Writing A Powerful E-mail Press Release
By John Karnish, Sat Dec 10th

Press Releases are a great source of publicity for your businessand often attract more buyers than traditional, paidadvertising. However a lot of people are confused when it comesto sending out publicity releases, so here are some things youshould know.

You should always remember that the main objective is to seekpublicity for your business. You never should send out a salesletter. That's not what a release is for and you'll never getpublished. Always target the person to whom you send yourrelease. Sending out releases isn't a numbers game. The moretargeted a contact is to your release, the more likely they willpublish it.

Once you find a media source that would be interested in yourpublicity release, then you want to find which editor is thebest for your purpose. Don't send it to a managing editor, youwant to send it to a contact that is related to your release.

When you send a release, always personalize it. "Dear Editor'sname,". Use their title, "Being the Sports Editor for..." Alsouse their field of interest if it's known. "Being the SportsEditor for the (New England Chronicle) and an avid soccerfan..."

There are two, general ways of sending out a press release bye-mail. Both have good and bad qualities. Some editors preferthat you send them a short e-mail, "briefly" describing yourrelease and asking permission to send it. This will prevent aneditor from asking to be removed, which would end any futurecontact with him.

The second way is to make absolutely sure he would be interestedin your release and just send it out. The advantage of goingthis way is neither of you is wasting time by asking permissionand granting it. It's up to you. I suggest you try and see howeach one works for you and choose the better of the two.Whichever strategy you use always honor an editor's request tobe "removed."

Try to keep you release short; e-mail releases are recommendedto be only three paragraphs. Many editors will receive a hundredor more releases a day, so you have to get his attention in avery short amount of time.

Catch their attention in the first paragraph, the main focus ofyour release in the second and your contact information in thethird.

You don't want to give your whole story in the press release,you want them to contact your for more information. The nicething about the internet is that you can make this informationdirectly available by using a webpage or an autoresponder.

List all of the information they'd be interested in. Think ofsome questions that an editor would

probably ask you in aninterview and provide the answers. Write down all of thespecifics of your story. You might want to list your credentialsor company history too. Whenever you list a contact number,always leave a number where you can be reached. Editors don'thave a lot of time and they're not going to go out of their wayto get in touch with you.

When thinking of ideas for a release, one good way of gettingnoticed is by tying yourself in with recent news stories.Another idea is just to make a bold claim, "that you can live upto." You'll find that lots of people will give you publicity, totry to prove you wrong. For example "New York stock broker sayhe can make anyone a millionaire." Just remember that you shouldbe able to stand behind your claims.

Format of a Press Release

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" should be written in top, left corner.If your information needs to be printed on or before a certaindate, you would write something like: "FOR RELEASE AFTER MARCH27" or "FOR RELEASE BEFORE CHRISTMAS." These would also go inthe upper, left-hand corner.

Skip two lines and type "CONTACT:" Then list your contactinformation. Skip two lines and type your headline. Make sureyour spend some time here because this is what will determine ifyour release gets read or shred. (=

The first paragraph begins with the dateline. Here's an example:(New York, NY - October 9, 2000) - Then. skip a space after thedash and write your first sentence. The first paragraph of yourrelease should be a few sentences that concisely summarize thecontent without much specific detail. Remember to answer thebasic questions who, what, where, when, why and how. Pay specialattention to the first paragraph because it's here that you haveto convince the editor that your release is worth reading andprinting. Be sure to make this clear. Why should her readers beinterested? How will it affect their life? What are thebenefits?

The second paragraph, you want to go into a little more detailand add some quotes. Remember to establish yourself as anexpert. Don't say "Tom Jones says," say "Tom Jones, webmasterfor Kidco.com and prominent author says..."

In the third paragraph, you want to persuade the editor to seekmore information. You can have them visit your web site or apre-made webpage, send a message to an autoresponder, call youetc. At the end of your press release, you want to skip a spaceand end with three, centered number signs. "###"

About the author:John Karnish of the Internet Marketing Professional website.Visit his site for a QUICK And EASY Way To Build A ProfitableBusiness On The Internet. Start Today! Visit:http://internet-marketingpro.com