Anatomy of a Press Release - And How to Pitch It.

Rising Tide of Santa Cruz

A Press Release

Gregory J. Pleshaw

Anatomy of

Gathering the Parts

Anatomy of a Press Release 2

•  What’s the name of your company and what’s it all about?

•  What is your current project or product that’s

newsworthy? •  Fact sheet: what are the details of this product •  or project?

•  Names of people that you’re likely to quote in a release.

•  Company history & diversification

•  Writing the Release

•  Pitching the release

3 Anatomy of a Press Release

Anatomy of a Press Release: And How to Pitch It

One of the most essen+al tools in your small business toolkit is the press release. A well-‐wri9en press release can be a way to generate free publicity and knowledge about your business, driving exposure and new leads to your doorstep. Knowing how to write one and how to get it to the editors most likely to read it and assign a story about your business to one of their writers isn’t easy, but there are some simple +ps that can help you craB one and send it off with reasonable hopes that it won’t be ignored.

The best way to insure that someone will pay a9en+on to your release is to write it like a news story. In fact, some press releases are so well wri9en that editors will re-‐write just a few things but basically publish the press release verba+m. It saves them +me when they’re on a deadline, and if it meets their target audience, it isn’t always necessary to send out a writer as long as you have all the informa+on in the release that they need to move forward.


What are the parts and how do you put them together?

HOT TIP: As a part of a small

business PR strategy, it’s a

good idea to know what

kinds of publicaAons are out

there that cover your kind of

business. Follow your peers

and see what their doing –

there’s no harm in copying

things that are successful –

there’s also a lot to be said

for differenAaAng and being

able to talk about how

you’re different from the

compeAAon.

First, gather together all the informa+on you need to have in your press release, which would include the following: What’s the name of your company and what’s it all about? Think of this as like the wri9en elevator pitch of your business. It helps if you qualify your business. Rather than saying, “Celeste’s Bou+que is a giB store,” be a bit more descrip+ve about what you offer your customers, and who they are. Like, “Celeste’s Bou+que is a giB store that represents local craBspeople and caters to consumer seeking unique items for special days.” This kind of hook is essen+al to helping an editor think of their own target audience and whether or not you meet it. Be crea+ve! It’s your business to describe yourself well.


What is your current project or product that’s newsworthy?

This is the part of your release that you will lead off with because it’s what you most want to promote. Whatever you put out there as important has to be newsworthy to the publica+on where you are sending it; otherwise they’re likely to throw it in the trash. However, if you meet their target audience and its needs, you increase your chances of geTng some press.

So what’s newsworthy? Consider that many publica+ons are +mely, and are likely to write about you and your business if you have an event that interests the readership. If you own a bookstore, that event might be an author appearance and perhaps a reading or signing, targeted to a book sec+on of a newspaper or a book blog. If you have an art gallery, then a new exhibi+on may generate interest from an arts sec+on or an arts-‐oriented magazine. Your business has something interes+ng to draw in the public – if you can’t think of anything newsworthy about your business, then consider crea+ng an event in order to generate interest in what you offer to the public and the press.

5

Newsworthy wins the race

HOT TIP: Brainstorming ideas about how to generate interest in your business should be a regular part of your PR *and* Marketing strategy. Whether your target is more press or more customers, it’s a good idea to get all stake holders together once per

quarter and see what’s working – and what isn’t.


HOT TIP: Fact-Sheet Facts You may think that all of the facts about your business are contained within your business plan, but the reality is that most small businesses – and certainly new ones – tend to be malleable about what they do. You might start out like I did – with just the intention to write press releases for other small companies – but soon find yourself branching out into helping them to write and create brochures and to deliver deliver online marketing surveys and website reviews. Review your “fact sheet” regularly as your business changes.

Fact sheet – what are the details of this product or project?

Who, What, When, Where, Why, How?

You may know the details of this product or project so well that you can recite them in your sleep, but it won’t mean anything to anything else unless you write it down and include it in your release. If your news is an event, this means who, what, when, where, why and how. If your news is about a product, you have to write down everything you know about the product that you’d like discussed in the news – you might not use it all in the release, but it’s important to have it all on hand in the event that your release does get picked up and a reporter gives you a call.

