In baseball, it's said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence.  If he's doing his job, he won't call attention to himself in any way. It's much the same for the
writer of a press release. When the recipient of a release focuses only on its content -- and not on its creation -- the writer has succeeded.  With that in mind, here's 5 Commandments of Press Releases:

1. Thou Shalt Be Professional. No goofy fonts, rainbow paper or silly gimmicks. Even lighthearted press releases represent a communication between one professional and another.

2. Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional. If you can't get enough objective distance from your company to write a press release that's not filled with hype and puffery, hire someone to write it
for you.

3. Thou Shalt Not Be Boring. Even the driest subject matter allows for some sparks of creativity. People like knowing that there's a human being communicating with them, not some corporate robot.

4. Thou Shalt Think Visually. A press release is more than words -- it's a visual document that will first be assessed by how it looks.

I'm referring to more than font size or letterhead. I'm talking about the actual layout of the words. Whether received by mail, fax or e-mail, a journalist -- often unconsciously -- will make
decisions about whether to read the release based on how the release is laid out. Big blocks of text and long paragraphs are daunting and uninviting. Short paragraphs and sentences make for a much more visually inviting look.

5. Thou Shalt Tell A Story. How to arrange the facts of a hard news release is pretty much cut and dried.  The old "who, what, when, where and how" concepts still hold.

Cindy McAsey | Phone:888.272.6701 Barefoot Marketing System Best Web Conferencing Service