SMASHING THE MYTH OF THE PRESS RELEASE

Written by Bill Stoller, Publisher, PublicityInsider.com


SMASHING THE MYTH OF THE PRESS RELEASE

by Bill Stoller Founder, PublicityInsider.com

A musician spends years honing his craft. He writes world-class songs and performs them in a manner that moves his listeners to tears. He records a demo tape and sends it to record labels. He gets a contract and becomes rich, famous and adored.

The lesson: demo tapes arerepparttar secret of becoming a famous musician.

Wait, you say,repparttar 101055 demo tape was just a tool, just his way of conveying his talent. It's his ability as a musician that got himrepparttar 101056 contract and made him famous.

You're right, of course. He could have become just as famous if a record executive saw him in person, or heard about him from a friend, or as a result of a variety of other events.

Which brings us torepparttar 101057 press release.

Somehow,repparttar 101058 press release has taken on a magical reputation asrepparttar 101059 alpha and omega of publicity. Wanna become rich? Send out a press release. Wanna become famous? Press release. Wanna get onrepparttar 101060 cover of Newsweek? Press release.

Publicity "gurus" are springing up all overrepparttar 101061 Internet toutingrepparttar 101062 press release asrepparttar 101063 answer to all marketing ills. Just knock out a release, mass e-mail it to journalists, sit back and wait for Oprah to call.

It's a cruel joke.

Here'srepparttar 101064 reality:repparttar 101065 press release is no more important to your potential of scoring free publicity thanrepparttar 101066 demo tape was to our musician friend. If he had no talent, if his songs sounded like garbage,repparttar 101067 best recorded demo tape inrepparttar 101068 world wouldn't get him signed. Ditto forrepparttar 101069 publicity seeker. If you don't have a story to tell, your press release is utterly worthless.

I'm not knockingrepparttar 101070 press release -- it's an important tool. But it's just that: a tool. It's notrepparttar 101071 first thing you need to think about when it comes time to seek publicity. In fact, it's one ofrepparttar 101072 last. And it's not even absolutely necessary (I've gotten plenty of publicity with just a pitch letter, a quick e- mail or a phone call).

If you worship atrepparttar 101073 shrine ofrepparttar 101074 press release, it's time to rearrange your priorities. Here, then, arerepparttar 101075 things that are MORE important than a press release in generating publicity:

"Tag, You're It !"

Written by Larry Johnson


"Tag, You're It !" By Larry Johnson Biz Site Biz E-Zine

Some call them "tag lines"; others refer to them as "catch lines" or "tie-in-slogans." Whateverrepparttar words used to refer to them, they are perhapsrepparttar 101054 most important part of your promotional writing.

Do you recognize any of these ? :

"Like a rock..." "Flyrepparttar 101055 friendly skies..." "It'srepparttar 101056 real thing !" "Quality is job number one" "The quicker-picker-upper"

Most of those tag lines are recognizable by us without even includingrepparttar 101057 name ofrepparttar 101058 company or product.

They summarize in a very few wordsrepparttar 101059 essence ofrepparttar 101060 thing they are promoting. They communicate a good, positive feeling or relationship torepparttar 101061 product. They do it with a simple, memorable phrase that is easily repeated.

The shorterrepparttar 101062 description is,repparttar 101063 more challenging it is to write. Anyone can write a 500-word description of a product or service. Now try doing it with 5 to 10 words ! Each word you choose is very important torepparttar 101064 message.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS for writing good taglines for your business offer.

1) Start by noticing ads on billboards as you drive downrepparttar 101065 road. Billboard advertisers have but a couple of seconds to grab your attention and sell their product or service. Usually their copy is going to be a very good tagline with a picture ofrepparttar 101066 product or service. These are great examples of how to write effective taglines.

2) Notice other media forms like magazine and newspaper display ads, business cards, brief radio and TV commercials. Observerepparttar 101067 thing that caught your attention and makesrepparttar 101068 message easily remembered. It's usually a concise and well-written tagline.

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