Names of People You’ll Quote in Your Release

Because a completed press release is meant to read like an actual news story, it helps to include quotes in your release talking about your company and its products and services. If you’re the principal of your company, you can write your own quote – if you’re a public rela+ons person within your company, you might want to write your CEO’s quote and get approval. You might also want to get a quote from a happy customer who has used your product or service and finds it exemplary. The important thing is that the quotes support what it is that you are trying to communicate with your release.

How long has your company been in business and how has it evolved? What else does it do? Again, these answers are specific to your business, but they can provide a release with addi+onal filler about what your company offers, allowing editors to consider your company as a possible candidate for a feature or a profile piece.

Company history & diversification


Writing the Release ABer all per+nent informa+on is gathered, a press release can prac+cally write itself. The formula is fairly simple. Begin by wri+ng the lead (some+mes called a lede in the newspaper industry), which is the first paragraph in the story. Here is a sample release that I once wrote for a company called Big Stone Phone with some added notes for you to see where the informa+on you’ve gathered for your company fits in:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 12, 2008 {this and the current date appear at the top} Contact: Andrew Stone, Big Stone Phone {name of press contact and company} (555) 555-‐1212 {phone number} hMp://www.stone.com {website} [email protected] {email address} {headline} BIG STONE PHONE RELEASES TWO NEW APPLICATIONS FOR THE iPHONE Applica+ons Offer Fun & Prac+cality for iPhone Users {subhead} Big Stone Phone is proud to announce the release of two brand new applica+ons for the iPhone. Each applica+on makes use of the iPhone’s internal s+ll camera, but with differing inten+ons. One app, Talking Pictures, has many prac+cal applica+ons, while another, called iGraffi+, is just pure fun. {name of company and the big news, in this case, new product releases.} Talking Pictures offers the user to take a picture and add a voice note for later playback. Think of it as “sonic cap+oning,” allowing users to “make notes” without using a keypad or stylus to enter words. The soBware has many prac+cal applica+ons, as developer Stone pointed out. {descrip+on of the first product, followed by…} “We designed it for working professionals such as doctors, police officers, real estate agents and any profession where people need to take visual notes in a hands-‐free way,” said Stone. {a quote from the CEO about the value of the product.} iGraffi+ lets users take a picture and then paint on it using the +p of the finger on the iPhone’s touch screen. Users can adjust brush stroke and width, and can choose from a 48-‐color “crayon” pale9e picker for paint colors. Making use of the iPhone’s mo+on features, users can shake the iPhone once to delete the last ac+on, and shake twice to start from the beginning. Users can also pull images from the web for manipula+on with iGraffi+. {descrip+on of the second product, followed by…} “We’ve been having a lot of fun with this one,” said Stone. “Finished images can be used as Contact photos or as Wallpaper or can be shared with the iGraffi+ community over the web.” {a quote from the CEO about the value of the product.} Big Stone Phone is the result of collabora+on between two well-‐known Apple developers, Andrew Stone & Jeff Biggus. Mr. Stone is the founder of Stone Design of Albuquerque, maker of the Stone Works Crea+ve Suite that bundles together 17 crea+ve applica+ons for the Mac OS X. The Suite includes Create, a page-‐layout program, iMaginator, an image-‐manipula+on program, and Videator, a video-‐manipula+on program, along with more than a dozen others. Mr. Biggus is a Chicago-‐based programmer who runs the popular HyperJeff OS X website for Mac users and developers. {addi+onal informa+on about the product and its history.} “Developing for the iPhone is so much fun,” said Stone. “It’s a new fron+er. Part of the fun comes from knowing that there are tons of other developers out there trying to make great soBware for this incredible device. We’re just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of groups out there trying to make something great.” {a quote from the CEO that wraps up the release and “finishes” the story.}


Now, the reality of the situa+on is that unless you’ve had a lot of prac+ce, it’s possible your release will not be this succinct. If geTng coverage is really important to you – and it should be, because it’s an amazing way to generate publicity – then you should consider hiring a reporter or journalist to write one for you. There are a lot of freelancers out there who can help you write and pitch a release that can generate publicity and drive new leads to your doorstep. And fortunately – one of those freelancers is me. However, if you decide to do it yourself, do make sure that once you’re done that you have someone copy edit your work and make sure it’s the best you can offer before you begin the pitch process.

