Getting the Lead

It's time to create our heading! In my second post I mentioned creating our heading and conclusion once the body of your press release has been completed. Now that we have the essence of our press release, we need to grab our audience’s attention. What is the first thing that will grab your audience’s attention? It's your heading, of course! It's the first thing that leads into your press release. It seems pretty straightforward, but I wonder how can I get the lead and make an eye catching heading?

Luckily, there are some great resources online with various helpful tips to create a bold and interesting heading. 

Here are several tips that I found helpful:

• Keywords: determine some keywords that relate to the subject, the audience, and will be picked up when entered into a search engine[1]
• Powerful Adverbs: Jot down a few strong adverbs that are relevant to the release[2]
• Relevant Heading: Be sure the heading relates to the content[3]
•  Be personal: Ask yourself what kind of headings would appeal to you as a person?[4]
• Actionable and Short: a long title might cause the audience to lose quickly before they even read the body of the press release[5]
• Do NOT Repeat Your First Sentence: Your heading should be one of a kind[6]
• Avoid Generic Cliché Words and Jargon: Make your heading unique and different. Give the people what they want![7]
• Be creative! Have fun with your heading, if your press release is light hearted maybe open with some humour

Check out the headings I used for various posts in my blog. I tried to be creative, but still keep to the theme of my writing. Attempt to create a few headings and see which one fits your press release. You can also ask friends and family to give their opinion on what catches their eye. These are some tips that I felt were very helpful for myself and hopefully will be helpful to you as well. One thing I would stress is using keywords. Most of our written material can be found online these days and individuals are constantly using google to search for key words. If you use the right key words, your press release will come to that reader’s attention and with a eye catching heading you can be sure to hook the reader in to read more.

What are some interesting headings from press release’s you have come across?

What was it about those headings that pulled you in?

---

[1] PressDoc. (2011, July 25). How to create a #WINNING title for your press release. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.pressdoc.com/2011/07/how-to-create-a-winning-title-for-your-press-release.html

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] EzineArticles. (2009, May 7). How To Write The Perfect Press Release – Condensed [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqh0ADRfmvY 

[7] Ibid

Location! Location! Location!

A quick recap, we have covered a couple of components of a press release:

• What are we writing about? What are your 5Ws and 1H?
• Who are we talking to? Who is your target audience?

We have some of the key parts and now we have to put our press release together. One great technique I learned throughout university is organizing and outlining.  I know it seems like a tedious task, but it helps you organize your content and adds structure to whatever you are writing about. Trust me, for a 70 page honours research thesis organizing my content and outlining was the best thing I could have done to make sure all my content was readable and flowed. One thing I learned was that location is so important for the key points you are making. If you had three points to make in your essay your 2nd strongest point would go first, your weakest point next and then close it off with 1st strongest point. For a press release location is very important, but not in that order.

When you are organizing for your press release you want your important information to be first. The truth is your professor or TA might be required to read your entire paper, but your audience might not read your entire press release. So be sure to put your important information in the beginning, followed by your supporting information.

Here are a few helpful tips when outlining your press release:

1. Use Brainstorming Tools: These tools are very helpful in sorting out all your information and grouping important facts and data together. It makes it easier to place your points where they need to go in your press release. There are so many brainstorming tools out there, use the one that works best for you.  
• Cluster Diagrams is a tool presented in the Business Communication Textbook that is commonly use
• Affinity Diagrams are very similar to cluster diagrams, but are more for those Kinesthetic Learners who like to be more hands on. Check out the Inbound Marketing University Blog for more information.
2. Not sure how your press release should look? Check out these examples of press release outlines:
• Press Release Outline: Marketing Scoop
• Follow a standard press release format: AMEinfo.com
3. Put Your Important Information First
• You can read any blog out there or any article on press releases, they all will tell you to put the important information first. However, be sure you keep the audience's attention this will ensure your audience will read your piece right until the end. 

Organizing you information and taking some time outlining your press release or any type of business writing will pay off in the long run. Remember writing is a skill that is learned and practiced, so take your time and invest in your writing.

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Writing a press release can be very daunting. There are various components and they seem straight forward, but when looked at all together it seems like a big task to accomplish. Well at least for me it is. 

Let's explore why we write a press release. We are looking to inform or persuade an audience. You might have a product launch, some good news or even bad news to share. This press release is something the public sees! The general public or costumers are usually the audience of this type of business writing. Basically anyone could be reading your press release. Is it just me or is that a little bit scary? We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, as I am clearly doing right now. We have our 5 Ws and now we need to understand who exactly our target audience is to write a press release that appeals to them. 

Targeting the Audience 

Let me put it into context. My press release is to promote the Peel Leadership Centre. We will be honouring 20 graduates from the Collaborative Leadership in Community (CLiC) Program with a celebration. We hope to have individuals from the non-profit, public and private sector attend the event. There will be individuals who will read this press release and consider applying for the program next year. We also really want the community to come out to this FREE event and see what the Peel Leadership Centre and the CLiC Program is all about. Overall, this press release will be inviting our audience to celebrate the achievement of these 20 individuals, as well as get PLC some exposure.

This press release has the potential to bring in greater interest about PLC and CLiC, helping us grow our program. However, whenever you feel overwhelmed just keep focused and work through the components as mentioned in the first blog post. Now, I know who my target audience is and I can frame my press release to attract those individuals. 

We have the foundation with the 5 Ws and the next logical step is to figure out who we are targeting. I have my target audience, but for you it might be targetting youth entering university or the everyday worker. It is also important to note that you are not only writing for your audience, but also the editor who is reading and publishing your press release[1]. You want to maintain simple language and an informal tone; be friendly but professional. You want to make it newsworthy.

Keep your eye on the bull's eye (your audience) and you won't miss your target. Ready, Aim, Fire!

---

[1] Ocular Concepts: Vision Driven Marketing Solutions. (2012, September 13).  Press Release Marketing: How to Reach Your Prospective Clients with News Articles. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.ocularconcepts.us/blc/blog/press-release-marketing-how-to-reach-your-prospective-clients-with-news-articles/