The Fine Art of Press Release Writing

By Amanda Bala

Looking for a good way to get free publicity for your business? How about writing a Press Release? This is one of the best ways to get your company exposure without paying a cent. In this two part series, we will explore 1) press release writing and 2) the best way to distribute a press release. So, get ready to write your first stellar press release!

Press release writing is a very different style of writing than blogging, articles, or really anything. There are key components that you must have in your press release, not only to get it published, but to ensure that the people you distribute it to actually read it.

The Style: Most forms of writing are descriptive, or have a personality. This is not true of press release writing. Instead it should be clear, concise and factual. Reporters, Editors, Journalists, etc. do not want to waste their time reading fluff. They want the guts of the story… and they want it quickly.

The Headline: This is the most important part of your press release. In this one sentence, you must state exactly what the press release is about as well as command the attention of your audience. The headline must be clear and to the point. It is not artsy, not cutesy. It grabs your readers’ attention and tells them why they must keep reading.

Sub headline: Although a sub headline is not always necessary, it can be helpful. This is the sentence where you can elaborate on your headline. The people that are going to be deciding whether or not to publish your news are not going to spend a lot of time on reading the release unless they are interested from the beginning. You have a very small window in which to catch their attention. This sentence can help you do that.

First Paragraph: Start this paragraph off with the date and the city that the release is originated. The first sentence must enforce the headline. Then the next 1 or 2 sentences can elaborate. All the pertinent details must be in the first paragraph or at least bulleted under it. You want this to be concise and to the point. No creative adjectives or fluff. This paragraph does not need to be long. In fact, the shorter, the better (2-3 sentences).

Press Release Body: The rest of the press release should elaborate and reinforce the first paragraph. Only write the facts, do not use creative language, and don’t lace it with industry jargon that no one understands. Another beneficial addition to your release is a quote from the CEO or other important person that will give credibility. For example, if you are writing a press release about a charity fundraiser, getting a quote from the head of the charity would be helpful.

Boilerplate: This is technically the “About Us” portion of the release. It should include all the relevant information about your company such as the mission, address, phone number, and website. Again, this is all fact and no fluff. It is short and strictly informational so the reader can know your organizations pertinent information without having to call you or search for it online. This boilerplate should be included on every press release you write and identical on each one.

Now that you are aware of the finer points of press release writing, join us next week for our article: Distributing Your Press Release: What You Need to Know.

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What’s the Scoop on Those QR Codes?

By Amanda Bala

Have you seen a QR code? My guess is that you have, but you may not have known what it was. QR codes have been popping up everywhere on different products, art, tourism and now even in marketing. So, what exactly are they? In short, they are bar codes, similar to those you see on packages in the supermarket or other stores. A QR code (short for Quick Response) is a specific two-dimensional barcode that can now be read by smart phones. You need to download a QR code application and just snap a picture of it with your camera (phone). From there the code will be decoded. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information that is on the QR code can be text or other data and can be decoded at very high speeds.

These codes originated in Japan, but are starting to catch on in the US and other parts of the world. At first, the QR codes were being used in vehicle manufacturing, but over the past several years their uses have become very diverse. And now through mobile tagging, you can get information from a code via text message, vCard or smart phone application.

QR codes can store addresses, website URL’s, product information and much more. They can be put on packages, in magazines, on billboards and signs and just about anywhere else a person might look to get information. For example, a quick scan of a QR code, you could get all the nutritional information to compare two different brands of food. You could scan a QR code on a brochure and get the data about a specific place. You could scan a QR code in a magazine to find out the price, ingredients and where to buy specific make-up. You could scan the QR code of a restaurant and see their menu, prices, etc. The applications go on and on. There has even been some very controversial talk that someday people may have QR codes. Just take a scan and know all there is to know about that individual. Scary? Maybe a little… but maybe the future.

Not all smart phones have QR code reading capability. This is a technology that has been slower to catch on in the US then in the East. However, if technology has shown us anything, it is that it is always changing. QR codes may very well be the future in marketing and product advertisement.

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Help Others Find You: Increasing Your Organic SEO

By Erin Robinson

From reading Organic SEO, Why It Affects You, you learned about how Organic SEO works and why it is important for your website. Now the time has come to increase your Organic SEO ranking. Let’s dive in.

Use Google AdWords (or similar programs for other search engines): This is a free tool that can look up the keywords you want to rank under in your industry. It will tell you how many people have searched for that particular word in the past month and how competitive the word is. If the word is 100% competitive, you may want to reconsider your strategy and go for words that are less competitive and more attainable.

Constantly update your content and keywords: It is not enough to have great content or relevant keywords on your website when you first set it up. You need to keep your content fresh and continually work the keywords into different areas of the site. When you update your site continually with relevant content, it helps the search engines to notice your site. This is why blogs or new feeds are so great. It will benefit you to create a list of keywords ahead of time. However, do not work them into your site in a manner that is unnatural. If you plant them irrelevantly throughout your site, this will work against you. The search engines can tell.

Get Links to point to your website: The more websites that have links to your site, the more relevant your site looks to search engines. You can use directories, social media sites, strategic partners (if they’re willing to link to you). The more significant to your industry, the better. What doesn’t work is offering to place a link on your site in exchange for someone to link to yours (reciprocal link). The search engines can see through this and it can work against you especially if the reciprocal links are unnatural (completely different industries, or have nothing to do with each other).

Be as specific as possible: When using keywords and phrases, you do not want to use general terms. For example, if you run a cookie business you do not want to use a broad term such as cookies. It will be a lot harder to rank over a highly competitive broad word. Use words like chocolate chip cookies or gluten free cookies. Make your key words specific and this will help you rank.

Have an SEO savvy designer to work on your website: When building a new site, be sure that your web designer knows what backend items to build into your site to help with Organic SEO. Some of these items include Title tags, Meta tags, Meta descriptions. They should know where to plug your keywords into the backend of your site. If not, that’s a red flag.

Add Google/Yahoo Maps on your content page: You can submit your address to the different search engines and that will help your rank as far as where your business is located. If someone is searching in your area, you will be ranked higher.

As a final note, we caution that these are in no way fool proof strategies to get higher rankings on search engines. Building Organic SEO takes time, hard work and patience. There is a lot more involved then the little bit that we have shared. There are several companies that specialize in Organic Search Engine Optimization… you may want to hire one. Also know that the Google and Microsoft are very smart… and always changing the rules. They do this to ensure that relevance is king and spammers and other unethical web folks can’t cheat the system.

Happy ranking!

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