Hong Kong - SEAPRWire recognizes that writing a news release is not an easy task. This holds particularly true if users have never written one before. This article shares some answers to questions SEAPRWire Team have received from our customers, and SEAPRWire Team hope they will help users to understand the best ways to approach news release writing.
Press Releases, Advertorials and Articles - Differences Users Need to be Aware of.
Sometimes publications won't publish news release information because the releases aren't written using standard practices. So here are some guidelines to help users avoid this situation.
When users submit a news release with SEAPRWire, their news is reviewed by human editorial in our office to ensure quality content for our audience. When their news release is reviewed, SEAPRWire Team typically look for major typos, links within their press release, and a number of other criteria. By far, the most important pieces SEAPRWire Team look at include general content, style and the readability of their news.
The review of their news release typically will include questions like "Is there proper attribution in the headline or within their press release." Attribute where their information comes from or what makes it a fact. By just stating a fact without attribution leaves users open to the feared question: "Says who?"
SEAPRWire Team also look at the news angle users are writing about and the general style.
There is a big difference between a press release, an advertorial and an article. This is a topic that more people need to be educated about and why SEAPRWire Team have written this.
SEAPRWire Team see a large number of press releases that have been written like an advertisement. The news release does not include any attribution, includes key words like Sale, % discount and free in the headline and worst of all is not of any news value to a journalist looking for a meaningful business story.
Do News release Companies Guarantee Publication?
SEAPRWire Team understand many customers couldn't possibly have knowledge of the PR industry, so let people explain how getting their story published works. With SEAPRWire, users submit their news release to us. Which news release package users have chosen for their distribution will determine what outlets their news release is made available to. When their news is distributed to journalists, at that point it is up to the individual journalist as to whether their piece of information will be considered appropriate and newsworthy within their niche. If they consider the piece to be newsworthy, they may contact users to further the story, or may possibly take the information users have provided through the news release and re-write part of it.
In some cases, bloggers may take their story and run with it, or post the piece to their blog.
How Long Should a News release be?
Typically, the optimal length of a news release is between 350 - 550 words. The longer their news release is (once users go over the 550 words), the less chance it has of being picked up, read or republished. Some journalists SEAPRWire Team have talked with have mentioned "textual shock," where they view a news release and see a wall of text over 1,000 words. This also holds true for a news release that is too short--where the news release may be lacking important elements. This could affect pickup within search engines as well. A shorter news release (but not too short) also has a better chance of being used to fill a column in a newspaper or magazine.
What is the Ideal Number of Links in a Press Release?
SEAPRWire Team typically recommend no more than 3-4 links within their press release. After that it starts to become "spammy," does not look great, and may be flagged by search engines, which users definitely do not want.
What is the Best Day for Distribution of my Press Release?
This is always a loaded question. Typically, SEAPRWire Team will recommend Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. SEAPRWire Team have found that in the business world (journalists included), many will mentally check out early on a Friday, leaving Monday as a "catch up day." SEAPRWire Team do not advise sending out a news release over the weekend as a majority of people in the business world still work Monday through Friday. Again, this includes journalists. This does not mean to say it includes everyone, just the majority.
Should I Bother to Include an Image in my Press Release?
Yes, yes and yes! Including images within their news release is absolutely pertinent.
Here is why: Many people are visual and images break up text making a news release more interesting to read; particularly if users are talking about product shots. Their news release will certainly attain more visibility with great visuals than a news release that is text only.
These are significant news release tips or FAQ's that should help users on their way with a successful campaign. Remember to always keep their information newsworthy. Put yourself in the shoes of their customer, journalist or audience and ask yourself if what users are sending out, would it be of interest to them? If not, revise their content and ensure it will be something that is of significant interest. And remember, the headline is the most important part.
About SEAPRWire
SEAPRWire is the top-up newswire in Southeast Asia. It offers PR distribution service to all Southeast Asia regions, including: Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan. SEAPRWire has a network of media editors, journalists, magazines, newspapers and PR agencies. It also cooperates with top wire services like JCN Newswire, Factiva, Eiko Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo, MarketWatch, BusinessInsider. SEAPRWire can distribute press releases in multi-linguages, such as: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Indonesian ...
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