When To Use A Press Release

After two grueling years, you finally finished and self published your book. How will anyone find out about it?

Your volunteer organization needs more volunteers to attend the annual beach clean-up Saturday. How to do you get the word out to everyone in the community when you don’t have any budget for advertising?

You are opening a brand new office in a different part of the City. You would like to invite the community for a grand opening celebration, but you don’t have the lead time to prepare proper advertising. How do you invite the community to your grand opening?

The most cost effective and efficient ways to communicate with the general public is through newspapers, magazines, radio and television. How will the media receive the information so it can be published? They receive Press Releases from individuals, companies, non-profits and government agencies.

The Press Release is not a communication piece that is reserved only for elite, rich or prominent individuals and companies. It is available to everyone and anyone who wants the media to receive newsworthy information.

Press releases written about a person, new product announcements, personnel changes or new services can put your name in front of vast audiences. It is the perfect marketing tool for receiving FREE publicity.

It is very effective when you want to announce:nn« New product or service (like your new book)n« An important date for the community calendar (like your Saturday clean-up)n« The opening of a new physical building location or a new branch office (like the opening of your new office)n« Launching the design of a new web siten« Dates for workshops or seminarsn« Running for office for a civic or business organizationn« New business partnerships or strategic business alliances

Here's an example where TWO Press Releases are effective. First, you send out the Press Release regarding your new book. The press release is picked up by the New York Times. Diane Sawyer sees the article, reads your book and invites you to be interviewed on Good Morning America on November 30th at 8:00 AM EST. Now, you want to make sure that your local paper knows that you are going to be interviewed as well as other magazines, etc. You would use a second Press Release to announce you are going to appear on Good Morning America and interviewed by Diane Sawyer on November 30th at 8:00 AM EST.

As you can see from this abbreviated list and this example, the Press Release should be used to communicate to the media any information that you think others would be interested in reading or hearing about.