Ways to Get Your Story Printed
There are 22 points highlighted in this story:
1. Make your corporate or association identification clear. Many of us are so used to identifying ourselves with divisions or departments, that we forget the publicity power of our parent organization.
2. "NEWS" is what your recipients want. Promise it with the largest type on the page. Use "Media News Release" when including electronic media.
3. No one wants to publish old news, so make the date of your release absolutely current. If the same release is used for more than a single day, fill in the dates as they are used.
Use word processor—style type for the entire release. Double-space! Make sure that it's a typeface you can match for filling in the date and the recipient's name if your releases are preprinted before being personalized.
E-Z-Ryder Bike Factory * 123 East Fourth * Wakenaw, KY (T)
NEWS RELEASE (2)
To For additional information, contact (5)
Charles Smith (4 Jeanette Miranda O'Keefe
Sports Editor Information Director
Wakenaw Daily Bugle E-Z Ryder
789-001-0002
Release date: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ®
New bike for seniors hailed by 50-plus test riders (7)
Warrensville, KY. Twenty-nine volunteers, ranging in age from 50 to 81, today test drove the new E-Z Ryder bicycles especially designed for seniors to give them more mobility for both entertainment and basic transportation. While only 5 said that they currently use bicycles regularly, 27 said that they might do so in the future because of the E-Z Ryder's special features. (g)
"I drove the bike around town for over an hour," reported the most senior of the group, retired Warrensville fireman Chuck Quinzley. "I don't know how they made it so easy," he said, "but that's the most biking I've done all at once in the past 10 years."
Ladies version pleases, too 1)
The 11 women test drivers, who were not asked to volunteer their ages, were equally pleased with their bikes. "They must have done something special with the gears to make riding this easy," suggested former science teacher Mrs. Lisa Spengler. (l3) "I think it made all of us feel a lot younger to be biking around town just like the high schoolers I used to teach."
New patent to Ryder Company ^4)
"Mrs. Spengler is absolutely correct," said Edwyn Ryder, President of E-Z-Ryder, (15) when told about her remark. "The gears have just been granted a patent, and we're going to tool up for a major increase in production right here in Warrensville, though that won't be ready for about another year. Right now, we're going to sponsor some
Sensible Junior/Senior Cycling races in which you have to be over 50 or under 15 to compete. 18 Not only are we going to let us seniors feel like kids again,"
concluded Ryder with a laugh, "we're going to beat them at their own game!"
Photograph herewith. 2)
Broadcast-quality video available. (22) Contact J. O'Keefe for details.
Figure 12.1 Example of professional-style press release with the 22 reasons that make it work.
4. There is nothing more direct and personal than an individual's name and title, even when the recipient knows that it's all done by computer. You will, of course, have identified the most likely sources for publication through personal contacts or phone conversations. If you're not sure whom to address in larger news organizations, ask the editor most likely to be in charge. (We'll tell how to find them, shortly.) Not only will you get a name, but you may also interest the editor!
5. Give your recipients a specific person to contact, if possible with a phone number that cuts through the growing computerized switchboard maze. You're hoping for free in-print and on-air publicity, so don't make contacting you a challenge. Your recipients may not have the time or patience to be so challenged.
6. Your story will usually be held—that is, not published or aired—until the date specified by you. (There are occasional violations of hold dates when the news is "hot" enough.) Most stories are distributed "for immediate release." Others have specific release dates, usually to give weekly or monthly publications the chance to break the news at the same time as the daily media. This is especially important when a key writer won't mention your story once it has appeared elsewhere.
In some media, specific individuals are so widely read that they won't consider a story, unless it's given to them before anyone else. When such an "exclusive" is offered, be sure to give it a time limit. Rather than "for immediate release," indicate something like "Exclusive for (name) to (date)." Indicate release after the specified date on all other copies. An exclusive is valuable and should get you a bit more than routine attention in return.
7. Your headline will help determine the kind of attention each medium gives to your story. In this example, we've given the story a human interest rather than a business emphasis. When used, such emphasis should be a well-thought-out part of your overall plan. Note that you can supply several stories with different emphases as part of a media kit and then add another story that summarizes all of them. Add a contents page, and not only will the media be grateful, but you're less likely to omit something.
8. This tells where the story takes place, not necessarily where it was written. When a particular local context is important, tell the story from that point of view. A Kansas wheat grower teaching Eastern Europeans how to use an Illinois-built combine typifies both the challenges and opportunities PR faces every day.
9. Note how packed with information the first paragraph is. Make your first paragraph tell the story in such a way that if nothing else is published, you will still have made your main point. You'll be happy to find that many releases are printed in their entirety, exactly as they are written, especially by smaller publications with limited editorial and rewriting staffs. But most media will use only a portion of the release. Under the "all the news that fits" rule, stories are written to be cut (shortened) from back to front, so load the beginning. Readers, too, pay more attention to initial paragraphs. Whether they are consciously aware of it or not, they know that scanning just the headlines and first paragraphs will give them the overview that determines whether reading more is worth their time.
Everything after the first paragraph is an expansion on what's just been read. It's our job to make this material so enticing or important that the reader can't resist learning more.
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