July-August 2007 - Issue #58

• Intro
  
• Article - The 10 Commandments of Press Releases: Bill Stoller
  
• The Office Corner
  
• Grammar Question of the Month - Capitalizing First Words
  
• Tech Tips by Terence Kierans - Publisher & Word
  
• Writing Corner
  
• Word of the Month - Uptick
  
• Recommendations
  
• Judy's Corner
  
• Judy's Photo Gallery
  

* Bill Stoller, one of my Internet icons, recently offered me the opportunity to print The 10 Commandments of Press Releases in this ezine. I jumped at the chance. It's chock full of solid ideas and principles. Enjoy!

* I recently wrote an article on stereotyping, and had some excellent feedback. I decided to open it up to my subscribers, because (while the article is about personal issues) the idea of what I'm getting at can be applied to business. How many times have we made incorrect judgments of people, and later learned, to our benefit, that we were wrong? Find the article here: http://www.ossweb.com/stereotyping/
If you'd like to share an experience that changed you for the better, or just opened your eyes wider, send it to me and I'll publish it on my blog (with or without your name, as long as I know you're a real person).

The 10 Commandments of Press Releases

by Bill Stoller, Publisher
Free Publicity, The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp

In baseball, it's said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If he's doing his job, he won't call attention to himself in any way. It's 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 can't get enough objective distance from your company to write a press release that's 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 sparks of creativity. Journalists like knowing that there's 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 you're 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 you're using. The city desk editor just wants to know when the grand opening is and what's 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.) use the past tense (Acme Industries has changed its name to AcmeCo, the company announced today...) When writing a soft news release -- a trend story, a personal profile, etc. -- use the present tense (Jane Smith is one of the best marathon runners over 40. She's also blind. Thanks to new technology from AcmeCo, Jane is able to...).

7. Thou Shalt Think Visually. A press release is more than words -- it's a visual document that will first be assessed by how it looks.

I'm referring to more than font size or letterhead. I'm talking about the actual layout of the words. Whether received by mail, fax or e-mail, a journalist -- often unconsciously -- will make decisions about whether to read the release based on how the release is laid out. Big blocks of text and long paragraphs are daunting and uninviting. Short paragraphs and sentences make for a much more visually inviting look.

When writing a non-hard news release, I often use a simple formula -- the lead paragraph should be one or two sentences at most. The next paragraph should be very, very short.

Like this.

8. Thou Shalt Tell A Story. How to arrange the facts of a hard news release is pretty much cut and dried. The old "who, what, when, where and how" lead and "inverted pyramid" concepts still hold. (Rather than engage you in a course in basic newswriting, I'll direct you to a really good discussion of what the inverted pyramid is.

Check out:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=38693

So let's focus on a soft news release. The trend story, the feel- good company story, the "gee-whiz, I didn't know anyone was doing that!" release. The difference between these releases and the hard news release is simply a mirror of the difference between a feature story in, say, the entertainment section of your newspaper and the breaking news report on page one. The hard news story is about cold, hard facts (A mudslide closed portions of Interstate 70 last night, causing massive delays). A feature article about the guy who spends all day looking at seismograph readouts trying to predict where the next mudslide will occur will be very different. It's likely to be in present tense, it won't load all the facts upfront and it will be designed to draw the reader deep into the text. It is, in short, all about storytelling.

Here's the formula I use for these kinds of releases. I call it the 3S approach -- Situation/Surprise/Support.

The first paragraph sets up the situation. The second paragraph reveals the surprise. The third paragraph supports the claim made in the second paragraph.

One very typical 3S is discussing a common problem in the first paragraph (For centuries, people have accepted memory loss as an inevitable result of aging.) The "surprise" paragraph announces the solution to the problem (But one local man says he's ready to prove the medical establishment wrong.) The "support" paragraph then tells the story. (John Smith, an Anytown entrepreneur, says he's found the key to retaining a strong memory function far into old age. His "Memory Maker" software is based on ancient Chinese texts that were used more than 2000 years ago to...)

Another 3S -- let's revisit our mudslide watching friend. How would you start his story using this method?

While John Smith's colleagues at the National Atmospheric Center are watching the skies for signs of lightning and tornadoes, his attention is focused elsewhere.

John Smith is listening to the mud.

As the Chief Mudslide Analyst at the NAC, Smith spends his days glued to a seismograph, eyes and ears peeled for the telltale signs on an impending slide.

Along with the 3S in action, I also followed the 7th Commandment. That really short second paragraph is a visual grabber, and will keep the journalist reading right into the meat of the release.

9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness. This may seem an obvious point, but it always bears repeating.

Tell the truth.

Don't inflate, don't confabulate, don't exaggerate. Don't twist facts, don't make up numbers, don't make unsubstantiated claims. Any decent journalist will be able to see right through this. If you're lucky, you're release will just get tossed out. If you're unlucky, you'll be exposed.

It's a chance not at all worth taking. Make sure every release you write is honest and on the level.

