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Posted: 28 Jan 2010 11:34 PM PST

Your press release can now be read by millions around the world– not just your friends at the local barber shop. Thanks to the Internet. Today, not only journalists can write pres releases but practically anyone who has a blog and has an active membership in any of these popular social networking sites. You can keep everyone posted without landing you press release in your local paper’s society page. Your press release can also appear in Google news, Yahoo news, and a host of others.

But first, a word about the traditional press release. In the old days a pres release was a write-up that announced an upcoming event: this event could be a personal, corporate, or social occasion that needed response and respondents. A press release was written to generate interest, to make sales, and for a whole lot of other purposes. The standard press release format is basically like that of the news. While it seems to be easy in theory many press releases are written in a rush, without care for important things such as:

1. Showing details. A press release can’t afford to miss out on the littlest detail– the smallest fact spells the biggest difference between a good press release writer and a lousy one. Facts such as time, date, address, names of people involved shouldn’t be glossed over. You’d be surprised at how nitpicky are the readers out there. If you’re writing about a night of social dancing, you can’t miss out on the dress code. If you’re making a sales pitch illustrate the idea of your product by talking about its benefits for the consumers. Most products actually focus on the benefits and follow up with real life testimonies of satisfied users. Just think of the Cause and Effect model, and you wouldn’t get lost.

2.Facts. Today readers have become sharper and wiser, so they can read through bluffs and lies. You actually show your hand if you pad your press release with sugar-coated words. They’re usually adjective and adverbs than can be taken off the sentence without any visible effect except the few words left. The sentence can stand on its own. With all the tall tales that Internet readers get from spam mails to false TV advertisements, your readers know fact from fiction. Think about this: Truth is always simpler to tell.

3. Watch your angle. You may have noticed that every time a press release comes out, it is tied with a social or corporate event. It’s called a media blitz. Coming out with a press release makes the event larger than life. In your case you have to be sharp with choosing which feature of your press release best fits what theme. You can choose from so many angles depending on what easily catches on with your target audience.

4. Action words. The classic rule is show not ell, and its nowhere more applicable than in press release writing. Active verbs show you action but concrete verbs see to it the action takes place right before our very eyes. Abstract and passive verbs can’t do this. For example, instead of saying "The company held a benefit concert for typhoon victims" you can say "The company staged a rock concert for typhoon victims".

5. Short is better. Yes, even in press release writing, length and size do matter. But the length that spells the difference is the short one—short words, short sentences. They’re easier to read and remember. Plus, an extra long sentence may get you somewhere but definitely nowhere near the thing that your readers care about. With short words and sentences, you don’t keep your audience guessing, most especially over the Internet.

What to avoid in your press release

The list above contains the things your press release should have. Below are the things your press release shouldn’t have.

1. Technical words. Techy words have their uses, that’s for sure. But your Internet readers care nothing about your deep vocabulary. So enough of jargon and flashy Isms, please. Keep your words simple at the level of, say, a middle school vocabulary. The simpler the words are, the further they and deeper they reach your target. Everybody loves an easy read.

2. Hold back the hype. You’d now if it’s all fluff when you see a lot of exclamation points, boldfaced words, and italicized phrases. Sure, we understand you want to generate interest but can’t you just do it the regular way? An appropriate analogy would be dressing up right for the occasion: When you have too many exclamation points and boldfaced words, you’re practically overdressing your press release.

On matters of style

Next thing you need to take care is the style issue. How you write a press release that doesn’t get treated like an ordinary press release?

1. Handle the headline well. The headline is supposedly your shout out. A good headline doesn’t go beyond seven words, all in the active voice, ideally. Your headline should start with a verb. No shortcuts are allowed unless you have 4 syllable word in it. On second thought, why use long words in the first place?

2. The story goes… Use a narrative lead. Tell a story. The most effective way of beginning a press release is by telling a story. Everybody loves drama. So use this and win your readers over. As you write your press release, place yourself in front of your target audience and address your words directly to them.

