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Lisa Duty is known to other HOW Forum members as "Halftone Dot," Dot's Market came about after a rather lengthy forum discussion of a company which sells cheap logos. From the posts, it became quite clear that this cheap logo shop is mastering their marketing program. What Lisa noticed was that the cheap logo company isn't using any special means to market that isn't readily available to any graphic designer running his or her own business. The cheap logo company is just working their process.

Listening to the frustrated designers, Lisa became convinced that it was time to share marketing information. Lisa is a one-person marketing and graphic design department for a two-office services-based firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Her company grew by more than one third in the first quarter that her marketing process was launched.

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Welcome! You have entered Dot's Market. This is the fifth article in the series.

If you own a service-based business, then you need to shop at Dot's Market. We offer a unique series of articles designed to help you learn how to create and implement a marketing process into your strategic business plan. No former marketing training is required!  'Cam' ben the hoose!

Download a pdf version of this article.

For more of Dot's market, visit Dot's index.
#5) Peter Piper Penned a Painless Press Release
By Lisa Duty, Proprietor

Raise your hand if you have ever felt pressure over having to write a press release. How much pain did writing it cause you? If you find yourself procrastinating sending out press releases, then chances are no one has ever told you the secret.

So, come closer…closer…closer, for I am going to whisper it to you now. Press releases are formulaic. They are so cookie-cutter that writing them is as easy as taking that pre-made roll of cookie dough, slicing it and baking it. Really!

By nature, they have to be this way. As we have discussed, news outlets have so many things vying for their attention that it is helpful to them to be able to quickly scan your release to glean the pertinent information. We all enjoy our favorite cookies. Many releases get pitched just because they do not use the right recipe. Therefore, if your information is written using a familiar structure you can almost guarantee that your release will be snapped up and won’t be pitched in the trash immediately.

Here are your ingredients:

1) Recognize that what a press release is
  • A press release is an announcement that must have news value and it must be accurate.
2) Know your audience
  • It is important to target news outlets just as you target clients
3) Select your format
  • Traditional/Formal
  • Non-Traditional/Less Formal
Some news outlets enjoy cookies which are more traditional or standard-recipe. They value more formally written press releases. Others, because of the nature of their readers, viewers or listeners are attracted to more exotic cookies and they don’t mind a little more creativity. I am providing two examples of press releases in the pdf version of this article. The first one is designed for a more traditional news outlet and contains many of the components you see discussed in articles about writing press releases. The second one is non-traditional as it is written for the creative industry where visual effects and a more creative writing style is appreciated. I’d also like to thank Maria G. and Von of Bad Design Kills for giving me permission to use their press release as an example. You are welcome to use either one as a guide for creating your press release templates.

For more information on writing releases visit Wikipedia and browse the external links section of the press release page.

© Copyright 2005 Lisa Duty

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