A press release is one of the most useful and popular marketing tools even in big corporations. It helps businesses to spread media awareness and in return, they receive increased visibility and reach in the market. But in this age of social media and the sea of content, it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain the interest of journalists and get their attention. The reporters and people from the media get hundreds of press release emails every week, so what makes you different? If you are still using the same bullet points and boring tone, your press release will end up abandoned and ignored.
This is why to spice things up a little bit, writers are now using storytelling style and including them in their press releases to get the immediate attention of the journalists. Giving your press release a storytelling angel will make it different from other business press releases. So if you are still thinking about how to enhance the impact of the writing of your press release, continue reading.
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Give Importance to the Audience’s Perspective:
Using your audience’s point of view will give you a clear picture of how interesting your press release should be and how boring it is currently. While you write a press release for your business, you need to remember that how much your company matters to you and how much your company matters to your audience is not going to be the same, but always will be less. So when you are delivering your message through the content, reframe it so it can avoid the blunt approach and conceited tone.
On top of that, placing yourself in the shoes of your audience will give you an idea of how they feel and what motivates their actions. These things are important when you are trying to get the attention of the audience through your writing. So always look for creating an emotional connection with your audience, and giving your writing a storytelling approach will get them done for you.
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Include the 5Ws:
After you are done establishing an emotional connection with your audience, remember who your target audience is and what they are looking for. In the case of a press release, your target audience would be people from the media and journalists. These are extremely busy people who are looking for stories in every piece of writing. So primarily enter the 5 W’s of a press release which is similar to the 5 W's of journalism. These 5Ws include questions like Why, What, When, What, and Where. Every good new story has these questions answered, so you need to make sure your press release also has the answers included. These answers also carry the answer to the biggest question, "why should your audience care for your press release?", and “why does your content matter to them?”
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Develop a Story Arc and Maintain it Throughout:
What is a sign that you have noticed in all good stories? The answer is the hero's journey and his triumph over evil. This is something that can transform your press release and create waves. If you are writing a press release about a product or service launch, write dramatically about how the lack of this service or product was causing dissatisfaction and problems in the market. The frustrations that the audience has faced without this product or service are soon to be done. This sets the hero on a journey to acquire an object of desire, which in this case will be your product.
The reason why this formula works so well in the case of marketing is that the audience relates to the hero and his journey. So take advantage and maintain the story arc throughout the entire press release.
Now that the press release is composed, it is time to use your strongest distribution network and make sure that it ends up in the hands of the top-rated media sites.