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Public Relations (PR) should be a component of most any company’s marketing plan. Many companies overlook PR, perhaps because they don’t know how to pursue the press, or perhaps because they don’t think they are newsworthy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however (and good writing certainly can play a role in making the beholden more beautiful).

While the press you get from PR is free, the PR effort itself is not free. It’s either going to cost you time or money (to buy someone else’s time). But PR is valuable because the press is a disinterested, and thus trustworthy, source of information for many people. What the press says about you is taken much more at face value than what your ads say about you.

How to Write a Press Release lists a whole bunch of different activities and events which could warrant a press release. Some of my tips on the actual composition of the release:

• You need a great headline. It has to leap off the page and make the reader want to read more.
• Get to the point fast. Writers are busy, and don’t have time for your life’s story.
• Spell check. You are writing for an audience of professional writers. Don’t insult them with typos and misspellings.
• Keep it brief. One page should be adequate in most all instances.
• Provide your contact info, so someone can reach you to ask more questions if they wish.
• Post the release on your website. You went to all the trouble to write it, get it up on your site– you build out your site content, and also provide more info for all of your visitors.