Source: The John A. Hartford Foundation blog

And the thing is, a press release that gets at least some media attention isn’t that hard to do. Don’t waste your time, or a busy underpaid journalist’s, on a press release that goes nowhere – do it once, do it right.

It needs to be newsworthy

Sounds obvious, but in a former life as a student news editor I was on a bunch of media mailing lists and regularly got sent Grampa Simpson-esque ramblings from interest groups with nothing newsworthy to say.

Think about whether your piece of news is something the general public would actually want to read. That might be something like merging with another company, hiring someone high-profile for your management team, launching a useful new product, or releasing surprising results from some research. Don’t use it as a marketing channel – if you’re about to launch a Facebook page, for instance, or a sale, that’s more something for your newsletter or some other form of direct marketing. Think very carefully about what you’re trying to tell people, who those people are, and why they might be interested.

State your point immediately

Journalists are busy. Press releases swarm into their inboxes. So get to the point. Start off with your piece of news. Too many press releases begin with background information about the company and take too long to ‘warm up’. It can help to first write your press release as a series of bullet points, and list the things you want to say in order of importance. Then you know that the good stuff is always at the top and they won’t think “too hard, delete” before actually getting to your message.

Think like the common people

Don’t ever use jargon. If you’ve ever had to ask what a term means, don’t use it. If it’s unavoidable, make sure you add an explanation in simple terms that your grandmother would understand.

Keep it short

Try and keep it to a page or less. Cover the important points, and if they want more information, they’ll ask for it. Don’t make them comb through three pages to tease out the interesting bits, even if your story is world-changing.

Pretend you’re a journalist

Write your press release like it’s already a news article. It gives less of a sense that it’s marketing guff, and more a sense that it’s a serious piece of news. So don’t say ‘we’, say your company’s name. Don’t refer to people by their first names, use ‘Mr Jones’, just as they would in an article. And never say “X company is excited/delighted to announce…” – nobody cares how your company feels about the announcement, just announce it. (And anyway, can a company be delighted?) The fact that you want to tell people already implies that you care. If you must state your joy at whatever it is, get a human to do it. Which brings us to the next point…

Use quotes

Journalists love quotes. Journalists need quotes. How much more readable is your press release with a nice quote from your CEO? It goes back to making your press release look like a news article; you’ll never see a news article that doesn’t contain quotes, so your press release should have them, too. Make it easy for journalists to use your press release; good, relevant quotes are something they can easily use without having to play phone tag with your CEO’s secretary. And if you’re writing a press release for your organisation and finding it hard to pin them down for quotes, think about what they’d say on the subject and write some quotes for them. Your writing will flow much better. But just don’t forget to get their sign-off before you send it out!

Make it quick and easy for them to get extra information

Give plenty of contact details at the end. Don’t just give an email address – give two phone numbers. Nobody likes to be minutes from deadline and wondering if they’ll get an email reply. And make sure anyone whose phone number is on the press release knows about it, so they can answer their phone if a journalist calls.

Know the difference between a press release and a media advisory

Sometimes, you don’t even need to send a full-blown press release. This is especially true if your organisation is one that would typically send a lot of stories to media. A media advisory is ideal for something you’re not expecting to get huge coverage for, maybe just a photo and a short write-up. That could be things like exhibition openings and minor product launches. In that case, you can just give a quick what-who-when-where in the body of an email. Just label your subject line something like ‘Media Advisory: Launch of ABC Company’s new product, 8 March’. Save your press releases for the really important news.

Now here’s something for you to do.

Get out the last press release you sent. Read through these tips, then re-write it. See how much better it is? Press releases aren’t a hard type of writing, they’re just a matter of knowing some basics. They’re a great way of getting your name out there – if you make them work for you.

They’re in a competitive industry that requires a lot of trust on the part of clients, so it was important to show potential clients the benefits of choosing an LV Park home (they can charge less, because they do a lot in-house that other building companies outsource) while removing any obstacles to buying (affordable doesn’t mean cheap!).

Compared to a lot of languages, English is pretty standard among native speakers – sure, there are different accents, and some words are different, and the spelling varies – but the differences between, say, New Zealand English and American English aren’t as pronounced as some versions of languages such as German.

But it is important to get it right when you’re copywriting for audiences other than your own. The last thing you want is for the business you’re writing for to come across as being not quite up with the play among their own target market.

British English is easy for me. New Zealand English is often a bit of a hybrid between British and American (the spelling is the same as British, but American words have a tendency to creep in), but is closest to British in terms of spelling and most grammar. As well, I was brought up by British parents, with a British extended family, and have lived in England twice, so that makes it easy for me!

As for working for US-based clients, that’s a bit more challenging. I have to be careful with spelling words like colour/color, and choosing words like sidewalk/pavement and holiday/vacation. But it’s not that hard. Set the spell checker to US English and that takes care of most of the spelling; as for the tone, I read it through (silently) in an American accent to check that nothing feels wrong. An American copywriter once asked me what my internal American accent sounded like; I think he was imagining a cowboy-style drawl. It’s not as interesting as that, just the standard American accent that’s typically used in movies and the rest of the media.

That said, I’ve found that US-based clients are pretty understanding about the odd little mistake, given that they know full well they’re working with a Kiwi.

And if in doubt, I’ll pull up a competitor’s website from the same country to make sure it doesn’t sound just plain wrong.

