A press release is good marketing.
It can get the firm name recognition, and it can give the firm credibility.
It’s also necessary marketing. A firm can be the best of the best, “but if no one knows it exists, it goes nowhere,” says marketer, attorney, and author Hillel L. Presser of Lawyer Marketing, LLC, a Deerfield Beach, FL, company that focuses on marketing legal practices.
Here Presser lists the keys to getting a press release read and noticed – and the firm’s information printed. If it’s not done right, he says, it’s a wasted endeavor.
Useful information
The main rule is to stay away from sending an advertisement and send useful information instead, Presser says. And useful means educational.
“If you want to screw it up, be salesy.” Nobody is going to read that – much less print it. “People don’t want to be sold; they want to be educated.”
Don’t use the press release to tout the firm’s abilities; use it to provide free information that the publication can use. “Content is king,” he says. “The more free information the release provides, the more likely it will get printed.
Tailor-fitted to the publication
Get acquainted—well acquainted—with the publication the firm wants to target, and tailor the press release to fit it.
Whether it’s a newspaper, a magazine, or an online publication, review several past issues and see what types of articles it runs. The more like those articles the release is, the better the chance it will get published.
If it’s a general business publication, the press release “had better be business related.” If the publication is maritime, put a maritime spin on what the firm sends.
Timely
Write about timely issues.
Pay attention to the news in the focus area of the publication, and use what’s going on as a hook for the release.
If it’s hurricane season and it’s a business publication, a good article might be about data protection and employee safety plans for natural disasters.
Length
How long should the article be?
Look at the articles in the target publication and write accordingly. That’s the article length the publisher wants, and if the preference is short and the firm sends a long article, the article won’t get printed.
Writing style
Writing style too has to be matched up.
If the publication goes to attorneys, legalese is well in order. But if it goes to the general public, write in lay terms.
Tone
Be sensitive to the tone of the publication and the overall theme of its articles.
For example, if the publication’s articles mostly tell stories about individuals, do a little story telling. If they are direct, get to the point.
Similarly, look for political or attitude leanings. If the publication is written for a Democratic audience, don’t send in a story critical of the Democratic party platform.
Deadline
Hit the deadline.
Call and ask what the deadline is for submission of articles, and get the article in not just on the final date but well before it, Presser advises.
Once production starts, the editors don’t have time to ask for additional information, so if something is lacking at that point, the article can only be shoved aside.
Pitching to the right base
Another rule: get the article to the right person. That differs by publication. For some it’s the editor, for some it’s a reporter, and for some it’s the managing editor or publisher.
Call and ask where to send it. It may take two or three calls to get an answer, “but if it goes to the wrong person, it doesn’t go anywhere.”
Reader-friendly
Make the article reader-friendly.
Be concise. “Less is more.” People don’t want to wade through unnecessary words or paragraphs. They don’t want information they can’t use.
The subject line
If the article is sent by e-mail, the subject line has to be written so as not to get caught in a spam filter.
The spam flaggers are words such as free and off. The same for words written in all capital letters. The same for exclamation points, more than one question mark, and dollar signs.
The subject line also has to say something the editor wants to read.
“Some people say to find the pain” and put that in the headline, such as “the damage a hurricane can do to your business,” Presser says.
His advice, though, is to take the opposite approach and show the benefit of the article as in “how to protect everything you own from hurricane damage.” That shows clearly and quickly what the article will do for the publication’s readers, and that catches the editor’s eye.
A single page
Finally, the letter introducing the firm’s article should be no longer than a single page.
Tell what it’s about and then give a place to go for more information. And with it, include a contact phone number and an e-mail address.