How to Write a Good Press Release About Your Small Business

Press releases can be the most cost effective means of generating publicity for a small business. There is a vast news machine out there functioning 24 hours a day 7 days a week world wide with an insatiable maw that has to be filled. The news can be your partner in conveying information about your enterprise.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Feature something that is newsworthy. It seems almost elemental, but the key to getting press coverage is to highlight something that is new and noteworthy to your target public. The most important thing to you about your previous quarter could be that after three years of struggling, your business has finally started to make money, but how many articles have you seen with that as the headline? Your site, HealthfulSex.com, might have just nudged into the black, allowing you to finally pay contributors, but for the public the fact that Dr. Ruth Westheimer has started to offer advice there would be far more important.
   
   Your news item can be something as simple as an event. Recently I was asked to promote a demonstration of a high definition virtual set for BCS, the Broadcast Store, a major video dealer. I suggested that a magazine cover what was strikingly new about the presentation: http://www.broadcaststore.com/events.cfm
2. Make sure that the information you present is written in the classic inverted pyramid style of newspaper writing. Cover who, what, when, where, why and how in the first sentence or two, getting more specific as you go. Press releases land in the inbox of a news room’s fax machine by the dozens. If a release doesn’t grab an editor immediately, it will be rejected.
3. Be sure to format it properly. It should be plainly labeled as a press release with a lead summarizing the material, the date of release, “for immediate release” if appropriate, and a contact person for further information. At the end of the release, which should be about a page, be sure to write –END-
4. Best yet hire a professional who has worked both sides of the street, writing promotional material and news. It takes practice to write clearly, vividly and effectively. If you’re not sure of your own ability to do so, find somebody who will handle the job for you. At Checkmate Pictures, we start with a questionnaire to our clients to insure that we cover all the vital information that we need to convey. For a look at the press releases that we have done, go to http://www.checkmatepictures.com/Media.htm Our rates are geared to fellow small business people.