Media Relations: Do You Experience These Mistakes?

You sent out another press release… and waited for a journalist to call. If you’re still waiting, it’s often that you committed a fatal mistake in your announcement that sent it straight to the reporter’s trash bin.

There are several issues that make a reporter cringe. Are you doing one – or more – of these?

Grammatical Errors- You can be the best writer in the world but still miss grammatical errors and typos when proofreading. Look over your work when you are most alert and read your copy aloud to yourself. It is also a good idea to have at least three other people review your work before submission.

Upper Case Letters- Do not write your news release in all uppercase characters as it is bad formatting. Use mixed casing when writing your press release.

Lack of Content- Be sure your media announcement answers the five W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) as roughly 90% of all press release submitted to reporters are rejected. Also ask yourself if your release is newsworthy. The main purpose of a news release is to inform a public.

Press Releases that are Really Ads- Do not write your news like an advertisement. You are not trying to sell anything when writing a press release. Remember a reporter’s job is to inform the public, not to sell to the public.

You want to be professional when submitting press releases to reporters.

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA is your Power Publicist and owns Be Heard Solutions, a virtual publicity and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services, and boosting their business. Get more tips and tactics with your free publicity power pack by visiting here

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Tags: media, relations, press release, news, mistake