ABCPublicityFAQ.html

=> Super Secret #2: A lack of response doesn’t mean NO response

A point to keep in mind —- most releases you send out seem to go nowhere. “Seem” is the operative word.

Let’s say you’ve spend four hours sweating over a news release. You send it out. To coin a clich

Public Relations Success Starts Here

Writen by Robert A. Kelly

For discerning business, non-profit and association managers, PR success is pretty much a matter of achieving their managerial objectives by altering perceptions leading to changed behaviors among those important external audiences that MOST affect their department, group, division or subsidiary.

Period.

If, however, as a manager you choose to view public relations as simply a collection of tactics, you might see PR success through the lens of press release pickups, successful special events, or newspaper columns mentioning your chief executive.

I don’t believe the underlying premise of public relations allows such a limited interpretation. See for yourself: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired- action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is usually accomplished.

I believe that premise implies that the work that precedes such tactics will determine the success of your public relations effort.

It also implies that you might want to broaden your view of public relations requiring that you do something meaningful about your key external audiences instead of concentrating on a brochure versus a DVD versus a broadcast interview.

There’s really no end to the benefits that may come your way. Prospects starting to do business with you; community leaders beginning to seek you out; welcome bounces in show room visits; rising membership applications; customers making repeat purchases; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; and new approaches by capital givers and specifying sources not to mention politicians and legislators viewing you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

Will an outside PR agency team do all this work for you? Or folks assigned to your operation? Or, ideally, your own public relations people? No matter where they come from, they need to thoroughly understand this approach to public relations, AND, be really committed to the program beginning with key audience perception monitoring.

Nothing beats sitting down and having (as the Brits say) a good chin wag with your people in order to be sure that those assigned to you are clear on why it’s vital to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. They must accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your operation.

Go over the details as to how you plan to proceed, especially when and where you will monitor and gather perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. For instance, how much do you know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

Don’t hesitate to use professional survey firms in the perception monitoring phases of your program if your budget can stand it. If the money isn’t there, remember that your PR people are also in the perception and behavior business and can pursue the same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

You can be pretty sure that you will prevail over the worst distortions you discovered during your key audience perception monitoring. Actually, your new PR goal will probably require straightening out that dangerous misconception, or correcting that gross inaccuracy, or stopping that potentially fatal rumor cold.

You also really need the right strategy. One that lays out how to proceed. Do not forget that there are just three strategic options available to you when it comes to handling a perception and opinion challenge. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. The wrong strategy pick will taste like rice vinegar on your scones, so be certain the new strategy fits comfortably with your new public relations goal. You don’t want to select “change” when the facts dictate a “reinforce” strategy.

What’s needed now is a strong message aimed squarely at members of your target audience. Admittedly, crafting action-forcing language to persuade an audience to your way of thinking is not an easy job. That’s why you will need a heavy-hitter writer because s/he must create some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to correct something and shift perception/ opinion towards your point of view leading to the behaviors you are targeting.

At last, one of the more entertaining chores — selecting the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. You might do this after you run a final draft by your PR people for impact and persuasiveness. There are dozens of tactics available to you. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. Only caveat: be certain that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

As a message’s believability has been known to rely on the credibility of the means used to deliver it, you may think about unveiling it before smaller meetings and presentations rather than using higher-profile news releases.

Someone, somewhere will ask when a progress report will be available. Your smartest reaction is to take yourself and your PR team back to the field and begin a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. Many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session will fit perfectly the second time around. But now, you will be on keen alert for signs that the problem perception is being altered in your direction.

As we know, any program can slow down for one reason or another. Tuck this away for future use: if program momentum peters out, you can always speed things up by adding more communications tactics, and increasing their frequencies.

The reason we say up front that public relations success CAN start right here with this article, is that, in our view, managers must pursue their managerial objectives by concentrating on the work outlined here that precedes their use of tactics.

That will determine the success of their public relations effort.

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.

Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi- cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Columbia University, major in public relations. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net

Visit:http://www.prcommentary.com

Public Relations for Gas Stations

Writen by Lance Winslow

Many businesses have trouble promoting them selves and increasing their community goodwill. Let us take a case study of a gas station; you can see how difficult it is to do good public relations in the local community if you own a gas station. People do not think of gas stations as a business but rather a place to quickly get the fuel they need and run on.

Nevertheless there are many things a gas station can do to promote them selves. For instance a gas station can work very hard on their landscaping and submit pictures to City Hall for the city’s local beautification business project, if they win best gas station of the city award this will provide them with good public relations and perhaps a picture in the newspaper.

It is little things like this that help consumers forget that we are paying too much money for the gasoline that we put into our cars and SUVs. We often forget it is not the gas station’s fault that the gasoline cost more, as it cost them more too.

Indeed, the high prices for gasoline can hurt the image of the local gasoline station owner who most likely is an independent distributor or even a franchisee of a much larger company. It makes sense to do something to promote community goodwill and public relations for local gas station owners and perhaps you will think on this in 2006.

Inside A Company’s News Release, Part Two

Writen by James Finch

Energy Metals Corporation (TSX: EMC.TO) announced it would commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday. EMC Chief Executive Paul Matysek’s quote spelled it out, that because of this it would be possible for ” the Company to reach a broader base of individual investors, mutual funds and institutional investors.” In other words, there would be less dependence upon the retail investor, and more reliance on the big funds to pile into EMC shares. Of course, the little guy will join the party as well.

Uranerz Energy (OTC BB: URNZ) issued a few telling news releases, which may explain the direction in which they are heading. On June 5th, the company announced a new Chief Financial Officer. URNZ also announced it had closed a financing, bumping up their cash to just under $12 million. URNZ Chief Executive Glenn Catchpole told us he hoped to launch his first In Situ Recovery operation for about, or less than, $10 million. This is a good sign. But, it was the next day’s news release which confirmed the earlier news and reinforced where the company is going. The company announced the appointment of three independent directors to its Board. All three were appointed to the audit committee. Two are accountants with impressive track records; the third has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, one of North America’s top MBA schools. How do we interpret this news release? URNZ probably plans to move from the lowly over the counter bulletin board to a more senior exchange: Amex or NASDAQ Small Cap would be our guess.

What do you do about a company that hasn’t been issuing a flurry of news releases? Take Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF) as an example. There are developments, but the news stream has been fairly quiet. Have they come to a standstill? No, quite the opposite is true.

We did what any investor should always do in the absence of major news. We picked up the phone and called their investor relations department. During a brief chat with Craig Christy, the company’s spokesman, we asked about the company’s cash situation. He responded, “We have about C$0.55/share in cash.” Based on Thursday’s closing price, that comes to more than 30 percent of what the market is valuing STM. That’s UP from C$0.37/share earlier this year. STM has plenty of cash and is in excellent financial shape.

We looked through our copy of the Hargreave Hale Report, entitled, “Too Hot to Handle or Just Warming up?” This is a leading British financial institution, based in London. They are a major shareholder in STM, and they have been recommending STM shares. On page 32 of their document, we reviewed a great financial analysis of 33 Canadian and Australian uranium producers and development companies. The bar chart depicted the Uranium Enterprise Value (UREV) per Risk Adjusted pound of U3O8 Reserves and Resources of those thirty-three companies. A horizontal line crossed the chart, showing “fair value” of about US$4 million for each company’s UREV per pound adjusted.

It was interesting to study how STM stacked up against many of the most popular uranium companies. Companies, such as Mega Uranium (TSX: MGA) rated at about US$28 million – about 700 percent ABOVE the Hargreave Hale “fair value” analysis. Crosshair Exploration and Mining traded about 500 percent of its fair value. UEX scored about twice above its fair value. Companies such as Uranium Resources, Western Prospector, Paladin Resources and UrAsia Energy scored at or very near their fair value. Strathmore Minerals had the lowest fair value rating – an absolute steal at about 30 percent of its fair value. About 16 companies traded above their fair value, some very much above the Hargreave Hale fair value analysis. It was enlightening to find Strathmore was in the company of producers such as ERA of Australia, IUC, Uranium One and Denison as an undervalued uranium company. In this case, it was the most undervalued of all 33 companies analyzed by the City of London financial institution.