10. Thou Shalt Know Thy Limitations. Not everyone can write a press release. A good feature release, in particular, isn't an easy thing to craft. If you just don't feel like you have the chops to get the job done, hire a professional.

One last tip: right before you start writing your release, spend an hour or two reading your daily paper, paying special attention to stories similar in feel to yours. Immerse yourself in how the pros do it and you'll be in the right frame of mind to tackle the job! To view professional press releases updated daily, go to: http://www.publicityinsider.com and click on the "Press Release Gallery"

# # #

About The Author:

Bill Stoller, the "Publicity Insider", has spent two decades as one of America's top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PR-Hungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp he's sharing -- for the very first time -- his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Bill's exclusive new site: http://www.PublicityInsider.com

1. MICROSOFT OFFICE FORM TEMPLATES:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101043201033.aspx

2. APA OVERVIEW AND WORKSHOP: Provides an overview of APA (American Psychological Association) style and where to find help with different APA resources. It provides an annotated list of links to all of our APA materials and an APA overview. An excellent place to start to learn about APA format.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/664/01/

3. HOW TO WRITE A PERSUASIVE NEWS RELEASE: Michel Fortin does it again. And again! A must-read.
http://www.michelfortin.com/how-to-write-a-persuasive-news-release/

4. FOLLOW-UP E-MAILS CAN KILL A SALE
http://tinyurl.com/3xeuns

5. FIVE FATAL ERRORS THAT WILL KILL YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS: by Bob Massey
http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/markerror.htm

According to The Gregg Reference Manual, one capitalizes the first word of:

Every sentence.
An expression used as a sentence.
A quoted sentence.
An independent question within a sentence
Each item displayed in a list or outline
The salutation and complimentary closing of a letter.

In the next issue, we'll cover when to capitalize after a colon.

PUBLISHER
BLEED ELEMENTS TO THE EDGES
When designing a publication to print on letter-size or A4 paper, elements can't be placed right on the edge of the page because most home office printers are unable to print right to the edges of a page.

However, if you are designing a publication with a smaller page size -for example a business card, a booklet or postcard, then you can place elements or coloured boxes right against the edge of the page. This is called bleeding: it can give smaller publications a much more professional look.

WORD
VIEWING YOUR ENTIRE DOCUMENT WIDTH
When creating wide documents, such as those to be printed in landscape mode, then you may find yourself scrolling left and right within your document window all the time. This can be a mite distracting.

Something you might try to overcome this is the following:

1.	Click on "View/Zoom". The Zoom dialog box is displayed.
2.	Select the "Page Width" radio button.
3.	Click "OK".

This will cause Word to reduce, or increase, the magnification applied to the document so that its entire width will fit on the screen at once. Depending on the document and the screen resolution this is a useful tool to use.

Terence Kierans
Cyberspace Virtual Services
tkierans@virtualservices.com.au
http://www.virtualservices.com.au/
We keep your project on the boil, while you sleep

1. PROMOTE YOUR BOOK LOCALLY FIRST
http://www.spawn.org/marketing/promotelocallyfirst.htm

2. TOASTED CHEESE: "...a place where writers can get honest feedback on their work and honest information about issues important to writers."
http://www.toasted-cheese.com/index.htm

3. HYPHENATED COMPOUNDS: by Tina Blue
http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/hyphens1.html

4. WRITING CONTEST ON PHYSICAL CONFLICT
http://www.writershelper.com/writing-contest-physical-conflict.html

Main Entry:re-sil-ience
Pronunciation:ri-zil-yn(t)s
Function:noun
Date:1824

1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

1. THUMBSHOTS.COM RANKING: compare searches between search engines.
http://ranking.thumbshots.com/

2. THE BBC'S FIFTEEN WEB PRINCIPLES:
http://www.tomski.com/archive/new_archive/000063.html

3. WHAT DO YOU FEEL MOTIVATES YOUR CUSTOMERS TO BUY?
http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/06/25/what-makes-people-buy/

4. BEFORE YOU BUILD YOUR WEBSITE: 8 COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
http://tinyurl.com/2rdbne

Summer slowdown is a time to take stock, organize, and move on. I am trying to do all three. I'm in the middle of organizing, and have a number of piles of things to be packed away or put in a different place. I'm also trying to organize my online photos, and little by little, I'm getting everything into a more accessible group of files.

If you have any organization tips you'd like to share with the rest of us, send them along. I'm always looking for ways to increase my skills in this area. Surely I'm not the only one. Or am I?

Alice's Red Anthurium with white splotches by Judy Vorfeld: taken at Holualoa, Hawaii

Martha's White Ginger by Judy Vorfeld: taken at Holualoa, Hawaii

Dave and Joanne's Lily Pond by Judy Vorfeld: taken at Waimea, Hawaii

Coral Rose by Judy Vorfeld: taken at Sun City, Arizona

Prickly Pear cactus blossom by Judy Vorfeld: taken at Peoria, Arizona

Dave and Joanne's Hydrangea by Judy Vorfeld: taken at Waimea, Hawaii

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