- Thread starter
- #41
Ok guys, in a nutshell here goes:
Press releases are in the papers all the time. You've probably read them and didn't know it. If you read an article for example about a new business opening, it usually has info about the owner(s), their experience, how much they love the area they work in, how they got started, what they bring to the community, etc.
Or if your reading about the best ways to have great looking grass; you'll get info about how & when to cut, seed, fertilize, water, smoke (I mean... uhhh), you get the idea.
At the end of the article is basically a signature box, just like at the bottom of a post, this is where you plug your business. Usually something like: Joe Smith is the owner operator of Smith Landscaping and has been in business for 20 years. For more info on keeping a great looking lawn and a free estimate, call Joe at 555-5555.
Most of the time press releases are written by the biz owner themselves. It's kind of tricky b/c you want to promote your service but you must put yourself into the customers shoes and ask from the customers perspective 'what's in it for me?' 'why am I reading this?'. Because nobody cares that you have a 50% off detail special. If they want a deal they'll read the ads, not an article that explains the why use 2 buckets to wash a car. And if you write a release that sounds like an ad it won't get published anyway. NEVER write a release that sounds like an ad, you're wasting your time. You need to educate and/or provide useful information.
The release also needs to be in the correct format. Don't have any typos or grammatical errors. (Don't trust your spell check.) Read your release & have someone else read it to see if it makes sense. Just b/c you understand it doesn't mean someone else will. Just like this post. Makes sense to me but maybe not to the next guy/gal reading it. The editors at the paper will not correct anything in your release, if something is wrong it gets tossed into the circular file.
There's a bit more to it of course. I'm no expert but I've had a number of releases published in the past so I'll try to answer any questions as best I can. If this post were a release this is where I would promote myself:: For more info on getting your press release published get my new book 'Press Releases for Detailers' :coolgleam:
I'll post more as I think of things.
how long should one of these be? a page? longer? im definately going to do this. thank you
