The basic framework for a press release is as follows:
Headline
Get your story across immediately. For example, ‘Local man celebrates 100th birthday’.
Content
Read the local newspaper and frame your release to match its style – what information does it include? What does it tell its readers in a news story? Find something with added value – did the 100-year-old man fight in the war? Has he lived in the area for all those 100 years?
Contacts
Ensure you put your details on the release so that you are the point of contact for the journalist.
Pictures
Take some pictures, the business, your client (but ensure you have the customer’s permission to do so) and make sure they are of a high enough resolution for print. Having pictures will increase your chances of being published.
Submission
Send it at once. If you hear nothing after a week, follow up with a phone call. If it does not run, don’t be put off from trying again.
