Create Press Release & Get it Published

·	You say you can’t change the subject matter of your press release?

By the time you read this, you undoubtedly know what it is you want to promote. You have launched your business, written your book, planned your statewide bake sale. But will this be of interest to the readers of newspapers nationwide?

For many subjects, alas, it will not be. But if you understand some basic principals about publicity, you can still maximize the exposure for your own event by linking it to something they are already interested in.

Say, for example, I got a yen to make the front pages of the Wall St. Journal, the Boston Globe and newspapers from Singapore to South Africa. Yet, I am just a lowly sender of press releases living in a small Southern city. How would I accomplish that?

Well, for the record, I did not have that aspiration. Yet I did, in fact, accomplish just that. Here’s how. (And yes, that’s me in the photo below.)

·	Link your press release to something people are already interested in.

The last thing readers were interested in in September of 2005 was Fay Faron. And why? Because a hurricane named Katrina was hogging all the headlines, that’s why.

By aligning myself with that already popular subject matter (not my first choice, mind you) I became a small part in a much larger - and more popular - news story.

·	Be the first person to do something.

In this case, that meant simply being there to clean out my 84-year-old mother’s house on the very first day my Algiers Point neighborhood opened to repopulation.

·	Do it with style.

There were many pictures taken that day in New Orleans by Reuters Wire Service. But this photo made the grade because of the combining drama of the missing wall in the red dining room.

·	What does this mean for your press release?

Say you can’t wait for a random hurricane to bring your momma’s house to its knees. Say you don’t want to. How else can you link your press release to something people are already interested in?

Link it to a holiday. Craft your press release toward Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, etc. This is one of the easiest ways to hop aboard a train that is already moving.

Hire an Elvis impersonator. You chortle, but Elvis is still a very popular guy. But even if The King would not dare make a sighting at your book-signing event, having some clever twist might do the trick.

Win an award. This is easier said than done. But certainly make the most of any recognition you have gotten.

Get a celebrity spokesperson. Again, not that easy, but for non-profits, this might be an obtainable goal for celebrities anxious to make the newspapers.

·	Will your press release make the grade?

Publicity - Getting “famous” is a marathon, not a sprint when it comes to sending a press release

How to write a press release

Maximizing the subject matter of your press releases

Use this example of a press release template

Optimizing your press release

Editing your own press release

Example of a press release

Everything else you need to know about how to write a press release