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Sep 11 2015

9 Tips For Writing a Better Media Release

CHuntly

While media relations is only one part of your overall PR campaign, being able to write a great media release (also known as Press Release) can make or break the success of your outreach. There is a lot of a competition out there and your release has to be relevant and timely. Done well, it can be a great way of getting information to media outlets about your announcement.

Here are a few tips to consider when writing your upcoming media release:

  1. Develop strong messaging

This means writing down all of the most defining points about your brand, organization, and announcement. You have to be able to identify which are the most important and which are the least important so you know which information to include in the media release.

  1. Find a relevant hook

The hook is meant to capture interest – it’s what makes your announcement unique. Just because something is happening with you doesn’t mean it’s going to mean anything to anyone else. You have to make the story interesting to a wide range of people (especially your target audience). You could include statistical research on a topic that people want to hear about or even a human interest aspect to the story. For example, you could be partnering up with a charity or community group.

  1. Use a killer headline

Put yourself in the mindset of a journalist and develop a headline that could work as a great news article headline. Keep it short and attention-grabbing. You want people to read beyond the headline.

  1. Get to the point

This is the most important aspect of your content and you shouldn’t wait to get it out. By the end of the first paragraph who, what, when, where, why, and how should be answered. Any more than this is just fluff, any less and you haven’t included enough information. The rest of the release is there as supporting information.

  1. Include an enticing quote

You should have a spokesperson that is ready to speak to the media should they call. The media often use quotes when they are covering a story and if you give them a great quote as part of your release it makes it easier for them. This means your quote should use some of your key messages and they should not be background or what I like to call “fluff” information.

  1. Keep it short

A media release should be easy to read and quick. Media outlets often get hundreds of releases daily, so you need to make it easy for them to get through yours. If you can keep it to one page that’s best.

  1. Revise, revise, revise

You should never send out a release without reviewing it first. Make sure you have no spelling or grammar errors and that the flow of the release makes sense. Any time you can get someone else to review the content for you is even better!

  1. Include contact information

Make sure the media has some way to reach you. It’s best to include more than one way for them to get a hold of you. Include the name of the contact person and their phone number and email.

  1. Watch your tone

This isn’t a marketing sales piece, so avoid the hype and jargon you would include when selling your products and services. Write in the present tense and focus on the facts of the story you are telling rather than a sales pitch.

Still have questions about your media release? Don’t be afraid to give me a call!

Candace Huntly is the Founder and Principal at SongBird Marketing Communications, an agency working to take organizational and individual brands to the next level. With a passion for all things related to creativity and strategy, she specializes in business intelligence, marketing & branding, content strategy & development, media & influencer relations, and social media. Basically, if you need to put your brand, product, or cause in the public eye, she will find a way to do it, while making it unique to you.

Connect with Candace

Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/email/Website

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Candace Huntly · Tagged: 5 w's, brand, Canadace Huntly, contact information, fluff, grammar errors, headline, Journalist, keep it short, media relations, media release, message, organization, PR Campaign, Press Release, quote, relevant hook, revise, Songbird Marketing Communications, spelling errors, tone, what, when, where, WHO, Why

Jul 07 2015

Blogging for Business   

Sheralyn

As a writer, I’m often asked “What should I blog about and how often should I blog?”  This question is sometimes followed by the offhand comment “by the way, HOW do I blog?” The easy answer is that by asking these types of questions you are already well on the way to creating your blog.  Yes, blogging can be as simple as this: answer the “5 W’s” and you’ve got yourself a blog.  The “5 W’s” are: Who, What, Where, Why and How. Answer these and you can build a blog fairly quickly and easily.  Throw in something seasonally related or currently in the news and voila, you have yourself a blog. (Answering why “how,” which doesn’t start with “w” is even considered a “w” word is one of life’s little mysteries and the topic of an entirely different blog!)

Who is your audience? Who are you trying to reach out to? You’ve chosen your business because of your particular expertise or because you know and love a product and want to offer it to the public. Blogging to reach that market should be easy – you knew whom your audience was before you even started your business so now you just need to write a message that is tailored to this target market.  Blogging for a product that appeals to seniors should look significantly different from a blog tailored for youth. Choose words that are appropriate and geared to your audience.

The “What” to blog about is simple. What is the core of your business? If you’re a Dentist and it’s the summertime, talk about ice cream, popsicles and sugary treats and the possible detrimental effects that these summer treats could have on teeth.  Real Estate agents might discuss why summer is the best time to sell a home and perhaps blog about how to stage homes in the summer. If your product or service is a little more esoteric (say, writing for example) you could blog about grammar and in a friendly manner take your clients to “summer school” providing tips and tools on sentence structure.

Where to blog? Should you blog on your website, your facebook page or try to publish a post on LinkedIn? Should you be using one of the many web based blogging platforms? In determining the answer that best suits your business you may want to defer to the opinion of a social media specialist in your area. There are advantages to each option and whether you are trying to drive traffic to your website or to your physical location will have an impact on which option you choose. Additionally, knowing your target market should also influence where you blog. If you’ve identified most of your customers are on facebook for example, clearly that is where you should be blogging.

Why should you blog? I might be a lone wolf on this one and certainly as a business that offers blogging services I am doing myself no favours but when it comes to blogging and the “why factor” I urge you to ensure you are blogging relevant content for a reason.  You should blog because you have something of value to offer your customer. Blogging because someone said you should, or posting random content of no significance, will simply drive customers away. For most, the quick answer to “why blog” is to attract customers. That is the “why.” So ensure your content is relevant and will attract not repel.

