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Writing Effective Press Releases


Date

13 Jul 2017

Time

10:00

Location

Bristol

Details

Summary:

Even in this age of online marketing and social media, journalists receive hundreds of unsolicited press releases a day – the majority of which are deleted without even being read.
This practical one day course takes you through every step of the press release process from analysing the publications you want to target, determining what stories they are interested in, finding a suitable angle for your story and writing it up in a way that will appeal to the media.
It also looks at how to get your stories to the media and how to maximise your press releases by using them beyond your usual media reach.

Event Type: Classroom

Address: Speed Communications, 1-6 Brighton Mews, Bristol, BS8 2NW

Places available: 10

Places remaining: 10

Trainer: Ann Wright

Image of trainer

Event Overview

How attendees will benefit
You’ll learn what news is (and isn’t) and why the media reject so many press releases. You’ll come up with ideas for stories that the media want to run and write headlines that grab the media’s attention for the right reasons. You’ll feel more confident about pitching ideas and you’ll write up press releases more quickly, more easily and more effectively.
Who should attend
This course is perfect for anyone new to writing for the media or looking to improve their press release writing skills.
What attendees will learn
This is a practical course with lots of participation and feedback. You’ll use a mix of discussions, exercise, case studies and examples to learn:

  • What the media want (and don’t want) from PR practitioners  
  • What makes a story newsworthy
  • The difference between true news and PR puff
  • The basic requirements of every press release
  • How to answer the ‘who, what, where, when, why and how’ questions
  • The importance of headlines and first paragraphs
  • How to find ideas when there is nothing new to say
  • How to use the Inverted Pyramid to structure press releases
  • How to find and write quotes that add something to the story
  • The difference between writing for print, writing for broadcast and writing for online
  • How to optimise your online press releases to improve SEO
  • How to pitch ideas via phone, email and social media
  • How to use different tools to get your story out to the media
  • How to adapt your writing style
  • The things that journalists complain about when dealing with PR practitioners
  • How to avoid the common pitfalls 

NB: Please bring along the following to the session

  • A copy of a publication you would like to get coverage in
  • An example of your written work
  • An idea for a new press release to work on during the session