Use Press Releases For Free Publicity

September 7^th 2010 Sally Ormond copywriter, freelance copywriter, marketing tips, Press releases

The humble press release is one of the most effective ways of promoting your business online.

Being online it will hang around in cyberspace for a long time. So if you’ve written it including your keywords it could potentially send targeted traffic to your website for eternity – or at least for as long as it appears on the internet.

But many people don’t issue press releases because they don’t know how to write them. Well if that’s all that’s holding you back it’s well worth learning.

There’s a vast amount of information on the web about how to write a press release, but to help you out I have listed below some common press release writing tips.

How to write a press release

Make sure your press release reads like news not an advert
Send it to websites and media related to its topic
Keep it brief – one page of A4 is ideal
Make sure your heading and contact information are at the top
Keep your language and sentence structure simple
Use the opening paragraph to grab your readers attention
Proofread it thoroughly before sending out

Also, check out these ways of giving extra clout to your press release

How do I know if my news is ‘newsworthy’?

This is a big part of why businesses don’t utilise the potential of the press release. How do they know if what they want to say is really newsworthy?

The following list shows you a few instances when a press release should be issued. Take a look and see how many of them relate to your business right now.

The launch of a new product or service
Results of a customer survey
If you are attending a trade fair, or speaking at a seminar
The launch of a new or revamped website
Announcing that you’ve won, or been shortlisted for an award
A free e-mail newsletter you are launching
Any free trials or offers you are making
An endorsement from a famous/well known person
New business venture
Involvement in a fundraising event

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means but I hope it gives you an idea of what is classed as being newsworthy.

Take a look at your business – has anything happened or is about to happen that would fit the bill? If there is, write a press release, get it out there and start driving some traffic to your website.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter