Recently I sat in on a teleseminar entitled " How to Write a Better News Release, Pitch and E-mail Release" presented by Ann Wylie. She gave tips about how to improve upon your PR writing skills to craft better, more placeable media stories. I was going to blog about this topic then, but never got around to it. Then, I read Paul Holmes post about lousy press releases the other day. And, last week, I stumbled upon Ann's latest article in PR Tactics about "leading with the benefits" in PR writing. So, now I feel compelled to add to the conversation about writing good press releases.
I totally agree with Paul and don't understand why PR people continue to write such lead paragraphs that are so old-school...such as "My Wonderful Company Announces That So-and-So Joined..." or "My Wonderful Company Announces the Launch of our new Fabulous Widget." (Full disclosure here...I actually have been guilty of it. I am learning though and encouraging my folks to think differently about how "they have always done it"). Ann makes the point that PR professionals should lead with the benefits of the announcement and follow with the features.
In her article, Ann uses an example that I think is brilliant. She poses the question, "Which would you rather read: a story about David Barton Gym? or one about how to look better naked?" She makes the point that the gym is the feature and that the benefits of using/becoming a member of the David Barton Gym (most likely her client?) is looking better naked. PR professionals and others in charge of writing/approving PR materials are often caught up in our own stuff and tend to forget to write with the reader in mind. The key to getting placement however is by doing exactly that.
I always talk about it by saying you have to think like a journalist/reporter/editor/producer in order to get placement. By writing press releases and other media materials with the benefits at the forefront, you are showing the editor/reporter/producer that you are thinking about how to make their jobs easier by providing them with valuable content that their readers want/need/should know.