Using using email to send press releases to editors can save you considerable time and
money. One click and your release can be on its way to dozens of editors.
But sending a release in email doesn't equate with getting it published - or even
read! One click of the mouse is all it takes for each editor or writer on
your mailing list to delete the release, often without opening your email
at all.
What can you do to
give your email press releases a better chance of getting read? Here,
based on blunders I see frequently in press releases emailed to
BusinessKnowHow.com, are
six press release sins to avoid.
What was being
promoted was an alternative to traditional fax transmissions. An
interesting subject, to be sure. But all this release did was to conjure
up images of irate editors smashing their fax machines with sledge hammers
to stop them from spitting out mindless press releases and ads. So the
headline got copied into my all-time funnies file, and the release got
moved into Outlook's Deleted Items folder.
3. CC List Follies
Nothing is more annoying to a busy editor than opening an email and
seeing dozens of email addresses including their own on the addressee
list. Yes, editors realize that unless something is promoted personally
to them as an exclusive, other editors will get the same release. But
why remind them. An added reason not to CC a list of email names:
most people don't want their email addresses widely distributed. To
avoid annoying writers and editors learn how to use the blind copy
function in email.
4. $$$$!!!!!
Madness
Repeating dollar signs and exclamation marks in your subject line or
text makes your press release look like an opportunity scam. It may make
your press release get blocked by spam filters, too. If you want
editors to receive your news release and take it seriously, ditch that
dollar signs and exclamation points and
replace the hype with persuasive facts.
5. Press Release
Spam
While it may not cost you any extra money to personally email press releases to
editors that never run stories on the topic of your release, it could get
your email account marked as one that sends spam. That might cause
all email you send to get moved to spam folders.
6. Fatal
Attachments
The fastest way to make your press release hit the recycle bin is to
send it as attached mail. Attachments take more time to read since
they require the editor to save the file to disk, switch to a word
processing program and hunt for the directory the file was saved into
before they can see what the release is all about. What's worse is that
attachments can carry viruses, password sniffers or trojans. Editors and
writers usually will not open such mail from strangers. Often, they won't
open attachments from people they know, either, without being told in
advance that they are going to be sent something as an attachment.
The Key to
Success
Once you've eliminated these fatal flaws, your email press releases
will at least stand a chance of getting read. If you target your press
releases to editors and writers who regularly write about the subject of
your release, and write the releases with the media's audience in mind,
you are much more likely to get the publicity you seek.
Copyright 2010, Attard Communications, Inc.
About the author
Janet Attard is the founder of
the award-winning Business
Know-How small business web site and information resource. Janet is
also the author of The
Home Office And Small Business Answer Book and of Business
Know-How: An Operational Guide For Home-Based and Micro-Sized Businesses with
Limited Budgets. Follow Janet on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/JanetAttard.