We wanted the copy to work with the overall feel of the website while maintaining a personal touch, because choosing a wedding photographer is one of those highly emotional decisions, so it’s important their clients know who they’ll be working with and what they can expect.

That’s why we had some fun with the About page, which can often be a bit boring. But here we had Catherine and Paul write fun little facts about each other aside from the usual About page fodder, and it really works to give potential customers a feel for who’ll be creating the lasting record of the most important day of their life.

Copywriting is similar. I can’t count the number of times someone’s said to me that they want a website/brochure and then made me guess what they want by reading my draft and saying something like, “it’s not bad but it still needs more zing.” All that achieves is that I don’t feel like I’m doing a good job by them, they don’t get what they want (usually because they don’t know what they want “but I’ll know when I see it”), and if they’ve chosen an hourly rate, it costs them more.

I decided some time ago that there had to be a better way. So now I send a briefing form, which covers everything I want to know. It’s also great for forcing the potential client to have a think about what they’re trying to achieve, which makes the process go much more smoothly and vastly improves the end result.

These are some of the things I like to know:

- What’s your objective? What are you trying to achieve? Do you want to get sales, get business leads, provide information, or something else? What do you want them to do?
- Who’s your audience? You can’t just say ‘anyone’ – nobody is all things to all people. Is it men, women, business owners, mothers, health food fanatics, wealthy labradoodle owners in Michigan, who?
- What are your unique selling points? Why should they buy from you above all others?
- What’s your brand personality? Here’s where I like to see existing material, such as brochures and newsletters you’ve already used. That way I can get a handle on how you already present your business.
- Why might people not want to buy from you? Is your product in a new niche? Is it expensive? It’s important to know what people’s buying objections might be so you can allay their worries.

These are all things to think about before you call in a copywriter. The more your copywriter knows, the better response you’ll get from your market.

Trouble is, it’s actually our neighbours who are selling. It’s easy to see how the mistake happened; we’re number 7 and our neighbours are 7A, the property having been subdivided sometime in the ’80s. But if you’re going to market directly to those who are likely to need your services sometime in the near future – and if not, then why? – it’s worth double-checking to make sure it’s going to the right potential customer.

Otherwise, it might instead end up with someone who just writes a blog post mocking your mistake.

I’ve said this for years. Poor writing and spelling detracts from the overall professionalism and credibility of your site, and no matter how good the design, how snazzy the HTML5, how clever the SEO, you will be judged on the site’s copy. Because that’s what people engage with the most, what they use to guide them around the site and make that all-important decision to book an appointment or draw out their credit card. Even if they don’t realise it.

Which is why people like me are around. Rule number one: if you don’t trust yourself more than your spellchecker (and you shouldn’t trust the spellchecker), look for a copywriter.

When I first started the challenge on 1 January, I was sure I’d get bored and give up sometime around March at the latest. But I’ve made it halfway through now, and not only have I not missed a day (though there have been a few close calls!), I’m having more fun with it than when I started, and I’m seeing the improvement in my photography skills.

At the start, I was very much a point-and-shoot, centre-your-subject ‘oh, that’ll do’ photographer. Slowly, though, I’m learning some of the rules of composition and how to look at things in a more interesting way. I expected to take a whole lot of photos of my cat: there have probably been more than I’d like, but of the last 180 days only four have been of him (and only five more are of other furry mammals). I’m also slowly getting to grips with Lightroom and Photoshop, which has been a bigger challenge than taking the photos themselves – the photos are the easy part.

It is a pain in the butt some days, especially because I work from home so often have days where I don’t go anywhere, and it’s pretty obvious which ones are of the oh-crap-I-forgot variety. That’s something I’ve learned: you get better results if you take your time and consider it carefully rather than quickly get it done because you’re out of time, which equally applies to copywriting (and just about anything else).

I’m keen to see how I go for the second half. It helps that my partner has upgraded his camera so I have full use of a Nikon DSLR, a big upgrade from my Fujifilm point-and-shoot, and a whole new learning curve.

Sometimes I think we expect to be great at something immediately. I know I do. This is a good reminder that that doesn’t usually happen, but incremental improvement will happen if you keep at it, and it’s nice to have visual proof of that.

Sure, we could have just cleaned up the office. But with the state it was in, it was just as easy to take out almost all the furniture and start again. And it means:
- The scanner and the printer aren’t a dumping ground for notes and papers I plan to deal with later: my filing boxes are right next to me
- We no longer have to point the stereo remote under the desk to get at the other table it was on
- We have wall space for a whiteboard
- If I need to scoot round to look at something on Matt’s monitor, I can get my chair round without it getting stuck
- I’m tucked away in a nice little corner, which I love
- The floor is no longer littered with receipts and general detritus
- I don’t have to sweep stuff out of the way to put my coffee cup down
- I don’t get the glare of the window behind me because I’ve moved over half a metre
- Thanks to the glorious invention that is the cable tidy, I don’t have cables covering my workspace
- The room itself feels bigger and less cramped.

The upshot of this is that this week I’ve come back to work with a bit more motivation. It’s like having had a break and coming back with renewed vigour, and having made more efficient use of our space means that I feel more able and inclined to make more efficient use of my time.

The best part: we managed to keep our cat’s favourite sleeping spot intact. So it’s win-win for everyone – though he’s still looking askance at the new space and I don’t think he agrees.