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10 Press Release Mistakes
By guest contributor Dan Janal
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
Do you make these mistakes with your press releases?
Good press releases can be worth their weight in gold. A bad
press release is as valuable as Fool's Gold. Be sure you don't
make these blunders when you write your media release.
1. Bury the lead.
People want to know what the story is about. Right now. A
press release isn't a suspense novel. Don't save the best for
last. Put the good stuff up front.
2. Boring.
Would you read something that sounds like corporate speak or
bureaucratese? Neither will a reporter. Neither will a prospect.
3. Too cute.
You might love puns but most people don't get them. Punt the
puns. See what I mean? Leave them out.
4. Incorrect keywords.
Search engines read press releases and code them on your
keywords. If you don't have the right keywords, your release
will never be found on the search engines. Use a keyword tool to
find out what people are searching for and put those words into
your press release.
5. Too many keywords.
Search engines hate when you use too many keywords. How many
is too many? As a rule of thumb, if the press release reads like
the way people talk, you'd be fine. If you think people talk
like this, then you need a good editor: If you need document
management software, you should review our document management
software because it is the best document software you can find,
according to experts in the document software field.
6. Too salesy.
Press releases don't have to have earth-shattering news but
they shouldn't be blatant sales pitches. No one likes reading
those and that style won't help you with reporters, readers or
search engines. Tell your story. Hold the hype.
7. Unrealistic expectations.
The press release is one step in a marketing campaign. If
you are in business for the long term, then you shouldn't have
any problem with this. Don't expect your phone to ring off the
hook. Don't expect 100 reporters to call you on day one. Don't
expect your search engine rankings to go to page one on Google.
Don't expect your prospects to instantly fall in love with you.
But if you write press releases and post them to your website
and send them out over credible news wires to the media, you
will eventually reach all those goals. Be patient. Be
persistent.
8. Sending out only one press release.
You can't hammer a nail with one swing. You can't expect to
nail hundreds or thousands of reporters or prospects with one
press release. You have to send one out every month. At worst,
send them out once a quarter.
9. Sending out too many press releases.
Unless you are Microsoft or Apple, you don't make so much
news that you need to send a release out every few days or once
a week. Too many releases would start to work against you with
search engines. They like to see steady, incremental increases
in content. If you put too much stuff out there too fast, they
get suspicious.
10. Not following style.
When you see a poem, you know it is a poem. It has a certain
style and format. Same with a press release. If you don't have
the right elements in the right order, a reporter will toss out
the release because she'd know you were an amateur. Make sure
you have contact information followed by a headline. Then put in
a dateline consisting of the city and state where you are
located, the date of the release and the first paragraph. Follow
with the body of the press release and close with an "about us"
section where you do get brag a little bit and tell your company
history. End with "30" or "###" on a separate line and center
it. Why? Because it is style. If you don't have any idea what
I'm talking about, hire a good press release writer who can save
you time, money and your skin.
If you avoid these 10 big mistakes of press release writing, you
very well could make more sales, get more prospects and have the
world beat a path to your door.
 Dan Janal
Bio
USA Today called Dan Janal "a true cyberspace
pioneer" because he wrote one of the first three books ever
written about Internet marketing, back in 1994. (I read that
book!)
The Los Angeles Times called him "an internet
marketing expert" because he consulted with companies like
IBM, American Express and
Reader's Digest.
He's helped thousands of speakers, authors, coaches, and
consultants get publicity with his company, PR LEADS.com. (I was
one of the first.) His clients have appeared in nearly every
major newspaper and magazine, including The New York Times,
Forbes, Fox Business and The
Wall Street Journal. Now you can be one of them. See
below for how.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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