Now we\u2019ve got your attention, let us help you have the same impact with journalists. Check out our top 10 most-common mistakes we see here at Pressat, mistakes that can so easily be avoided!<\/p>\n
You never get a second chance to make a first impression \u2013 so make it count! Did you know that 90% of an advert rests on its headline? The same applies\u00a0with a PR. If you want a journalist to take notice, you need to nail the subject line. Journalists delete most of the emails they receive without even reading them, so you need to make sure you catch their eye.<\/p>\n
Why would I open a press release titled \u2018BFN Solutions has just partnered with TSB Logistics to deliver an increase in benefits to customers\u2019<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t sound like anything of interest. Make your subject lines catchy and interesting in 5\u201310 words.<\/strong> Journalists are humans like the rest of us, prone to be taken in by a hook. You wouldn\u2019t start an advert like that; don\u2019t do it here either.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got your headline sorted but follow it up with a confused opening paragraph, journalists will be inclined to add it to their trash bin. Their time is short, so they want to process information quickly to assess whether they can use it. Make sure your opening paragraph is clear<\/strong>, easy to read and contains all the most important points about what\u2019s in your press release.<\/p>\n We just mentioned that your opening paragraph needs to be clear, but of course this applies all the way through your press release too. Don\u2019t use fancy words where none are needed<\/strong>. Don\u2019t make sentences exceedingly long when they could be broken up. Where possible, do give them short soundbites that are easy to digest.<\/p>\n If your press release is longer than 1,000 words, something is seriously wrong!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A picture paints a thousand words, so send high-quality images, or no images at all. Ten 25MB high-res pictures paint more words than the journalist has time to bother with. Make journalists\u2019 lives easy for them<\/strong>: two or three pictures that are high-res but saved for web should be all that\u2019s needed. Just make sure the pictures you do send illustrate your point well and capture what you\u2019re saying. They should look great too!<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to provide captions telling who or what is in each picture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Simply put, proofread what you send. We\u2019re happy to make any changes to your press release once it\u2019s been published, but we suggest you get a friend, a colleague or even our copy-proofing add-on to minimise any errors that will undoubtedly put off journalists.<\/p>\n Your press release doesn\u2019t need to have all the drama of a Hollywood blockbuster<\/strong> (although that would be sweet), but it does need to appeal to core senses, as journalists want to write articles people will actually read. Make sure the hook triggers a key emotion \u2013 happy, surprised, afraid, disgusted, angry, sad \u2013 and it will reel the journalist in, as long as it\u2019s accurate, that is!<\/p>\n It\u2019s such a rookie error, but it\u2019s done more times than you can imagine. If the journalist likes what they read, there\u2019s every chance they may want to contact you to dig deeper into the story. They may even want to do much bigger coverage on you than you originally envisaged, but you\u2019ll never know if you don\u2019t give them an easy way to instantly talk to you, the human being.<\/p>\n Always make sure to include your number.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So the journalist has contacted you \u2013 great! It means they\u2019re interested, but they won\u2019t be forever. They\u2019ve got hundreds of other stories vying for their attention, so if you dilly-dally in replying, they may have found another fish to fry. Strike while the iron is hot and get back to them ASAP making sure to clearly answer any questions they may have.<\/p>\n Vegan Weekly will not be interested in a press release on the new steakhouse you\u2019ve just opened<\/strong>. Make sure you do your research to ensure that the publications you\u2019re approaching write stories about the types of thing in your press release, otherwise it\u2019s just a big fat waste of your time and theirs.<\/p>\n So when creating your campaign on Pressat, remember to select only the relevant categories, choose only the related add-on circuits and, if required, make our editors aware of any story-specific ideas or constraints.<\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t believe the number of people who \u2018leave the office\u2019 seconds after sending out a press release. Please stick around to answer any urgent questions a journalist may have, or, if you really do have to get to the doctor, barber, dentist<\/strong> or whatever, leave the details of a colleague.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now we\u2019ve got your attention, let us help you have the same impact with journalists. Check out our top 10 most-common mistakes we see here at Pressat, mistakes that can so easily be avoided! A banal or confusing subject line You never get a second chance to make a first impression \u2013 so make it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":745,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressat.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A badly structured opening paragraph<\/h2>\n
Unnecessarily complicated text<\/h2>\n
Poor-quality images<\/h2>\n
Spelling or grammar mistakes and typos<\/h2>\n
No hook or story<\/h2>\n
No phone number!<\/h2>\n
Delays in answering queries<\/h2>\n
Not scoping out the publication<\/h2>\n
Out of office<\/h2>\n