Press Releases - Everything You Need To Know

Press release” seems to be a bit of a buzz word that’s floating around at the moment. Everyone says you need to have one, but many people don’t really know what they are. Well, kind reader, I’m here to clarify a few things about press releases, and why they can be useful for your business.
A press release, also known as a ‘media release’, is a piece of writing you can do yourself or have done for you as a means of gaining exposure. Written in the style of a news report, it is based around some kind of news-worthy thing you are doing, such as:
Your grand opening
Being involved in charity, such as donating a portion of your earnings
Stocking an exclusive product
An involvement in local community
Running a service or selling a product that no one else is
Any kind of thing that sets you apart, like your age, gender, race, socio-economic status, etc.
Any kind of human interest
You can employ a writer to generate news-worthiness for you, or you can become involved in anything I’ve listed above in order to create news-worthiness for your business.
The idea is to have the release distributed to media outlets who will be interested in what you’re doing and consequently publish your news – for free. With this in mind, it is obviously incredibly important to have a well written, interesting and interest holding release that will appeal to the outlets targeted. What you are presenting to them must be truly news worthy if you hope to gain free publicity from it (conversely, you can send it to really desperate publications, but that might not reflect to well on your business!).
So there are two options.
Hire a writer/distributor. This person will take care of writing the press release for you, and then send it out to the appropriate avenues. Some will also take charge of following up the contacts they have made, to further increase your chances of securing a publication. The thing to make sure of here is that the writer/distributor excels in both areas! Better still, find a firm that has two different specialists taking care of each part of the process for maximum impact.
Hire a writer, then hire a distributor. Some writers have a particular style that appeals to certain people. You may have a writer in mind and believe they’ll really get through to the publications you’re targeting, and if that’s the case you should use them by all means. Once you have the perfect press release, you can then work with a specialised distributor to get your name and story out to the right places.
The option you choose is completely a matter of taste, though budget might also be a factor. There is some debate as to the importance of each component – can you get publicity with a crappy press release if you have a great distributor; does the release speak for itself and the distributor is thus merely a vessel?
Websites such as PR Web provide some excellent examples and ideas for effective press releases, as well as ways to distribute and market your release on the Internet. If you have never even considered approaching the media for publicity, this is a good place to start.
Overall, they are an excellent way to gain exposure and interest in your business. The outlay is generally quite small, and the opportunity for gain is enormous. A risk well worth taking!