Stripped down to its core, publicity is little more than one
person persuading another. You, the publicity seeker, must
persuade a journalist that your story is worthy of receiving
print space or air time. Your ability to sell your story to a
journalist is what it’s all about.
If you’ve ever sat with an insurance salesman who droned on and
on, [...]
Considering how fundamental they are to the publicist’s trade,
it’s always amazed me how lousy almost all press kits truly are.
Your typical press kit is a bloated folder filled with puffery,
hype, irrelevant information and worse. The vast majority of
these monstrosities do little besides kill trees and clog
newsroom trash baskets.
The good news is that creating a press [...]
To many marketers, the press release is something of a “one size
fits all” proposition. You want to get media coverage, you knock
out a press release, send it to some journalists and sit back and
wait.
Of course, smart Publicity Insiders already know that’s a
prescription for failure. You know that your press release has
to have a “hook”, be [...]
Southern grandmothers have often said, “there are only three times a respectable person’s name should be in the paper: when you are born, when you are married, and when you die.”
This is the one area in which I part company with my grandmothers. Publicity is more critical today for the success of a business than [...]
In an ideal world, your business would be overflowing with
newsworthy stories, and the media would be waiting with bated
breath for your next press release, ready to give you front page
coverage.
In the real world, however, it’s not always so easy to generate
real news. There are only so many hot new products or
breakthrough achievements with which a [...]
It’s safe to say that we live in interesting times. It seems we
hardly have a breather between wars, tragedies, scandals,
epidemics, circus trials and other events that capitalize the
media’s attention. For the business seeking publicity, the “news
hole” for more traditional stories — new product reviews,
business features, offbeat promotions — keeps shrinking as the
“big story” mentality takes [...]
If you’re like most publicity seekers, you probably think one
project at a time. You’ve got a new product coming out in April,
so you send out a release in March. You’ve hired a new executive,
you’ll put out a release when she’s on board, etc.
For hard-core publicity insiders, though, there’s a rhythm to
generating coverage, based upon the [...]
Want to get radio interviews and coverage in print
publications to sell more books?
Master the art of writing magnetic media releases
that attract attention of editors and publishers.
A media release (which also goes by its former
name, the press release) is a one page, double spaced, single-sided document designed to transmit news about books, products, and people.
Because of [...]
A musician spends years honing his craft. He writes world-classsongs and performs them in a manner that moves his listeners totears. He records a demo tape and sends it to record labels. Hegets a contract and becomes rich, famous and adored.
The lesson: demo tapes are the secret of becoming a famousmusician.
Wait, you say, the demo [...]
Layout
1. 1-2 pages in length.
2. Double-space.
3. 1.5 to 2 inch margins.
4. Use company stationary with logo and slogan.
5. Avoid bright or dark-colored paper.
6. Center “News Release” at top.
7. Place a “release date” under “News Release”.
8. On second page, type “page 2″.
9. Use company stationary with logo and slogan on page 2.
10. Leave out “release after” [...]