We also found out that, a week ago, Strathmore Minerals president David Miller presented at the invitation-only Raymond James In-Situ Leach Uranium Mini-Conference in Toronto and Montreal on June 7th and 8th. You could visit the Raymond James website for the webcast of David Miller’s presentation, but it has restricted access. Others presenting were Uranium Resources and Energy Metals. We were fortunate to review David Miller’s PowerPoint presentation. One word describes Miller’s presentation: Wow! It really did pack a punch. We heard Raymond James may be releasing these presentations to the public in the near future.

Sometimes, when there is a lack of news, one can learn to dig around and find a company can be doing quite well. In other instances, one can study the news releases and try piecing together where the company is heading. We hope this guidance helps you become a more sophisticated investor. We neither recommend stocks nor give buying and selling advice. As always, speculating on natural resource companies can be very risky and suitable only for certain investors. One should always check with their registered financial advisor about what is suitable or not for one’s investment decisions.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. Sign up now and get your free copy of our new book, “Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market: A Practical Investor’s Guide to Uranium Stocks.” Just visit http://www.stockinterview.com for details.

Start Planning a Promotional Event

Writen by Mark Buzan

I regularly come across retail business owners and other professionals who might not be certain on how they can reach out to the general public if their topic or product might not be particularly ‘newsworthy’. One way to get around that is to skip latching on to a ‘newsy item’ all together and put together a promotional event. Extending out directly to those prospects you’ve wanted to contact for some time, promo events give an interesting excuse to touch base.

They also:

Can be used to thank your existing customers for their support. Looking to shore up your clientele base can often be best accomplished by making them aware of your appreciation. Holding a customer appreciation day or special sale brings to light for them their importance to you and in a sense, a form of membership in your organization. Once this happens, they will be more likely to provide you with more referrals. At the event, consider handing out a special membership to your preferred clients.

Events can also provide an excuse to celebrate the holidays. Invite your prospects and customers out for a Christmas party. Trust me, they’ll think of you as a friend and more than just a sales rep. I’ll bet you’ll agree that it’s harder to say no to a friend than a stranger! Interesting enough, these parties are often viewed as opportunities for networking for your prospects as well. The saying that all business is personal is very pertinent in this application of promotional event marketing. Remind attendees to bring business cards and make them available to all. If your attendees realize your event could be beneficial for their business, they’ll have just one more reason to positively remember your brand.

Promote a new product line. Think of Sony, Coca Cola, Ford, on any other big brand name. When any of them have a new product, one of the first actions taken includes an announcement to the media with an official launch. In the case of Apple Computer, the most recent launch of the iPod Nano was shrouded in secrecy. The rumour mill nonetheless built up enough interest that the product’s launch event became news in itself. Personally, I can attest to the model of a local MINI dealership launch of the MINI Convertible. Invitations for a private party were sent to preferred customers and as a result, customers were given a sense of privileged status.

As I alluded to before, organize a networking event. After time and if you organize enough of them, you’ll build up enough PR capital as THE go between in the community. Don’t think this won’t have an impact on your bottom line and your business image!

As you can see, PR is more than just connecting with the media. It’s also about reaching out to the public and creating a lasting image. Try connecting now with your prospects, clients, and the general public…you might even make a friend!

Mark Buzan is the owner of Action Strategies: http://www.action-strategies.ca, a public affairs & marketing communications consultancy. You can subscribe now to his monthly PR tips newsletter by visiting and dropping down the “newsletter” menu. You can also subscribe to his blog: http://actionstrategies.blogspot.com.

Editorial Placements Pack a Powerful Punch for Building Brand, Reputation and Sales

Writen by Nancy Juetten

Editorial placements are both effective and affordable ways to build awareness for products and services. David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather pointed out: “Roughly six times as many people read the average article as read the average advertisement. Very few advertisements are read by more than one reader in 20.”

This suggests that a marketer would have to purchase six paid print ads to get the same impact of one editorial placement. Let’s put some hard numbers to that equation with a local print advertising example.

The cost of one