| |
| |
|
Copywriting Information |
|
|
|
Are You Making These Press Release Mistakes?
You've done it. Gotten that press release written. Now you're ready to send it out to your carefully chosen list of media contacts. But before you hit that "send" button, take a moment and run your press release through this checklist. Remember, you only have a few seconds to catch the attention of busy journalists and editors -- don't blow it over an easily corrected mistake. Some of these may seem painfully obvious. Alas, even the obvious gets overlooked from time to time (even from professionals - I know, I've made my share of mistakes) so it's always a wise idea to take a few moments to double check that your release is up to snuff before sending it out into the world. 1. Is your release newsworthy? In other words, does it answer the question "Will this interest my readers?" Remember, media people are interested in one thing - keeping their readers happy. Make sure your idea is something that will do just that. 2. Is the headline compelling? Will it encourage media people to actually read the story? If the headline doesn't interest them, chances are they aren't going to take the time to read the rest of the release. And you've just missed your opportunity. 3. Is the first sentence (the lead) compelling? Like the headline, if the first sentence doesn't grab their attention and persuade them to keep reading, chances are your release will be headed to that famous circular file. (Otherwise known as the trash can.) 4. Is it written in third person? In other words, use "he/she/they." No "you" or "we." 5. Is it less than a page? Media people don't have time to read long press releases. Unless you have a darn good reason, keep it less than a page. For that matter, even if you do have a darn good reason, still keep it less than a page. 6. Are there grammatical or spelling errors in your release? Trust me, these are professionals. They'll catch your errors. And those errors won't leave a very good impression. At the very least use your word processing's spell checker, but hiring a proofreader is an even better solution. Or you could simply have someone you trust read it. But definitely do something. 7. Do you have your contact information on the release? Media people are on deadline. They don't have time to search for your contact info if they need clarification or a quote from you. Make it easy for them - put your contact info in a prominent place. 8. Do you have any sales copy in there? Reminder: Press releases don't go to the advertising department - they're for editorial. And editorial doesn't look very kindly on sales pitches. Nix the promotional copy and just focus on content - if they use your story, they'll put your contact info in there. While there are no guarantees with publicity, making sure your release follows this checklist will go a long way to garnering you publicity. Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com. Copyright 2005 Michele Pariza Wacek
MORE RESOURCES:
Original content improves on-page SEO so copywriting is also an ... - NewDesignWorld (press release)
Copywriting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Accelerate Your Freelance Copywriting Master Business Plan! Ever wish for your own copywriting business?Ever wish you could become one of those internet marketing gurus and live out your dream of being who you really want to be?Well, what's stopping you? Is it time? Money? Fear of the unknown? These are the roadblocks that prevent so many of us from achieving our full potential for greatness.If you're good at something, and I'm sure that you are. Long Copy vs. Short Copy? If You're Still Debating This, You're Missing The Point! I've seen this ongoing debate debate jump up again recently in several Blogs and message boards and I can't help but laugh. It's not a new debate? Ever since the long copy masters of the early 1900's, people have been arguing for or against the practice. "Super Adjectives" Boost the Power of Your Copy Pretty or elegant? Good or scrumptious? Nice or delightful? There is power in the adjectives you choose. Just like Clark Kent and Superman or Bruce Wayne and Batman, some adjectives are plain, ordinary, everyday words. Grammatical Mistakes DONT Sell When you receive a sales letter with typos or grammar mistakes in it, do you take it seriously? Probably not. As soon as I see a few eighth-grade English blunders in any marketing effort, I quickly decide the author's product or service is not deserving of my time. Knowing Copywriting Basics - How To Get Ahead In Your Copy Writing Business In order to get ahead in your copy writing business, you need to know copywriting basics. There are several things that all business owners need to know, and here, we will touch on just a few. How To Be Creative Network marketing is an art as much as it is an applied science. To take a blank sheet of paper or canvas and draw or paint an interesting picture, you've got to have an imagination and creativity. Killer Business Headline Templates - So How Do You Write Killer Headlines in Minutes? You Cheat! According to Branding and Advertising legend, David Ogilvy: 5 times as many people read the headline than they do the body copy in a sales message. This means that unless your headline actually helps sell what you've got to offer, you'll have wasted 90% of your time, money and energy. Should You Use Testimonials When You Create A Web Site? You've probably seen web sites with testimonials - they can add legitimacy. But sometimes they are believable, and sometimes they are not. Progressive Headlines Guide Customers To Buy Headlines are, without a doubt, one of the most important elements in copywriting. As has been said countless times before, if you don't get your readers' attention with the headline, the chance of them reading your copy is virtually none. Why Your Advertising Copy is not the Most Important Part of Your Ad If you own a shop in the middle of the desert, and nobody walks past.. Dont Be Satisfied With Your First Draft Sometimes it's a struggle to figure out what's the best thing to say. You're writing a heading, the first sentence of an email, the introduction to a newsletter, a short description on a homepage. Kick-Starting Body Copy Several correspondents to our newsletter, AdBriefing, say that they are having trouble writing body copy for ads. Their problem seems to be the age-old one of how to kick things off - how to make a start. Copywriting Secrets Of Indias Mystics Hi everyone,Been ruminating on this one for a little while now but it's probably one of the most profound discoveries of my life. It all began with a little book about music and it's had such a deep influence on my copywriting and small business, indeed my whole outlook on life, I'd like to share it with you all now. Real Estate Professionals Need You to Write for Them! Ask yourself these questions:Are you an experienced writer?Do you want to stay at home to write?Do you want to work for yourself?Do you learn new things quickly?Are you interested in a broad number of subjects?Do you feel like you're being pigeonholed with your current writing and you want to branch out?Do you have a flair for marketing?If you answered "yes" to any of these questions - or even better - several, you may have found a new career!It's more important than ever for real estate professionals to market themselves legally considering the laws regarding email and telephone sales seem to change daily - depending on which court is hearing the case. Many experts speculate though that eventually some sort of anti-telemarketing law will be enforced and while it's much more difficult to regulate email, it's still being made more and more difficult to use this form of marketing and sales. When Panic Attacks Writers If you write for a living, you deal with deadlines. Sometimes you will have several jobs on your plate at the same time. The Biggest Mistake Copywriters Make Most of the sales pieces people ask me to rewrite seem to offer great products and services. In fact, some of their offers are so good, prospects would be crazy to turn them down. How to Write a Sizzling Sales Letter, Part 1 When you sit down to write a sales letter to your prospects, it can be difficult to know just where to start. Regardless of the purpose of your letter, it has to accomplish several things: capture the attention of the reader speak to the reader's individual needs give good reasons why your prospect can trust you communicate your offer succinctly and clearly encourage your prospect to act now And furthermore, it has to have sizzle. Writing Suitable Copy for the Press Summer is finally here and school is out, but learning for the rest of us continues. Whether you're a seasoned PR professional working for a top agency, a novice just beginning a career, or a mid-level manager working in-house at a small business, the time comes when we all could use a refresher course in properly writing suitable copy for the press. Internet Marketing 102: Copy What Works Internet Marketing- Forget the experts, latest software program or even that book that someone is selling to get on the "best seller list" and the 200 free ebooks they are offering you. Here is what REALLY works, and it's something that you learned in kindergarden. Memorable Sales Copy -- How to Write it Want to know the secret of creating MEMORABLE promotional copy? Sales copy that actually stays with your customers long after they've finished reading it?Then master the art of using words to create pictures in your customers' heads.If you can describe your products or services in such a way that it forms images in your customers' heads, well, then you've just created something that will last long after the marketing is over.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
