In my previous post about press kits, I wrote that press releases are often the anchor of your publicity efforts. To help ensure your potent prose sees the light of day, be sure your releases conform to accepted format standards.

I dusted off one of my older releases to use as an example. First comes the release (and a plug for BoDo bud, Jeff Fisher’s, first book). Next, we’ll look at each element of a release. Get your release writing down and pretty soon you’ll be the media darling you were meant to be.

News Release

Contact:
Neil Tortorella
330.305.1554
[email address here]

December 6, 2004

For Immediate Release

Local Designer Featured in New Graphic Design Book

North Canton, OH: North Canton-based graphic designer, Neil Tortorella of Tortorella Design, is featured in the newly released book, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career, by Jeff Fisher.

The book includes advice on the building blocks of a graphic design career; education options; what designers have learned in the “school of hard knocks;” how to get more than your foot in the door in your quest for clients or a job and various aspects of dealing with clients on projects. Communication issues are covered in some detail, as are establishing a business persona and the nitty-gritty issues of business - pricing, contracts and more.

In addition to Tortorella, the volume also contains anecdotes and career lessons from designers Jack Anderson; Habib Bajrami; Milton Glaser; Art Chantry; Christopher Gee, Von Glitschka, Nigel Gordijk, Chuck Green; Nigel Holmes; Karen Larson, Morgan Mann, John McWade, Clement Mok; Jennifer Morla; Catherine Morley; Ellen Shapiro; Valarie Martin Stuart, Travis Tom; Peleg Top; Petrula Vrontikis and several other industry professionals.

Marketing and promotion is a major topic in the book. In addition, a number of designers relate major career obstacles and how they were overcome - or avoided in the future. There’s also information on doing pro bono work and getting involved in the design community. The book is full of industry-related quotes, business resources and materials to help designers be more successful as business people.

Published by HOW Design Books, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career can be found at most major booksellers both on and offline.

With over 30 years experience in graphic and web design, Neil’s primary focus is helping small businesses effectively communicate with their audiences. He is also the recipient of numerous awards for design excellence and cofounder of CreativeLatitude.com, a popular online resource for both creatives and clients. Tortorella Design’s web site can be found at www.tortorelladesign.com.

###

Let’s take this apart and look at each element.
————————-
Contact:
Neil Tortorella
330.305.1554
[email address]

This is your contact info and should appear at the top of the release. If an editor, reporter or writers has questions, you want them to be able to get in touch with you for clarification.

————————-
December 6, 2004

The date of the release.
————————-
Local Designer Featured in New Graphic Design Book

Here’s your headline. It should immediately tell the editor what the release is all about. This release went out to my local media contacts, so the headline focused on being local, rather than something overly witty.
————————-
North Canton, OH:
Insert the dateline at the beginning of the first paragraph. Ironically, the “dateline” isn’t a date at all. It’s the location of your office or where the news originated.

————————-
North Canton-based graphic designer, Neil Tortorella of Tortorella Design, is featured in the newly released book, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career, by Jeff Fisher.

Lead off with the most important information. Think of the body of your release as an inverted pyramid with less important information lower in the release. Editors tend to cut from the bottom.

When you’re drafting your release, put on your reporter hat. They want to know who, what where, when and why. They also love facts, so give them as many as you can.

————————-
[more] and/or ###

If your release is two or more pages, let the editor know by including [more] at the end of each page. Finally, close your release with either “-30-” or “###,” the customary symbols to say “That’s all folks.”

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of having a press kit to help immortalize your moniker in print. In this post, I’ll share the tasty ingredients for your kit.

The Cover Letter
This is a brief intro letter, typically one page, that tells the editor or reporter what the press kit is all about and that you’d be just pleased as punch to be interviewed or contacted for a quote when the right story come by.

It’s important to do your homework beforehand. Address your cover letter to a specific person and make sure to spell their name correctly. Check the publication for the right folks to send your material. It’s always a good idea to pick up the phone and call the publication for verification of the name, title and such.

Backgrounder
Here’s where you’ll be detailing what you and your business are all about. Some of the things you’ll be addressing are your company’s history, services/product offerings highlights, why the company exists and what it’s mission and goals are all about.

For independent professionals, you want to position yourself as an expert in your field. That means addressing your background along with your relevant education and experience. It might also contain your key topics such as branding, web design, corporate identity, etc.

Fact Sheet
This is a listing of key facts about the business. Reporters love facts, so make it easy for them. This may contain office locations, number of employees, number of awards won, etc. Some folks prefer to incorporate the facts sheet within the backgrounder.

Press Releases
Press releases are the anchor of your publicity efforts, so you’ll want to include a few of your most recent/most important releases. Be sure when writing releases that they conform to accepted format standards. I’ll be cover press release format standards in a future post.

Key Personnel Bios
In some instances, you can cover key bio in the backgrounder. In other cases, it makes more sense to create a “Bios” page. This is a couple of paragraphs about each key player in the business and may also include a photo. The bio should list the person’s title, key responsibilities, relevant education and experience.

Services/Products
This is a page or pages that outline your key services and/or products. Some companies will substitute this with a brochure. The main thing to remember here is focusing on benefits, not features. Lots of people get hung up with their offering’s bells and whistles, but that’s not usually what’s important to clients and readers. They want to know how what you offer will solve their problem, make their life easier, make them look good and such.

Press Reprints
Got press? Great! Make copies or order reprints from the publication. Editors are more likely to cover you and your business if another publication has already taken a chance on you. Reprints are also a good source of inspiration for writers to develop a story idea all about you. Give them all the ammo they need.

Photos
These can be key personnel photos, product images, and such. Perhaps you do speaking gigs. An in-action shot might be perfect to punctuate an article about you. Images can be hard copies or digital on a CD or DVD, but the latter is preferred since most publications are produced electronically now days. Make sure your images have enough resolution for print reproduction. The rule of thumb is 2x the line screen of the publication. For most magazines that means at least 300 dpi. Newspapers use a coarser screen so they can be 120 - 200 dpi. When in doubt, go higher. Images can go down in resolution, but not up.

And there you have it. Piece of cake. Yes? Putting together your press kits isn’t rocket science. It simply takes some time, diligence and planning.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt