Press Releases - Top 10 tips

Press releases should form part of every business's strategic digital marketing and online PR mix. Therefore, you need to make sure that your efforts are well spent by ensuring your press release has every chance of being published on the sites that you post to it to. Writing a press release that does not attract attention and get published is like writing a letter and forgetting to post the letter. When time is money, this is just a waste when you could be doing something else more productive.

Here are my top 10 tips for getting your press releases published:

1. Make sure the press release title has some form of time related information
Your press release should  talk about something that is current i.e. your press release titles should be specific to the present and not generic. The more time dependant the better. e.g. John Smith's Camping Center Launches September 2010 Charity Sale to Support the Children in Need Campaign.  This is a good title, as there is a time dependant element here because we are talking specifically about September 2010.  If you can include the actual day and time of the event then even better.

2. Try and make the title ‘event based’
As in the previous paragraph, the title of your press release should ideally focus on a specific event that is happening or planned to happen that you want people to know about and the body of the release should clearly describe the event.

3. Do not use FREE in the title
The inclusion of Free in the title usually signifies to the press release reviewer that your press release is spam and not a great news item for their site and will probably not get listed. Avoid at all costs!

4. Do not ask a question in the title of your press release
If you ask a question in your press release it can look like an article rather than a press release. If this is the case then post the article on an article site. The reader of a press release site is different from that of an article site. Press releases are factual and event based, with readers looking for up to date information. On most press release site you will need to substantiate any facts or claims that you publish in your press release

5. Make sure your title does not read like an advert
If your title says something like ‘£5 off this weekend at John Smith's Camping Center’ then that is not going to get past the reviewer. You need to make it more relevant and put in more of a story.  Try and give the ‘reason why’ it is happening.

6. Make your press release location specific
Give your press release FOCUS by mentioning the location that your press release is relevant to. This makes sure that the reviewer knows that this press release is relevant to their traffic.

7. Make sure your press release title has more than 20 characters
Short titles usually indicate short and badly written press releases and so the reviewer might just give up at the title. However, don't go to the other extreme.  For example, super long titles either, anything over 150 characters is way too long and will probably get you left unpublished.

8. Avoid offensive material
It may seem obvious but most sites will not post releases referring to pornography, gambling, racism or other offensive topics. Most press release sites use Google adsense to generate some of their revenue and so are bound by Google’s terms and conditions which do not allow adverts to be placed on sites with such content.

9. Make sure you understand and stick to the accepted format of a press release
Make sure you read the guidelines for the press release site.  Usually these include the requirements for Title, Introduction, Body and then About us section.  Many press releases don't have the ‘about us’ section of the press release. This is not a reason for instant deletion but it doesn’t look professional. In a previous blog post we posted about the importance of standardising on a  "boiler plate" or "about us" section for all your press releases.

10. Finally, spell check and get someone to proof read your press release
It may seem obvious but press release reviewers will review your press release carefully. A press release reviewer will delete your press release if the grammar is poor or if it contains spelling mistakes and errors.

Contact our digital marketing practice to help you with your business press release