Press Release Recipe Guidance Notes
Key tips for using Press Release Recipe effectively
For an example of a press release.click the above link and create your own press release if you haven’t done so already. Keep all your responses concise,relevant and to the point:-
- For paragraph 1 you need to think of key phrases which will answer the key questions like Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? You will be able to sort them out into a proper sentence later on the receiving page but you will have the essential ingredients by then.
- After the first paragraph you need to expand the story by really hammering home the major benefits that this event or product will have for your target audience.
- The best way to proceed is to do a test first of all, see how the software works. If you need help writing a press release, we do offer a writing service. But do persevere with this system. Don’t give up after one attempt. There is a reason why press releases cost so much when written by professionals. But this software will give you a great chance of writing at least a few yourself.
The image below shows how your press release might look once you have completed the forms in Press Release Recipe. My sister Linda Thompson kindly tested the site for me and you can see here what resulted. The important thing to note here is that the press release is not the finished article. It still needs a bit of work on the first parapgraph to make it fit for publication.
Editing your Crucial First Paragraph in Press Release Recipe
You will see in the text highlighted here that it doesn’t make sense. BUT what is important is that it WILL make sense once these key phrases have been put into order. Let’s look at the phrases which have been separated by the tilda |. Depending on the emphasis we want to place on Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? we could rewrite it as:-
The Superfood Guides mark a sea change in the way I do business online
I have recently been very privileged to be part of a collective from the Warriors Forum that is now onto its second series, The Super Foods Guides.
I joined the sub forum of fellow Kindle writers after some chequered success in internet marketing over the years and felt that this approach was for me as opposed to what I see as the more tedious stuff like buying software and guides that work for a week before Google spots it. To me, that’s a total waste of my time and money. I am fine with deferring to other brains, but not when they threaten my long held reputation.
TOC is King. Break those and you break your business. Work with the giants and they will work with you.
Amazon is currently in the phase of investing heavily in their Kindle platform and also Audible. In terms of the ‘next big thing’ or, should I say, ‘the current big thing’ Kindle is it. It’s not quite the Wild West that resulted from Google’s rise to prominence around ten years ago. Whilst Web 2.0 has created major opportunities for users, the huge players are all in the business of getting rid of the cowboys who abuse it. Facebook, Twitter and Google with their Panda and Penguin algorithms have effectively eradicated system players from the face of the earth. However, like in all missile attacks, innocent small business bystanders, whose only crime was naivety, have also been caught up in the assault.
So what’s this all got to do with Amazon Kindle? Well, we are at a stage now where Amazon is telling us that if we play by the rules, they will help us nurture our Kindle books and our audio books up the rankings. The Kindle Select scheme is not one that will be here forever. Once the Amazon bosses have assessed this first phase of its development as a major platform, it might not be so easy for less talented writers or downright unscrupulous rip off merchants to have their work published. Already the writers who plagiarise other peoples’ recipes have had their books taken down.
My approach was to become involved with writers like Bryan Kumar, Dr Mani (leader of this current project) and Di Hauser all of whom have published on the Kindle platform. My goal was, unlike in the past where I have struggled on with WSOs, to find out what the state of play is from those who know. For me, the knowledge gained has been a revelation. From book covers to link building, I now get it.
How much did it cost me for such invaluable knowledge? I spent a few dollars for membership to Bryan Kumar’s private Warrior Kindle Forum and investment into a Word conversion software and that was that.
Amazon provides many of the promotional tools ‘internally.’ As things stand, if you are short of budget, you could promote your book using the KDP promotional days and stimulate rankings that way. But there are many other things that can be achieved externally. If your book is say a local guide, you can write a press release and tout local journalists. Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are vital in this field too.
This knowledge alone is worth its weight in gold. At last, I can apply what I know about PR in a way that helps other people survive and achieve their life goals. So this fits with life as an academic at LJMU. For me, the key is to provide information that people need. I am only happy if my readers are happy. The rest is materialistic.
