Articles: Anthony Mora Communications
The Press Release aka
Tell Me Your Story In One Page Or Less
8/15/06
Ah, the infamous press release. What is it? Traditionally, a press release is a one-to five-page document that tells your story. Unlike a letter, there is no salutation, nor is the release personalized or written to a particular person. It is a general document you can use for the different media. There are some set-in-stone, very specific guidelines to press releases, such as covering the who, what, where, and when information, adhering to the press release format, and keeping it double-spaced. Personally, I break more of these set-in-stone rules than I keep.
Most press releases are horribly, terrifically boring. They are dry, and chock-full of dull, tedious facts, or they are overly cute.
Since I concentrate solely on media relations, as far as I am concerned, there is only one purpose for a press release - to interest the media, to interest editors, writers, or producers in my clients and their stories. And that ain't necessarily easy. The press is inundated with press releases, and most receive releases that are filled with information that is unusable or inappropriate. Don't become known as a one of the monotonous release senders. Once you're identified as a part of the "don't bother" lot, your releases will be tossed in the circular file as soon as they arrive.
Cutting Your Trailer: I have a hard-and-fast rule at my company that press releases cannot exceed one-page, and I will sacrifice double-spacing in order to come up with a one-page release. But, you argue, you have so much interesting and important information to impart. You couldn't possibly say all you wanted to in one page. You're right. So don't. You're not going to tell them your life story in one release. There will be more releases. Only give them the headlines, the teasers. Imagine that you're cutting a trailer for an upcoming movie. You're not concerned with trying to let the audience see the entire film. Your job is to interest the public enough to plunk down their money to see the movie. It's the same with your press release. You want your release to act as a teaser; you want to interest the media, grab their attention.
Copyright © Anthony Mora 2006
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