S U C C E S S !

Pitching the release Now ideally, you already have a target audience in mind. If you’re a local business, you will want to target your local newspaper, but if you’re bigger, then you have an industry newsle9er, blog, or magazine that you’re aiming for. The key is to know what sec+on of which publica+on that you’d like to send your release and the name of the editor or editors that are in control of those sec+ons. This is going to be different for every business, but if you’re like the example above, you might be targe+ng the editor of the iPhone app sec+on of Mac World, or you might be pitching to any of the dozen or so major blogs out there that cover iPhone apps. If you’re a restaurant, you’re going to want the name of the Food sec+on of the local paper to see if you can get a review of your fare.


Regardless of your par+cularly situa+on, the formula is the same. With your release in hand as a Word or .rs file, you will need to write a short personal note to the editor you are pitching to, and it will look like this: Dear Mr. Editor: My name is Celeste Smith and I work for Celeste’s GiBs in Santa Cruz, California. My company is growing by leaps and bounds as we strive to serve our customers with unique giBs for the holidays. To celebrate our new products, we are having an event with some of our ar+sts that we’d like to invite the public to a9end. Enclosed is a press release describing this event, and we would like for you to consider covering this event for your readership. Once you hit send, your work isn’t done yet. Most publica+ons receive press releases all the +me – it will be very easy for yours to get lost in the shuffle no ma9er how interes+ng your news is, no ma9er great your release is, and no ma9er how cleverly you’ve wri9en it. So it’s important to make a follow-‐up call. Three days is generally enough +me for the editor to have seen your release, and then make the call. State your name and which company you’re from, and let the editor know that behind the release is a human being who wants to know if they’ve seen it and if they will consider it as something they’d like to cover. The call is important for three reasons. One, you might encourage them to go with your release. Two, they might not want to go with it – but they might tell you why, giving you an opportunity to amend your release so that they might reconsider it. Finally, the call gives you an opportunity to create a rela+onship with your target publica+on and its editor. It may turn out that they would be interested in it but that you’ve sent it to the wrong editor. Whatever. The important thing is that you’ve followed up your blind pitch in the dark with a person, and even if they don’t want to use what you’ve sent this +me, there’s a possibility they might want to write about you and your company in the future, par+cularly if you take their feedback into considera+on the next +me around. Do bear in mind that you might do be9er the first +me around with a professional at the helm – but if you learn to do this as an essen+al part of your small business strategy, you will reap the rewards of being involved in geTng your company in the spotlight, genera+ng publicity and new leads to your door. Gregory J. Pleshaw is a veteran journalist in the arts, technology, and business. He can be reached at [email protected], through LinkedIn, or direct by calling 202-‐285-‐0230.


Gregory Pleshaw is the principal of Rising Tide of Santa Cruz, a new PR and social media company company dedicated to helping small business achieve their marketing goals and grow their businesses. A journalist of the arts, technology and business for over 25 years, Pleshaw has interviewed and written about thousands of people and companies about their challenges and techniques in developing their products, services, and marketing strategies as they seek to find and benefit from the American Dream. And what is that dream? To make a living doing the work we love to do and to have a good time doing it. Pleshaw is a recent arrival to Santa Cruz from Santa Fe, New Mexico where he spent most of his career writing about the many art scenes of that city as well as the businesses that serve the hospitality industry for which the city is famous. “I believe that Santa Cruz is an outstanding city where art, technology, and hospitality meet,” said Pleshaw. “This unique blend of influences – plus the beach – make Santa Cruz a fantastic destination for short-term visitors and residents who want to live in a wonderful place. I am happy I moved here and I look forward to working with you!” Rising Tide will soon launch a blog called “Tech & Innovation in Santa Cruz & Beyond” to focus on the wonderful people who live here and their businesses. If you enjoyed Anatomy of a Press Release, be in touch with me at [email protected] or phone 202-28-0230.

Rising Tide: Technology & Innovation for Santa Cruz & Beyond – Coming Soon!

About the author

Anatomy of a Press Release - And How to Pitch It.

Marketing

Transcript of Anatomy of a Press Release - And How to Pitch It.