Journalist Gives 6 Essential Tips On How To Get Your Client's News Item Picked Up

Aug. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- Baltimore, Md. -- A seasoned journalist and editor says there are certain fundamental reasons why some press releases get picked up by major media outlets, while others are instantly deleted from a journalist’s mailbox.

“Although I skimmed 98% of the press releases emailed to me, I used only 2% of them as the basis of articles, which have been published in various publications throughout the world,” explains Chet Dembeck, a reporter and editor for more than a decade.

This represents some pretty tough odds public relation pros face when trying to get their client’s news past such hard-nosed gatekeepers as Dembeck.  

That means that out of every 1,000 press releases that were crafted — in most cases — by professional PR writers, only 20 made it into print, online or on the air.

Dembeck adds that no matter how many follow-up emails or phone calls PR professionals have made him trying to sell an idea, the only press releases that made it to his story list were those few that grabbed his attention right away — and for very specific reasons.

6 Essential Building Blocks

“Like many reporters, I kept meticulous files,” Dembeck says. “So, one day I decided to gather all of the stories I had written that had initially been sparked by a press release. After I had gathered them, I carefully went through the pile and found after some examination, that they all had 6 essential building blocks that separated them for the rest.

In fact, whenever I removed one of the 6 building blocks, the press release lost its power.”

The more Dembeck thought about it, the more it made sense to him to write a report outlining in detail these building blocks, so more PR and communication professionals could use as a guide to successfully tell their client’s story.

“I also wanted to help my fellow journalists and editors,” Dembeck says. “After all, better crafted press releases will make their jobs much easier.”

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

First Building Block

"The first building block of all the press releases I decided to read and eventually write a story about was that they were all written like a narrative article, rather than a stock, boring press release.

For example, instead of the press release opening with, “Company ABC is proud to announce the release of our new product the MP3 Expander, which enables consumers to triple the number of songs they can download on an existing hard drive,” the perfect press release began like this:

“Wanda Wilcox was ready to throw her old MP3 player away, until she heard about ABC company’s new MP3 Expander, which triples the amount of MP3s she can store on her existing player.

"It definitely saved me money and immediately paid for itself,” Ms. Wilcox said.
To obtain a copy of all of Dembeck’s “6 Building Blocks Of A Perfect Press Release,” simply to go http://pressreleaseforyou.com/?p=119 .

Or email him at ced@pressreleaseforyou.com