Are you considering releasing a new product soon? Media releases play an important role in creating the right buzz for new products. However, if you wish to engage thousands of journalists and get your product noticed, a lackluster write-up won’t cut it.
Writing a media release requires expertise. If your media release isn’t creating the impact you desired, it probably has some shortcomings. Here are some mistakes you might be making while writing a media release:
Boring or Irrelevant title
The title is what will capture your reader’s attention. A dull title will instantly make them lose interest and they probably won’t even bother reading the rest. Come up with a title that isn’t too wordy but still manages to capture the essence of the copy. Make sure your title is catchy, interesting and relevant.
Rambling Content
With a media release, you need to effectively get the information across as quickly as possible. Avoid beating around the bush with unnecessary explanations. A good media release is concise and clear. So, don’t write a time-consuming read and try to express the important details in the first few sentences.
Writing in the First Person
Writing a media release in the first person is one of the biggest blunders you can make. Just like any other journalism piece, a media release should always be written in the third person.
Insufficient Information
For the sake of keeping it crisp, you cannot omit important details. Never assume that a journalist knows everything about your company. Providing sufficient information increases the chances of a journalist publishing your story. Therefore, make sure you include crucial information like your company’s name, address, the angle of your story and contact information.
Grammatical Mistakes and Erroneous Punctuation
Journalists are not your editors. No one has the time or patience to correct your grammatical mistakes and punctuation. Even one spelling mistake can discredit your entire media release. Hence, thoroughly proofread a media release before submitting it.
Extra Exclamation Marks
As previously mentioned, use punctuation carefully, especially exclamation marks. Don’t make your copy appear peppy and insincere by overusing exclamation marks.
Copy-Pasting
If you’re writing a media release for the first time, there’s no harm in taking inspiration from other media releases. But don’t plagiarise the content. In addition to this, avoid directly copy-pasting excerpt from your own website. The tone of a media release is quite different from website content. Keep that in mind.
Too Short
Yes, it’s important to keep the copy to the point. But this doesn’t mean it is necessary to make it as short as possible. Make it brief but include every crucial detail. Always answer the Who, What, Where, When, How and Why in your copy.
Over-Capitalisation
You can occasionally use capitalisation for emphasis but use it cautiously. Save too much capitalisation for a tacky flyer instead of your media release.
Fabricated Quotes
Quotes are the only part of a media release that a journalist can’t change. Pretentious quotes don’t benefit you in any way and will likely impact your credibility. When you’re inserting quotes, keep it real. They should sound sincere and positive without being over the top.
Too promotional
Your media release shouldn’t be aggressively promotional. Yes, media releases are a tool for promotion, but they aren’t a blatant advertisement banner. Give a well-rounded view of your product and keep the copy objective and factual.
Forgetting Links
Your media release should guide readers to the product it’s promoting. Include proper links of the products, websites, third parties and so on mentioned in the media release.
We hope that these tips help you write a press release that garners the media’s attention. Whether you need help with a media release or tenders in NSW, you should think about hiring a technical writer. It’s wise to involve an expert instead of putting your inexperience to test.