September 30, 2011
Facebook is changing – again. No need to pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming or having deja vu – it’s real, and like most Facebook changes it’s going to have its friends and sworn enemies. The minor changes are already appearing on the site. The News Feed ticker has appeared in the top [...]
Writer, Heal Thyself!October 8, 2011
All press release writers have hit the wall at some stage. A deadline is approaching, it’s late, you have gone over the release so many times that you can recite it by heart and you need to produce a killer final paragraph. You produce the words, save the document and sleep on it but there [...]
How to make your press releases more ‘Enchanting’!October 19, 2011
Guy Kawasaki is an interesting writer and speaker. He is well known for being an Apple evangelist, working for the company twice and is an accomplished author and speaker on Technology and business development. His latest book is called ‘Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions’ and is all about why being likeable, [...]
How Social Media Has Changed the Press Release GameOctober 24, 2011
For as long as most of us can remember, the Press Release has been the prime method of communicating a company or brand’s corporate message. Sure, the delivery system has changed somewhat – it started as a letter, physically posted or handed to the newspaper; then the fax machine arrived and suddenly the press release [...]
Halloween Special – Top Five Press Release Killing MistakesNovember 2, 2011
It’s Halloween week so in honor of the great holiday, and the great pumpkin himself, we will look at something seriously scary – the ten greatest mistakes that can turn your interesting and informative press release into a house of horrors that nobody will ever see again… 1) Bad Headline “Our New Product”; “We appoint [...]
How Buzzwords can Sting your Press Release’s SuccessWe touched on the use of cliches and prop words in an earlier post in the series (see Writer, Heal Thyself! 10/7/11) warning the press release writer or PR professional not to drop in buzzwords or the latest ‘hip’ phrase they have heard but things have become even worse in the press release world!A PR [...]
Google+ – What it Could Mean for the Press ReleaseNovember 10, 2011
This week, Google+ finally unveiled its long awaited ‘Pages’ function which could have some important implications for the Press Release writer and the medium itself. Seen as a viable challenger to Facebook, Google+ was launched earlier this year with a minimum of initial fuss as a purely individual network – all the profiles had to [...]
Video didn’t kill the Press Release – it saved itNovember 15, 2011
Once the idea of the press release itself was both new and sexy, the days of newspapers and magazines printing their own news was now under threat as businesses and the newly formed agencies realized that they could submit stories directly to them. They were sent by post or hand/courier delivered or dictated over the [...]
How your Press Releases can Fly with Twitter!November 22, 2011
An interesting survey came out earlier this month. Our friends over at PR Newswire and Crowd Factory revealed that 48% of Press Release sharing takes place on Facebook and a further 37% occurs on Twitter. LinkedIn took an additional 15%. If you are still on the fence about optimizing Social Media for your press [...]
Don’t Neglect your most important Press Release audience – Search EnginesDecember 1, 2011
In the emerging age of Social Media, Press release writers seem to have so many more audiences to serve than previously. Not only fans, followers and connections but journalists, bloggers, writers and other interested readers. The internet is the biggest release distribution system, either through dedicated PR release websites or Google News or on a [...]
Give your Press Releases a Holiday Makeover!December 14, 2011
The Associated Press, those doyens and sages of the English language, or a bunch humorless killjoys (delete as appropriate) have announced a timely and interesting style guide to the Holiday season. We’ve printed the highlights below but it also raises the key questions about being aware of your audience and their requirements. As well as [...]
Holiday Rocks – how to get your press release noticed at this busy timeInvitations are going out, tables are being decorated, parties are being held, yes, the holidays are well and truly upon us but for the intrepid PR professional, the race to get your release out and get it noticed before the keyboard and tablets are locked away either at the end of this week or early [...]
The Departed – Words we should all say goodbye to in 2012January 11, 2012
Every New Year should begin with a period of reflection, renewal and reinvigoration and your press releases should be no different. For over 35 years, Lake Superior State University in Michigan has produced The List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness which attracts interest and submissions from all [...]
Back to BasicsJanuary 18, 2012
New Year, new workload and a lot of new ideas, products and services for Press Releases to spring forth and spread your words far and wide. You might be returning from the holidays but the start of a year is also a good time to retool and reevaluate your skills as a writer. In the [...]
Don’t Check Out After Using Your Spellchecker!January 25, 2012
I have been ruminating all week on the previous post about using spelling and grammar checkers. This is such an important part of what we do as Press Release writers yet is frequently the most overlooked part of our job. It is so much easier to press a button and ‘fire n forget’ about the [...]
10 Ideas to Generate Press Releases, resources and storiesFebruary 12, 2012
You are a moderately successful business or enterprise, you are doing quite well but you think that because you haven’t had any major events, sales drives, promotions, exciting new hires or any of the other myriad reasons to issue a press release – you don’t have any news to report Wrong. No matter what industry [...]
Formatting Your Releases For Fantastic ResultsOne of the things we tend to take for granted when we write press releases is the format they are placed in. Whether from years of experience or a casual glance at an email or wire service such as PR Newswire we see them as a Headline, possible sub-heading, dateline, paragraphs and notes to editors [...]
Emotionally Intelligent VocabularyFebruary 13, 2012
Of course the most important component of any Press Release is the language used. There are always several ways to put your message across but the most effective is always to use the right language. This doesn’t always mean the most obvious or appropriate phrase, but the one that connects emotionally with the reader. For [...]