The 3 Biggest Press Release Writing Mistakes You’re Probably Making
Press releases can be an integral part of your overall content marketing and brand building strategy. They can build awareness, grow your audience, boost your credibility, and so much more. However, as widely used as press releases are, companies still tend to make a few big mistakes. These three mistakes can reduce the impact of your press release.
#1 Not Asking if it’s Newsworthy
You’ve probably read this before; a press release has to be newsworthy to be effective. However, quite often a press release writer knows this and yet doesn’t stop to actually ask the question. You might assume that it is newsworthy because it seems important to you. However, the press release isn’t for you. It’s for the media and ultimately for your audience. So, you have to ask yourself:
Is the information timely? Is it current right now?
Does it matter to anyone? If so, does it matter to your audience?
If you can answer those questions with a resounding, “yes,” then the next questions to ask are “Why will they care? What makes this information special or unique to them?”
That is likely going to be your angle with the press release, and also when you pitch the information or story to the media. Who is going to care about the information and why will they care?
#2 Not Leveraging Social Media
The most effective press releases also embrace social media functionality. That means that not only do you share your social media page URL or contact information in the press release, you also integrate social media buttons. These buttons can support a reader to tweet, like, share, and otherwise engage with you on social media. This helps bring a wider audience to your press release.
Both the media and your audience, are on social media. So, in addition to useful buttons that support interaction, don’t forget about things like #hashtags and keywords to help your audience find your information. If you’re not leveraging social media in your press release marketing efforts, you may be missing out on a potential return on your investment.
#3 Not Taking Advantage of Visuals
It’s been shown that the media responds more favorably to press releases that contain video. After that, they respond more favorably to press releases that contain images. Visuals help brand your business, and they can help communicate and clarify or expand on the information in your press release. Additionally, if you’re sharing your release on social media, then consider making your visuals sharable on social media as well. It helps widen your reach and supports you to achieve the goals you’ve set for your release.
Fortunately, these three common mistakes are easy to avoid. Start making sure that each release really is newsworthy, then take your press release up a notch and start taking advantage of social media and the power of images. Track your results. You’ll likely find a much higher return on investment.
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