Press releases may seem like a dying art, but they can be your best tool for attracting attention.

Reality: Many editors and writers rely on press releases to know what businesses are doing, as well as to save on time spent searching for information about a company’s newest initiatives, explains Meryl K. Evans, a publicity and client-management expert.

Problem: Many releases end up in people’s junk mail filters or trash folders. This is because the company’s publicity team sends their releases to everyone with a remote connection to a broad topic. For instance, a software firm sends its releases to every outlet with software in its title or that has covered software in the past.

Because the firm continues to send releases that aren’t relevant to most editors and writers, the firm’s innovation may go unnoticed by a news program’s or magazine’s audience — losing key business for the firm, Evans notes.

Better: Your publicity team must study your industry and learn what editors are looking for. Were your competitors covered in a recent article? What did they offer that you didn’t? Then your staff can cater their releases for better placement, she says.

Now that your staffers understand both what new services you’re offering and how to frame those services in a way that makes people take notice, ask them to note these general release-writing rules so that your products and services get the coverage they deserve:

• Don’t exaggerate your service’s or product’s value. Positive, opinionated, and descriptive words (like great, excellent, high quality, best) look good on paper, but editors and writers want to know why the product is so wonderful. “We know you think a lot of your product or service, but we’re not going to believe it because we know you’re biased,” Evans points out. Better: Ask your staff to make a list of why the product is meaningful or important for those in your industry. Then write out how the new feature will change their lives or make things easier. Your marketing team can use those notes to script an effective release.
• Use quotes to add meaning. Your CEO or newest customer may have given you a great quote, but that doesn’t mean it needs to go in every press release. Try this: Ask yourself “how does this quote enrich the material or help readers better understand our service?” If you don’t have an answer for either question then you should leave the quote out.
• Get to the point. You have only a limited amount of time to grab readers’ attention, so you must get to the point in the title and the first sentence. If readers don’t know right away what the release is about, they’ll quickly delete it.
• Send news when it’s appropriate. You may want your company to stay in the news, but that doesn’t mean you should send out releases about every personnel or partnership change. You should schedule releases so that big news hits editors’ inboxes every other week to avoid information overload.
• Use language anyone can understand. Jargon and professional terms may signal that you know what you’re talking about, but you may lose readers who aren’t as technically skilled. Good idea: Feel free to add technical jargon to releases that will go to technical publications, but strip those terms from the releases you’ll send to general media outlets.
• Format your releases for easy reading. Your releases will most likely be read by email, so you should use formatting tools that help editors find the information they need. Examples: You can bold headers, add bullets, and use white space to highlight valuable information. Also, readers will appreciate having a clear synopsis at the beginning of long press releases so that they know the gist of your information straight away.
• Include more than just head shots. Most press releases come with the standard head shot, but editors and readers will be more impressed by photos of your product or service in action. Try this: Take a picture of your staffers using the new product or of a customer learning about your new feature. This will help editors determine your press release’s significance, as well as possibly grant you — and your photo — better placement.

Filed under: Customer Service Corner