7 Tips to Writing a Press Release

Los Angeles, California, December 15, 2008, - Publicity and press release are the most affordable way to market any business. A press release is a news story reported by an editor or reporter from the media. Press releases add credibility to your business because is issued by the third party reviewer or columnist. A startup company can have an edge over the competition for having publicity. Here are some tips on writing a press release:

1. One must THINK like a reporter.

What news coverage do media need? Since these publicities are free, one must have a newsworthy story to tell. Just pick up a copy of the daily newspaper, and you can see what kind of news is being reported.

2. One must WRITE like a reporter.

Sound professional, keep it all business. Don’t talk about your personal issues, or bash the competitors. Just concentrate on promoting the news or event and the benefit of it. Remember: You are the third party reporting the story.

3. HEADLINE: Have something that grabs people’s attention.

Just like marketing or advertising, the title grabs people’s attention. Go to Yahoo or MSN and check out their story headlines. The headlines are usually one sentence in length. Find out what headlines make people look into that news.

4. BODY TEXT: Keep it simple, and get to the point.

Editor from the media gets many press releases a day. They may only have few seconds to scan through your press release. Write something less than a page long, around 400-500 words for the body of your text.

5. Promote without selling

In the movie Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey played a reporter that couldn’t get the anchor job. Instead, he went around and reported the special interest stories. So he went to a promotional event to report the news about the biggest cookie in Buffalo city. The bakery store made a BIG cookie that’s newsworthy, so the mom and pop shop got their publicity.

Another example: One of the major insurance companies trains their agents to promote Children’s Digital IDs at a fair. During these events, children can get their photos taken and made into an ID. At the same time, there’s a questioner that people HAVE to fill out on their insurance needs. Of course, the agents will follow up on how the ID is working, with the questioners in hand.

6. TARGET the right audience or newspaper.

It’s always better to target your audience. It makes no sense to market your fashion designer cloth in the supermarket meat section. You are probably better off doing a fashion show in the mall, or advertise in the fashion magazine. You can get FREE targeted media contact lists from my website.

7. Do care about the Format and Style

All Press Releases are done in certain format and style. Remember in school that your term paper must be submitted in APA style; otherwise you will get a failing grade? Same thing is true with press releases. Have you notice that this blog is written using press release format? Here is the format:


a) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (upper case, first line on left, editor will know it can be published)
b) Contact info: (contact / company / phone / fax / email / web )
c) Headline (Don’t use all caps)
d) Dateline (City, State, Date in first paragraph)
e) First paragraph (intro: who, where, when, why, how)
f) Body text (detail info: 400-500 words)
g) Last paragraph (wrap up with additional contact info)
h) Finally put ### at the end


Press release tips offer by Realty Inner Circle. For media editor contact list, Click here, or to promote your Real Estate related biz, visit: http://www.realtyinnercircle.com (Real Estate Social Network and Realty Listings)