My article at: The Super Foods Guides website
The Super Foods Guides Facebook Page
The book: 12 Superfoods Revealed
Can online press releases be automated?
Quite simply no. Put succinctly, still no. But on the other hand, er no. Why?
Well firstly, there are a whole plethora of automated tools available e.g. for submitting articles to sites. SEO Nuke is probably the key example of a site that will do most things apart from unplugging the sink.
So what makes press releases so different? Press releases go to two places
1) journalists who are looking for stories
2) aggregators e.g. Google News who are considering page rank for stories
In both cases, the material you send is read by humans. Or at least at the highly ranked and well staffed sites such as PR Log, PR Newswire, Webwire all of whom are part of second category. Although journalists read these sites to find source material.
So the idea that you can somehow automate the process either by getting a bot to write your press release for you or, worse, spin it into 347 versions and then spam the internet is null and void. The same applies to distribution. How do you feel about spam in your inbox? A journalist or aggregator feels how you would feel, plus you need to double that and add the likelihood that your client or your business will be placed on the blacklist in the future. Not good.
Having said this, I have had a go (well two years of work actually) at providing a press release template which goes one step further than telling the user to ”type a headline here” without any training whatsoever. Press Release recipe is not just an example of a press release from which you are supposed to magically produce a world exclusive. It guides you through the process and it’s free during the beta testing phase. Try it:-
Watch the video to the right of this page or here, but if you want a very simple solution and an example of a press release, just start by typing ‘test’ in each of the boxes followed by ‘cook’ and you will be transferred to a Word document which will be formatted for an offline press release. Now it’s a case of filling in the blanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiCP4SXgOgY
In the next part of this series, I will review a product which has attempted to combine writing with distribution. As always, I will write an unbiased review based on 20 years of PR experience.
My visit to the ICTY war crime trials
The context was to observe the workings of the International Tribunal for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia and in particular the communications with the international press. I acknowledge role of staff (who know they are) at the ICTY and namely Nerma Jelacic (Head of Communications, ICTY) for allowing access to secure zones of the court and their hospitality. Thank you to Janet Farrow and Professor Joyce for funding the trip.
Apart from the visit of politicians and international royalty to my employers’ premises and my reciprocal visit to Jordanian Ministry of Tourism after the Gulf War in 1992, I had intermittent experience of what is best termed diplomatic PR where high security was the major consideration within the communication mix. Most of my experience was honed in the public and private sector promoting events and activities, interspersed with crisis management when required. In PR terms the ICTY’s press work is a cross between slow drip issue based information and occasional crisis PR. I cannot offer the reader any images as still photography was strictly forbidden once inside. Here’s the end of result of our labours anyway:-
My guide, hereafter known as Anon, chaperoned me through the court. I was not allowed to leave his side during the day. This might sound “over the top” considering that security had already searched me for weapons and taken my passport but the inner sanctum is more tightly packed than you would imagine. The building itself reminded me of another famous (notorious) courtroom, “The Castle” in Chester. Closer to home, the interior have echoes of Mount Pleasant and Rodney Street. combined It is a historic building in the centre of Den Haag largely consisting of two major court toms and one small court. The major courts are protected by bomb proof glass as are the exterior windows. The courts themselves are not what you would term big but certainly functional. The configuration is openly available on the ICTY’s You Tube Channel.
However I did check the altitude of my eyebrows when I realised how close the holding rooms for the accused were to the offices of those working there. The pleasant vista to the fountains which greets the diner at the small restaurant belies what disturbing work lies within. This is not a shrouded criticism. Far from it. Those involved have to be allowed respite and proper interaction throughout the day. For the day visitor however it does come as some surprise as interns, lawyers blithely rub shoulders with administrators, operators and security staff. No caviar offered nor expected. Burger and chips was the order of the day albeit cooked in front of you by a qualified chef.
