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You’ve been slaving away for hours and hours trying to prepare everything for the opening of your brand-new business. Everything has been fitted, your website has been created, the staff are in the process of being hired, and everything is ready for the big day.
Perhaps you’re already established, and you’ve recently won a prestigious award in your industry, and you want the world to know about it.
What these two scenarios have in common is the fact that you want to share news about your business with the world. While social media and word of mouth can work to a certain extent, writing a press release to the media can be so much more effective in getting the word out.
Today, we’re going to explore everything you need to know about writing the perfect press release for your small business.
Define the Purpose
It’s impossible to write an effective press release if you don’t have the purpose of it fresh in your mind when you write. Whether you’re opening your doors to the public for the first time, won an award or anything in between, have this news at the forefront of every word you write.
The Five ‘W’s’
At the very core of your press release, you want to write about the five ‘W’s”;
- Who?
- What?
- Where?
- Why?
- When?
These are the five simple questions that will be the foundation of the message that you’re trying to send. Following this simple press release tactic can help you answer all the questions that a publication will want to ask you and helps you to stick to the facts while making sure you don’t miss out any information.
Make Your Message Strong
Although the piece of news you’re talking about will be strong already, to maximise your chances of getting it published and for a more effective story, try adding in reinforcing elements to back up your story.
You can get creative with how you do this, but some of the tried and tested methods include adding statistics to prove your point, adding images or photographs for the same reason, or simply interviewing staff, customers or an authoritative figure for a quote that the publication can add.
Use Tools to Enhance Your Press Release
At the end of the day, you’re a business owner, not a professional writer who does this for a living. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t create a captivating press release that’s going to get everybody excited about what’s happening.
There are plenty of copywriting services out there, that have professional and qualified writers who can go over your press release once you’ve finished writing it to make sure it’s absolutely perfect for the media publications.
Formatting and Editing Your Press Release
One of the most important aspects of your press release is the way in which you format it. Imagine this article was simply one big huge block of text without subheadings or paragraphs. The chances are that you would have stopped reading it at the introduction.
After formatting your release and making it easier to read, you can start editing your content. This means reading through your content to make sure that you’re communicating the message that you want to share and to make sure you haven’t included any false details accidentally. Online editing guides like Mywritngway and Viawriting are always there to help.
Don’t Forget Contact Details
This is one of the most important pieces of information that you don’t want to forget to include. If the publication wants to get in contact for more information or has any questions, they will need to be able to get in contact with you.
If you haven’t provided them with details, this will simply be near impossible, and the publication won’t go out of their way to find you.
Perfecting Your Press Release
After all the content in your press release has been edited, chopped and changed around and you’re finally happy with it, the final thing you will need to do is to read through it again looking for any errors.
If your press release contains any errors, such as poorly used grammar, spelling mistakes or typos, the publication you’re sending to won’t take your business seriously, and you won’t have your news reported on.
For checking your grammar, feel free to use grammar guides to brush up on your knowledge. Simultaneously, you can use proofreading tips to polish up your release, so it’s ready for sending.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s a fair amount of work that can go into writing a compelling press release, but with the right time investment and attention to detail, you can create an effective press release that will do wonders for the success of your business.
“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."
