Monday, April 13, 2009

Is Your Press Release Newsworthy

By Elisa Whealer

It's important to know the effectiveness of your press release. But how can you really know this? You need some measures to find out what is working and gives value to the readers, media, editors and their journalists.

You may ask, what determines a hot release? Any business looking to expand and grow in profits would utilize press release option. You want to reach your target market by telling them about your products, the company's accomplishments and what's great about them. This can be achieved when the media finds your press release worthy to be spread as an exciting news.

Stop and observe what makes a release that will surely captivate the interest of the media? Poor releases end quickly into the waste cans as the journalists have no patience when they read anything not newsworthy.

Five Things to Note When preparing a press release

1.) Is what you are writing newsworthy? When the media gets hold of it will they be excited to spread it as exciting news? If not, then your efforts will just be a waste of time. When there is no news value for the journalists, they will simply ignore it.

2.) Standards of the media, the journalists and the news reporter must be a big consideration to have an effective press release. Following their requirements and strictly adhering to their standards will ensure a successful press release with them.

3.) Is the main purpose of the release, to gain free publicity? This is a big NO in writing releases. Editors will easily detect this. You should understand that some editors are of the opinion that what these releases are actually doing are presenting ads, rather than news. So if you are not careful, either your release will become trash or you might just be asked to pay for an ad space.

4.)Is it Timely? What will the readers, listeners or viewers get from the information that you are releasing? Your release should be up-to-date and practical still. There is no place for a release whose time has ran out.

5.) Review your release carefully for accuracy and straight facts. You cannot be careless with facts when writing a press release. Definitely make sure that the facts can stand correctly when questioned and verified by the press.

Following these 5 most practical tips, you are now on the road to hitting a gold mine for your business. Your press release will surely gain the excitement of the media to write about it and therefore enabling your business to be more known, exposing it to wider audience and thus drawing in more traffic to your company.

Your press release should have value. It should be well-written, timely and accurate. There is no room for mediocre work when it comes to writing your release. Just keep in mind the important points mentioned here, and make your press release newsworthy-as it should be.

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