My guide pointed out the lawn and hotel opposite the ICTY which, during the arrest of Serbian national politician, Karadzic and General Mladic, two of the major accused, that around 1000 journalists with their substantial vans and equipment were camped on the lawn. My contact explained that the journalists were given DB links which allowed them to broadcast from the hotel opposite. It occurred to me that this was my primary perception of the trials themselves. The press are largely interested in the tumultuous events, the ironies and the stories behind the capture. Once the trial is under way, the proceedings become less about news and more process. Inevitably once the sentences of Karadzic and Mladic in particular are read out, activity will increase once again some time in 2013. It did strike me as strange that current wars make news while the justice resulting from those wars doesn’t. Discuss?
Today the continuing trial was of General Mladic. Anon ushered me to the video booth to meet Micky who was on court duty that day. Micky invited me forward and only a few feet away just in front was Mladic. I must admit openly that it was rather like being asked to lean over a rickety fence to look down into a dark precipice. I hope I do not appear overly dramatic. The thoughts about what this man were suddenly prevalent. I have met and chaperoned many celebrities, politicians artists and VIPs during my career and always found some common ground or “small talk” prior to our respective duties I was not engaged in conversation with this one and yet I was immediately nervous of his presence only a few feet away. The behaviour of the accused was monitored at all times. The objective is not to publicise newsworthy incidents, but to record due diligence. I was happy to be whisked away for refreshment.
A Press Briefing was take place at lunch time. These briefings are openly available on the WWW via the ICTY website, as are the video recordings. This meant that Tom and I were to prepare the press room for the broadcast. Largely this was concerned with setting up the main camera and two cable extensions to the tables. A stationary ICTY exhibition panel acted as a backdrop. The camera was left in position on standby pending the arrival of the press at 12.30. The statement which is available here as a pdf was concerned with Kadovic’s request for 600 hours of Defence cross examination. This was reduced to 300 hours. It updated on the current Mladic trial and the testimony of Vuillamy who had reported extensively on the troubles in Bosnia Herzogovina in 1992. It also alluded to an Appeal by the Lukic brothers who had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment. Finally, an Open day was promoted. This might sound like “soft news” but all international organisations are accountable for their actions during a non- trial day.
The statement was read out verbatim by Nerma to camera in front of c. 10 journalists (no photographers). Nerma threw open the floor for questions but none were forthcoming, so the meeting was adjourned.. We went straight to the editing suite to edit the new footage of the briefing and intersperse it with some existing court footage of Kadovic, Mladic and Lukic together with some cutaways taken that day of Ed Vuillamy. The main task for the afternoon was to broadcast this on the ICTY website and on its You Tube channel. Here is the result:-
Having read down this far, you might also be interested in the footage around the arrest of Mladic and his former image as active military general. These images will be more familiar than the elderly chap in the grey suit that I witnessed today.
This blog will be made available in hard copy to students and any staff interested in the subject. It will also form part of sessions in Media Relations and Event Management as part of the Business and Public Relations and PR and a language degrees where the issue of accountability will be the main thread. The visit might well lead to further research as this was a most informative day which served as a snapshot to a process which within the next year will be consigned to history.
This blog is linked to the LJMU website where the story is sourced.
Keith Thompson
CPA + PR = PR4?
For those of you not au fait with CPA, it stands for Cost Per Action. Basically if an affiliate sends traffic to an established offer through say a trial or sales promotion, the affiliate receives credit for that action.But how does this all relate to public relations?
Well firstly we need to distinguish the difference between page rank and public relations. Unfortunately the two abbreviations are linked but are different functions. Today I am talking about public relations primarily but good public relations does affect page rank.
Back to CPA then. If you are promoting a product, there are many tools that you can use. Press releases is one of them. Now, I have been sending out press releases since time immemorial, mainly tio newspapers, magazines and radio stations.
I must admit to having been rather cynical about how online PR can help affiliate marketing. After all, it’s not you that has created the product. It’s someone else’s. However the trick is to drive traffic to your websites.
