by
Pari
Noskin Taichert
Bad Girls Press
Picture
this: you're an assignments editor
for a local television station's
nightly news. It's your job
to assign stories to reporters.
Your desk is piled with 110 press
releases. The first one you pick
up is two pages long, has typos,
and is
written in a florid style. The
second is short, to-the-point, and
easy to read. Which one will you
prefer? Kind of obvious, huh?
Formulas, Rules and Reality
There're oodles of information to
steer you through the do's and
don'ts of writing press releases.
Here are my little
tidbits-guidelines to catch that
busy editor's attention.
Make sure it's newsworthy. Use the
Who Cares? test. Be honest with
yourself. Will the general public
be interested in the fact Tiffany
won the lead in her class play? My
rule of thumb is: a gob of people
need to be impacted by the story
to make it worthwhile.
Other pointers:
-
Use
letterhead-it gives your
release credibility.
-
Have
accurate contact
information-you need a real
person who'll bend over
backwards to get the
information reporters want. So
put a person's name, phone
number(s), e-address etc. at
the top of your release.
Better yet, include an
alternate information source
for the reporter's
convenience.
-
Remember
to date the release and
indicate when you want the
info released (usually
immediately).
-
Write
a catchy, informative title.
-
Refrain
from verbosity-try to keep the
release to one page. If you
have to go to another page, be
sure it has all the contact
info again.
When
possible, I include a short
bulleted section with the who,
what, when, where and how
much-right up front. Some
reporters want more flesh. After
the shorthand section, I write
brief descriptive paragraphs to
fill in the details.
And don't forget, your goal is to
get news professionals' attention
and spur them to give you media
coverage. You can have fun with a
release if your event or topic is
entertaining. When I worked for
the New Mexico Museum of Natural
History Foundation, we had a
playful group of puppeteers to
publicize. I thought, what the
heck? Why not write a playful
press release?
My lead was: Come one, come all,
to the dinosaur boogie-woogie
ball.
Imagine my delight when newspapers
printed it verbatim and confused
news anchors haltingly repeated
the words on their six and ten
o'clock television broadcasts.
Pari
Noskin Taichert has worked in PR
for eons. Of course, she
considers waitressing, selling
textbooks, and belly dancing
part of her PR experience. Her
more traditional clients have
included corporations, small
businesses, nonprofit
organizations,
writers and
artists.
Web site: www.badgirlspress.com
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