Are you about to write and distribute your first news release?  Or, are you a seasoned pro who has noticed a steady decline of viewership and pickup from the releases you’ve sent out in the past?  Whether you’re new to the process or just need new ideas, learn how to make your press release stand out from all the rest with these 12 easy steps that will maximize your content for greater visibility: (more…)

If you’ve never written a press release, much less read one, you might not know what a boilerplate is. So let’s take a look at the history, form and function of the boilerplate.

A Little History

In the mid-1800s, “boilerplates” were steel plates used to make steam boilers for ships. Fifty years later, the newspaper industry adopted the word, and its connotation of sturdiness and reusability, to refer to “a unit of writing that can be used over and over without change.”*

The Modern-day Boilerplate

Today, a boilerplate, in reference to news releases, is the last section of the release where you include general company information.  This chunk of text is usually reused for each news release and across other marketing channels so that messaging is consistent despite the type of communication that is being distributed.  (more…)

We’re tied to our electronic devices. Writing? Blogging? Emailing? Texting? No problem. But when it comes to oral communications, many of us fall short. We pepper our conversations with “uhs,” “you-knows” and other annoying sounds and filler words. Poor body language, vocal variety and tone distract from our message. We ramble and bury (or omit) the important points we want to make. And we wonder why people don’t “hear” what we’re saying. These shortfalls are magnified when we speak in front of an audience, whether it’s a small group of peers or [yikes] hundreds. (more…)

Connecting your product or service with seasonal, lifestyle and special interest stories can make your news and business flourish. A feature press release does just that yet is often overlooked as a marketing tactic. This type of content is what media outlets need to fill occasional holes and create interesting, thought-provoking articles that consumers like to read. Feature releases cater to certain lifestyles or provide benefit to those with special interests. With a longer shelf-life (sometimes called “evergreen”), feature releases can be recycled and can thrive in markets outside your industry, allowing your news to reach new audiences and consumers.

Let’s entertain this idea further… (more…)

From the Editor’s Desk is a monthly series that highlights editorial tips, best practices and other useful tidbits of information, written by a member of Marketwire’s own editorial team.

As a member of Marketwire’s Editorial team, I read our clients’ press releases before they are distributed and have noticed that some of the most common mistakes have to do with times and dates.

Here are a few “time-sensitive” mishaps to avoid when writing your own press releases: (more…)

When evaluating a media monitoring service, there are many factors to consider: your scope of coverage, which provider to choose and the service tier that best fits your budget. However, while it may not seem to be a difficult choice, one of the most important decisions you will make is selecting the best keywords for your new monitoring account – keywords that will deliver the most relevant and targeted clips.

Choosing the right keywords and phrases is essentially a balancing act. If you pick terms that are too broad, they will return hundreds (or thousands) of clips per day, leaving you with a virtual stack too large to read through. However, if you pick terms that are too narrow (for example, just your company name or your name) – and you are not in the news at the moment – you may find you get very few or no daily results. In both of these cases, having too many clips can be as dangerous as having too few – both will leave you disappointed with your monitoring provider and its system capabilities. (more…)

At Marketwire, one of our most lauded competitive advantages is the consultative approach that we use in our daily interactions with clients who want to distribute their company news. Marketwire sales, customer service and editorial teams are available to help at every step of the way – from writing the release to submitting it for distribution – to ensure as best they can that your press release is set up for success.

But, because you’re dealing with the media (traditional and social), analysts and bloggers who are on constant information overload, a proper foundation for your press release is an absolute must, to even hope for a glance from their journalistic eyes. They need easy-to-read, digestible and newsworthy content in order to go through the dozens, even hundreds, of press releases they receive on a daily basis. (more…)

As print media struggle to compete with other news sources such as blogs and online outlets, feature stories are growing in popularity because they attract and engage readers. Some newspapers are even writing news stories in “features style” to lend a human element to breaking events. And these ready-to-go stories are boons for overworked journalists, especially if they include photos and illustrations. (more…)

Press releases, a.k.a. news releases, are a staple of many public relations efforts and continue to provide traditional and social media audiences, as well as consumers, with a wealth of information on products, services, people and events.

Press coverage (both traditional and online) and attention across social networks can be more effective than any other type of advertising, and a well-written press release can garner great rewards for your company by increasing sales, driving qualified leads to your website or drawing attention to important causes and events.  Writing releases smartly and strategically is extremely important: editors and bloggers alike read press releases quickly and with a well-trained eye, and if they can’t find what they are looking for within the first paragraph (sometimes even within the headline itself), they are more likely to disregard it altogether.

How do you compose a well-written and well-structured press release to grab the attention of your audience?  The steps below can help. (more…)