Publicity is a powerful form to boost your company’s reputation. In the case of HostingJournalist.com, you can stay in control and publish it yourself.
Publicity is a powerful form to boost your company’s reputation, or to shape the image of your company. To achieve this, you can send press releases to news media. Or, in the case of HostingJournalist.com, you can stay in control and publish it yourself through HostingJournalist.com’s by becoming a HostingJournalist Insider Member. Writing good press releases does remain a challenge for many organizations. We hope these tips will help you write good press releases for our cloud, hosting and data center audiences.
Tip 1 - Look for a newsworthy article story angle
The most important tip is: add newsworthiness! The trick is to translate a commercial message into a newsworthy story for each relevant target group. This way you arouse the interest of your audience. Focus on why the news is now important and relevant (the current reason). And delete all commercial expressions such as mentioning prices or advertising language. Remember: it's not an advertisement, but a news item.
Tip 2 - Answer in the introduction: who, what, where, when, why and how
In a good introduction there is always an answer to: who is doing something? What is happening? Where does this happen? When does this happen and why? And how? By answering these questions you shed light on the core of the story. This way it immediately becomes clear what the press release is about.
Tip 3 - Most important information first
A press release is not a novel in which you have to evoke a certain tension. There is a chance that your message will not be fully read. Put the most important information in the first paragraph, then deepen it. This is also called a ‘rollable text’.
Tip 4 - Explain with examples or quotes
A story is more credible and vivid when examples or quotes are added. For example, let the CEO speak in the press release and let him or her tell something about the news in his or her own words.
Tip 5 - Write actively and in the third person
Leave out words such as ‘go’, ‘will’ or ‘want’. Always write a press release actively and in the third person. So not for example: ‘We are going to open a new branch’, but ‘hosting company X will open a new branch’.
Tip 6 – Interview stakeholders to add relevant story details
Adding relevant story details can also make your story more credible and vivid. Of you don’t know every little detail yourself, you can find those details by interviewing some stakeholders in your organization. For example an engineer, a project manager, a sales manager, or someone from the management team.
Tip 7 – Stick to the facts
Describing this 5 W's and the H question is actually what you do. A subjective experience or comment should not be part of it. A press release should contain impartial and verifiable news. So, no additions such as unique, special, cheap, ideal and exclusive use. Stick to the facts and explain what makes your message interesting news.
