A compelling press release follows classic sales principles, says Marian Macdonald of online news release writing and distribution service, WriteRelease.
"Good salespeople start by understanding what the prospect is trying to achieve and then demonstrating how the product fits the bill," she says. "A new product release should be equally as focussed on the benefits rather than the features – buyers can read the spec sheet for those."
The rest of the release is dedicated to proving the claims are true and letting the prospect or customer know how to take the next step towards purchase.
"Once you've made the benefit very clear, back it up with some of the features, particularly when writing for technical people, like engineers, who need to know just how big, small, fast, high, low or strong your product is before they act," Macdonald says.
Macdonald says technical audiences respond best to a writing style that is more straightforward than the flowery prose often used to inspire consumers.
"Because WriteRelease specialises in writing media releases for publication in business-to-business and trade publications, our journalists intentionally keep the language simple," she says.
"Technical people are reading in the midst of a busy workplace and the articles are typically packed with facts, so we make new product releases very easy to understand, even for anyone who's just skim-reading."
Simplicity also demands short, sharp pieces that can be read in a couple of minutes.
"At work, people rarely have time to devote to long reading sessions," Macdonald says, "so keep your new product releases short – between 200 and 300 words."
For more press release writing tips, visit www.writerelease.com.au.
