Tempemonon

In baseball, its said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If hes doing his job, he wont call attention to himself in any way. Its much the same for the writer of a press release. When the recipient of a release focuses only on its content — and not on its creation — the writer has succeeded. With that in mind, here’s The 10 Commandments of Press Releases: 1. Thou Shalt Be Professional. No goofy fonts, rainbow paper or silly gimmicks. Even lighthearted press releases represent a communication between one professional and another. 2. Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional. If you cant get enough objective distance from your company to write a press release thats not filled with hype and puffery, hire someone to write it for you. 3. Thou Shalt Not Be Boring. Even the driest subject matter allows for some sp alternate picking arks of creativity. Journalists like knowing that theres a human being communicating with them, not some corporate robot. 4. Thou Shalt Be Brief. Learn to cut out extraneous words. Keep your sentences short. Include only the points necessary to sell the story. The well-crafted one page press release is a thing of beauty. 5. Thou Shalt Know Thy Recipient. A features or lifestyle editor is a very different creature from a city desk editor. If youre promoting the opening of a new winery, the food and wine editor may be interested in all the details about what kind of aging process and wine press youre using. The city desk editor just wants to know when the grand opening is and whats going to happen there. 6. Thou Shalt Use The Proper Tense. When writing a hard news release — a contract signing, a stock split, a major announcement, etc.