The humble old media release often goes by the bye in these days of social networking and internet marketing. But it still has its place, perhaps more than ever, in the digital age.

Hang on, I hear you say. Media release? For what, a newspaper?

Well, let’s think. Newspapers are one (depending on your business). There are industry and professional journals, magazines, street press, online magazines, websites, agencies. And nearly every media outlet has a branch that is online too.

Suddenly, you see, things start to look broad and exciting. Because they are.

Let me tell you a brief story.

I run a global metal music magazine, (click here to see it) which exists solely online. Out of this, I receive approximately 30 – 50 emails per day, regardless of the day of the week. Of those, I’d say that a minimum of 50% are media releases.

The art is far from dead. And if you are in business at all, you ought to embrace it yourself.

But how to do it? (This is where I get all excited.) It’s exactly like writing for the web.

Well, ok, not exactly. The structure is the same — it just has slightly different elements.

An exciting, simple (non-scary) look at a media release

This assumes that you are sending your release out by email. Doing it any other way in today’s business world is, quite frankly, a little bit retarded. If you want attention, and you want it now, you send it the quickest way possible.

That is, unless the outlet you are sending to explicitly requests otherwise.

1 — Your heading is your subject line

Leave this until last. Preface it with the words ‘FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE’ if it is, or make sure the words ‘EMBARGO UNTIL’ are present if you want it held over until a particular time.

2 — You need a teaser, or summary

This is your very first paragraph. It needs to summarise the entirety of what you want to say. It will preferably do this with panache, style, and excitement.

If you are not excited about the news you are releasing, you can bet your bum that nobody else is going to be either.

A good tip: make your teaser all in bold, at the very top of your email. It will catch the reader’s eye and force him or her to read to the end.

I’ll be honest. As an editor of a magazine, I get so many media releases that the first paragraph is vital. If it doesn’t appear relevant, or interesting, I hit delete. Instantly.

Let this be a lesson.

3 — Write the rest in descending order of importance

If you have been writing blogs, or other content online for a while, this will start to come naturally to you. You want to ‘back-fill’ the media release, with the least important information in the final sentences.

The reason we do this, is to make sure that the important stuff is up where it is most likely to be read: at the top.

4 — Think up some sharp quotes

A great media release has quotes in it. These are quotes that you want to get picked up by the media outlet, and run as they are. Therefore, think carefully before you write.

The best quotes:

• drive the media release forwards
• support and highlight the overall argument (or point) of the release
• offer some additional information about key elements
• provide a sense of a person or personality
• are statements that other people want to reproduce

It sounds difficult, but it really isn’t.

As an example, let’s say your business recently experienced massive growth, by implementing a new marketing strategy.

Your media release can be very clinical, bland, or factual. And you can use your quotes to explain which elements of that strategy pushed your business’s growth.

5 — Recap the important information in a ‘bite’ at the end

This is a basic, factual summary. Many are written like this:

Who:
What:
Where:
When:

If your release is about a product, then this is where you would put the product name, its cost, where and when it is available, and how to get hold of it.

6 — Always provide a media contact

If the outlet has questions, it is likely to want to get in touch with you. So make it easy!

Add a line like, ‘For further information…’; or, ‘For all media enquiries…’. And make sure the phone number is one you can be reached on during business hours.

Tags: copywriting, marketing, media release
Filed under: Marketing