Three Tips on Writing a Press Release Written by Ned Steele
Use journalistic styleReporters are busy. Just like you. So when you write anything for media, be concise and tight. Short, simple, sentences. Lively. Ridiculously short. Even if they seem to violate those fourth-grade grammar rules about complete sentences. Save big, sophisticated words for impressing old English teachers at school reunions. To get free publicity from media, use common words. It’s OK. Trust me. It’s how they write. It’s what they want. Shows ‘em you understand their jobs. Keep everything short. Not just sentences. The whole press release should be short – one page, or two at most. Honest. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, one of this nation's enduring literary masterpieces, is only 278 words. Surely you can entice a reporter's attention with less than 400 words, which is about one page.
| | Marketing-Minded Financial Planners, Join Your Professional Organization to Get Free PublicityWritten by Ned Steele
Unlike some professionals like lawyers and doctors, financial planners aren't required to be members of a professional association. However, if you want to take advantage of a great way to get free publicity, you marketing-minding financial professionals will join an association like Financial Planning Association or Society of Financial Service Professionals.Get active first in your local chapter, then nationally. Being active in a professional association is number one way for a financial planner to get media coverage. When media folks need experts, they often go straight to associations for help. This is a particularly popular tactic among local newspaper or television reporters who want a local person to comment on a national story. Has stock market had a huge rally? They'll want a local stock-picker to share their thoughts, not a New York City brokerage chief. That's when a reporter will call association.
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