Finding a new story is absolutely essential to this process. Basically no new story, no coverage. many CPA networks all very strict about what you can send out about their products. So firstly don’t make the mistake of sending press releases that have not been approved by your CPA network.
You have two options open to you. Firstly if you feel that there is a strong story related to the product in question, run your idea past your CPA representative. Remember that they are interested in shifting goods too. So they would be happy to work with you on any additional promotion that you can offer. There might be some benefits for example that you have experienced as a result of using the product. E.g. if you have been applying a skin care product and the results are impressive, then you could generate a human interest story as a result of that positive experience of the product.
What do we mean by human interest story? Journalists and readers alike prefer pieces of editorial which they can empathise with. You have seen the weight loss editorials- yesterday I was 20 stone and a virtual recluse, and now I am belle of the ball at 10 stone. that’s a very simple yet effective way of creating that instant relationship with the reader.
Distribution is as equally important is writing a press release. As usual in Internet marketing there are free options and paid for options. Over 40 press release sites with fairly high Google ranking exist. Other Internet marketers have demonstrated through forums that these sites can work if you do have a strong story to sell. No change there then. Simply having a press release online or offline is not a guarantee that it will be read. In addition, they have reported -and this is borne out by my own experience-that some press releases have a longer shelf life than others. Broadly, the stronger the story the longer it will stay in the in the top 10 of the search engines. Why? Because people are reading it and readability means link juice.
Sites like PR Newsire, PR Web and PR Leap are expensive and yet they can afford to be. Each of those sites are highly ranked by Google. So the $149 a throw might not be such a large price to pay if resulting sales can justify the expenditure. This is of course the perennial question in any form of affiliate marketing. If the product is being sold at $29.95, then the simple math would indicate that you would need to sell seven units to make it worth your while, using a paid press release site. My advice would be to begin with the free sites and if these are providing good rankings, stick with them.
In this brief article on how public relations affects SEO, it is not possible to cover all angles but I hope that this has given you a taster of what you can achieve by relating public relations with affiliate marketing.
CB Predators Review
You just won't
It’s not often I have occasion to “slag off” a product. In PR terms it’s called “Black PR” and it’s a practice I have avoided over the years. But let me express my frustration on my own blog about timewasters who promise that you will get rich in 18 clicks.
There’s nothing wrong with making a claim of this nature but if it can’t be backed up, the Goodwill Gasometer plunges. So why am I breaking my rule?
Like thousands of others, I signed up for a “not to be missed opportunity” at CB Predators. The basis of the offer is this. it’s an affiliate scheme involving Internet marketing, weight loss, anti-ageing type products. You are offered these products around a month before the official launch so that you can gain a head start on other affiliates. The biggest selling point for me was that it was offering a review site template which could easily be optimised.
However these templates simply did not work. After numerous tickets to the so-called technical support department, and waiting ten days for any response whatsoever, I finally gave up. But this was not before I visited some forums to find out what other people were experiencing. I found, to my amazement, the others were describing a mirror image of my own situation.
Rather than whinge until I’m blue in the face, my point is more about customer confidence than anything else. Here you are reading and negative review about product, whereas their sales strategy is built upon the notion of building a series of positive review sites. How ironic!
So what is the moral of the story? Public relations is about building sustained relationships between stakeholders in your business. Customers are a major stakeholder for obvious reasons. Many of the successful internet marketers who offer similar types of product take the trouble to over deliver on their promises. There is no doubt that Chris and Jerome are successful Internet marketers using other products and strategies, but they have so much to learn about ensuring that customers like me and countless others not left to struggle on their own with a defective product.
I can honestly say with hand on heart that if I had put my customers through this frustrating treadmill, I would have given the product away free. I would not be able to sleep nights in the knowledge that my reputation has been tarnished as a result of poor communication. Avoid CB Predators like the plague.
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