Now for the “How.”  Call a writer! Just kidding. Use the “5 W’s” as your guiding principle, make a series of bullet points under each heading, determine your overall theme and then start building sentences around these bullet points. As the movie “Field of Dreams” once told us, “If you build it, they will come.” In this case, the structure is your blog and if you build your foundation using the “5 W” bullet points, a fully realized blog will be the end result. The beautiful thing about blogging is that you can schedule your posts to occur at anytime but write them whenever and wherever you want – even sitting on the back deck, in the sunshine, while sipping a cool beverage! See what I did there? I just tied a seasonally related theme to a blog about blogging. Happy writing!

As Owner and Principal partner of “Writing Right For You” Sheralyn is a Communications Strategist – working together with entrepreneurs to maximize profit through effective use of the written word. Looking for web content that works, blog articles that engage or communications strategies that help you get noticed?  Contact Sheralyn today. Sheralyn is also the mother of two children now entering the “terrible and terrific teens” and spends her free time volunteering for several non-profit organizations.

Sheralyn Roman B.A., B.Ed.

Writing Right For You

Communications Strategies that help you GET TO THE POINT!

416-420-9415 Cell/Business

writingrightforyou@gmail.com

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Sheralyn Roman · Tagged: 5Ws, audience, blog, blogging, blogging platform, business, Canadian Small Business Women, Facebook, how, how to blog, Linkedin, Sheralyn Roman, small business, website, what, where, WHO, Why, writing, Writing Right For You

Aug 01 2014

Tania DeSa: Canadian Small Business Woman of the Month of July 2014

Tania DeSa

Tania DeSa is a Personal Branding Strategist, Leadership Coach and Corporate Trainer whose mission is to inspire professionals to own their awesomeness to be seen and heard in any community.  She inspires professionals to see themselves differently then kick up their communication style to add value and achieve results- in business and in life.   www.taniadesa.com

Tania draws from intercultural experiences of traveling to over 70 countries and living, studying and working in Australia, Japan, Hungary, Spain, China and Switzerland. She holds an International MBA from ESADE Business School in Spain and Peking University in China, Honors Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. She is a professionally trained coach from the Coaches Training Institute(CTI).

Tania has thrived in corporate sales and marketing management roles within the healthcare industry in such companies as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Ecolab, Johnson & Johnson and has led strategic discussions at the World Health Organization in Switzerland.  Tania’s unique presentation style is a high energy collaborative one where she asks powerful questions, offers strategic frameworks and brings in real life stories to engage, educate and enlighten participants.

 

Tania offers customized corporate training programs in the area of Leadership Communication, such as:

  • Powerful Presenting: Empowering managers to enhance their presentation style and content in order to influence and persuade to achieve results. Ideal for marketing, sales, cross functional teams, R&D and management.
  • Leveraging your Personal Brand to Win: Inspiring employees to discover their strengths and learn how to maximize them to perform better, gain fulfillment in their work and create lasting impact. Ideal for new employees, teams, female leadership development and management.
  • Champion Building- How to create raving fans & long term partners: Learning how to create strong partners & key opinion leaders to champion messages and  help launch campaigns/new products in order to catapult sales growth. Ideal for sales, marketing, communications, PR & investor relations, and management.

Formats: Multimodal training programs with blend of group workshops and one on one coaching.  Ideal as a lunch and learn series, rotational program/development program course, team retreats, talent pipeline development and executive training.

 

Our Q & A with Tania DeSa

 

*What inspires you?
 People who are creating change in their world in a small way that’s having a big impact. Witnessing random acts of kindness and connection ( in the bus, grocery store or elevators). It’s inspiring to see people recognize their greatness and then act from it- it reminds me whats possible.
*As a small business owner, what achievements make you most proud?
I’m most proud of consistently extending my comfort zone and its always lead to awesome results when I have. First, leaving a very comfortable corporate life in Europe to repatriate to Toronto and start up a new business from scratch ( and to grow myself daily as a result). Second, starting before I felt totally ready- having the guts to make bold requests and pitch to big clients before I felt 110% ready. This year, its already led to running corporate training in the UK, leading workshops in San Francisco and planning a speaking tour in India.  I encourage myself to step over fear more often as its a huge part of being an entrepreneur.
*What advice would you give to other aspiring small business owners?
As Jim Rohn says” You are the average of the 5 people you hang around with most.”
Consciously seek out and develop your A Team- a  community of cheerleaders and supporters, accountability partners,  collaborators, mentors and employees. Invest in your own personal growth and development- I continually invest in coaching, online programs, attending conferences because I find people and resources to help me achieve my wildest goals. And community feels good!
*What new things can we look forward to from your business in the upcoming year?

I’m on a mission to help professionals see themselves differently and then kick up their communication style ( personal brand, presentation skills & leadership style) so that they can add value and achieve results- in business and life. I’m committed to taking this message globally and helping as many people take action as I possibly can. I’ll be running worskhops & webinars for small- large businesses to motivate their teams to take leadership to the next level and by early next year I’ll be heading to India to spread the message there too.

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Small Business Woman of the Month · Tagged: accountability partners, Australia, BA, branding, business development, Canada, Canadian Small Business Women, Champion Building, China, coach, Coach Training Institute, collaborators, community, Corporate Trainer, CTI, Ecolab, educate, employees, entrepreneur, ESADE Business School, GlaxoSmithKline, Honors Bachelor of Business Administration, Hungary, India, International MBA, Japan, Jim Rohn, Johnson & Johnson, Leadership Coach, MBA, mentors, Peking University, Personal Brand, Personal Branding Strategist, Pfizer, Powerful Presenting, presentation style, San Francisco, small business, small business development, Spain, strategic, Strategist, Switzerland, Tania, Tania DeSa, travel, WHO, Wilfred Laurier University, Wilfrid Laurier University, World Health Organization

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