3
O P I N I O N
Press releases haven’t gone the way of the dinosaurs yet. Keep them short and simple to get the most out of this powerful marketing and exposure tool. The lost art of the press release
D efined as an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, an official statement, or making an announcement, a press release can provide your firm with a ticket to powerful marketing and exposure.
Christina Zweig Niehues
A press release is traditionally composed of the following elements: ❚ ❚ Letterhead or logo. A letterhead usually consists of a name and an address, and a logo or corporate design. ❚ ❚ Media contact information. Name, phone number, email address, mailing address, or other contact information for the PR or other media relations contact person. ❚ ❚ Headline. Used to grab the attention of journalists and briefly summarize the news. ❚ ❚ Dek. A sub-headline that describes the headline in more detail. ❚ ❚ Dateline. Contains the release date and usually the originating city of the press release. If the date listed is after the date that the information was actually
sent to the media, then the sender is requesting a news embargo. ❚ ❚ Introduction. First paragraph in a press release that generally gives basic answers to the questions of who, what, when, where, and why. ❚ ❚ Body. Further explanation, statistics, background, or other details relevant to the news. ❚ ❚ Boilerplate. Generally a short “about” section, providing independent background on the issuing company, organization, or individual. ❚ ❚ Close. In North America, traditionally the symbol “-30-” appears after the boilerplate or body and before the media contact information, indicating to media that the release has ended. A more modern equivalent has been the “###” symbol. In other
See CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER MAY 25, 2020, ISSUE 1346
Made with FlippingBook Annual report