Getting Free Publicity

Advice on public relations and writing a press release

Getting Your Copy Published

Other Stylistic Stuff

Typefaces

Use a clean, easily readable typeface such as Arial or Times New Roman. Using fussy, decorative faces, joined-up scripts, etc. to make a press release look ‘different’ are generally not appreciated.

Brackets

Don’t use them, except for the first time you mention a product or service acronym, e.g. ‘Personal Identification Number (PIN)’. Use parenthetic commas instead, e.g., ‘John Smith, 34, has joined the marketing team ...’ rather than ‘John Smith (34) has joined ...’.

Percentages

Write out in full, e.g. ‘20 per cent’, not ‘20%’.

Numbers

Numbers up to nine are written out in full, e.g. ‘We have added five new features...’ After 10, use numerals.

Names Of People

If you’re a small and friendly outfit, it’s tempting to use first names in releases announcing appointments, e.g. ‘... and Caroline will be responsible for...’ In general, however, editors favour the more formal approach: ‘... and Caroline Jones will be...’. Solo surnames are more acceptable than first names, e.g. ‘... and Smith will head up a team...’.

Layout

Always double-space the lines on all editorial copy, to give the editor space to mark up amendments if necessary – certainly not less than 1.5 spaces. Single spacing between lines is one of those major irritants which says ‘amateur PR’, very loudly. Leave uncluttered one-inch left and right page margins for the same reason.

If the release runs to more than one page (try to keep it to no more than two pages), then at the bottom of the page you print ‘/more...’ At the top of the second page, print an ellipsis ‘...’ followed by the release heading, followed by ‘cont 2/’. For example: ‘...Harrisons appoints new sales director cont 2/’. The reason is that if the pages get separated, the editor can match them up again. And when he hands over your release to be typeset, the typesetter knows not to set words between slash marks.

At the end of the release copy, put ‘-ends-’ or ‘/ends/’(no need to explain why!). After that, quote a contact name, phone number, fax number and email address in case the editor wants to query anything: ‘For more information, please contact...’

And finally: Never, ever, print on both sides of a page, e.g. print page 2 of a press release on the back of page 1. It may help to save the rain forests, but unfortunately editors never turn pages over and look at the back...