3. Write as you speak. This is the mark of a real good writer. When you are able to write like you speak, you practically erase the page and paragraph between you and your reader. Reading your work makes them feel like listening to your voice. Keep in mind that your choice of words is actually your own "voice" in that these are your favored expression. Thus, a reflection of your own mind as well.

Experts say the easiest way to prove whether your press release puts a hold on your readers or not is to read it out to yourself. If it sounds like a person talking sincerely, you’ve nailed it.

Stories that Lead to Sales

Posted: 28 Jan 2010 11:30 PM PST

Every one can tell a story, all right, but not everyone can tell a story well. A copywriter is not only a good sales letter writer—he's also a good story teller. And the thing about a well written story in web copy writing is that it works wonders—it converts words into sales.

Like traditional storytelling, narrative copywriting follows a formula. But this isn't the textbook formula that we know from English lit class. Ok, it's actually that and something else. It's because unlike Aristotle's times, your readers today don't care much about tragic and heroic characters. They read not so much to have fun but to buy things and keep themselves informed. Moreover your readers don't have the luxury of time to lie down and linger over a magical paragraph or two. A copywriter can't afford to waste words on the page like James Joyce did.

Stories that sell

Copies that tell a story are written not only for pleasure but also for profit. In that case they need to be written in a special way as all good writing must be. Whatever technique or formula you may use, you're after one effect: to turn your readers into customers. To achieve that your web copy story should have substance over style. Unlike creative writing, a web copy narrative doesn't compromise meaning over manipulation. What you say and what it wants to achieve is clearly said in your copy. As it is, there is little or no use for fancy words and verbal acrobatics at all: which is why the best models here should be Hemingway and not William T Vollmann or Mark Leyner. Preferred sentences are short and straight, with the selling points strategically placed in the copy. Web copy writing is writing for influence, not to for remembrance of things past.

Common web copy stories

Copywriters are not big on formulas, but they are rather keen on writing models. So, for lack of a better term, we'll call the following story models for web copy writing:

1. Attention seekers. These are stories with a bit of dramatic hype, but they are directed at getting your reader's attention. Here you focus on the bizarre, outlandish or on little known features or details about your product or service.

2. Get to know us. It's an introductory story that introduces who you are and what you offer. Here you lay it on too thick about what makes you and your product special. When your readers get to know you, they'd feel comfortable who you are and eventually they'll try out your product.

3. Cure-all. This is a story that offers a solution to the fear or anxiety your readers are feeling today. You place yourself in the shoes of your readers and tell them that you went through the same thing yourself, and that there's nothing to worry because the product you're offering will solve the issue at hand.

4. Good news. This is the most common of all web copy stories. The story brings hope and salvation. It underscores the best features of your product or service. But more than that your copy highlights one person's success story in using your product or service. Your satisfied customer recounts how the product has helped him greatly and thus changed his life for the better. In conclusion he makes a recommendation.

How to make the story models work

While good writing results in conversion, no formula is ever stable and fixed that it works to all audiences all the time. The operational phrase is what works for your audience. Now what?

1. Consider your target readers. Think about audience variables such as their needs, fears, concerns, issues. While you think about what they want, you also take into account what they resent, so you can take the opposite direction as point of entry.

2. Write a Before and After story. This way you will be able to see the difference when you write a story without a specific set of readers in mind, and writing one with a target audience in mind. You will notice that with an imagined target audience, your story brings off the result and response that you want it to have.

3. Create a persona in your story. This is the person that speaks for your product and service. A persona is a character that thinks and speaks in the language of your target audience. With someone to voice out your product and service, someone whom your readers can easily identify with and consider as one of their own, it's a lot easier to get your message across.

If you think length is not a major issue in web copy writing, it actually is. Space is precious on websites, so every single word is vital. Short is the new span in web content writing.

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