Free Press - it doesn't have to be painful.

Remember as a kid visiting your grandparents house and fooling around on their old fashioned typewriter? This is all relative depending on who is reading this blog but let me give you my visual.  I was the youngest of 26 grandchildren born into my mother's family.  So needless to say my grandparents were always old and had really cool things at their house.  For some reason I remember being mesmerized with two of their items: a very old typewriter like this one and their very old beagle dog.  For very long blocks of time I would hover over the keys and just look at them.  I don't think I was even old enough to type or form an entire written thought but more than anything I wanted to get my fingers on those keys.
My grandparents born in the late 19th century prescribed to the train of thought that children should be seen but never heard so visits were most often painful and terribly long.  Opportunity would present itself and they would leave the room to share this or that with my parents and I would be able to take a precious strike at the keys and more often than not I would skin my finger on the metal arm from trying to hit it so quick.  Now I can envision reporters and businessmen sitting at those keys and painstakingly typing out their message or story trying to get it perfect each and every time.

Today - writing and publishing your work is as simple as it gets and the opportunities for free press for your business or organization are endless.  Even if you're not a writer putting together a press release is nothing short of filling in a template with all of the information you are trying to share with the world about your product, service, or event.  Always send off your press releases on letterhead whether going through the mail or being sent out electronically.  Your logo should appear at the top of the release and  PRESS RELEASE in bold capital letters needs to jump out at you from the page.  Remember that your purpose is to share as many pertinent details with the publication you are contacting to give them the whole entire story and if you catch their interest they will already have the building blocks of their angle.  Put your most important data and facts in the beginning.  Give a quick summary of what you are announcing and then go into more details in the following paragraphs and finally end with a summary of what you have told them.  When you are happy with your release and ready to end it make sure you include ### on the next line centered. This is a visual clue to the editor that you are done and complete.

You don't have to be a brilliant writer to get your press releases in the news just make sure that when you send out a copy that it is actually interesting and newsworthy.  You can be creative with your headline to make it stand out in the pile of other releases hot off the press.

Don't be intimidated by the process if you've never done it before.  Don't let fear hold you back from taking advantage of  one of the best way to get your word out there to your foot soldiers.  Remember that people like to be "in the know" and you are doing the general public a service by letting them know about your product and service! It's a good thing that you are doing!

If you have any questions or need any help, give me a call!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
www.tylerryangroup.com
207-450-8441
jennifer@tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.