Press Releases - How 2's?

[KeyboardGeek]

Does anyone have a good idea how I could start writing a press release for myTubeStop.com . I've got as far as " " ... Yep, that's it, I've got as far as drawing a complete blank on heading, content and well, I'm also on my second cup of McDonalds coffee and work is busting my ....... so someone to hold my hand right now would be a great help.

cheers
hugs
lee

[TimW]

I googled "how to write a press release" and it returned 76,000+ results in 0.29 seconds

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22how+to+write+a+press+release%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

The basics are there. As for content, well, can't really help there without further information.

Once you get it written...where are you sending it?

[KeyboardGeek]

How do you write a press release for a website that does exactly what Gumtree does, but is exclusively for Londoners! I can just about muster up one paragraph so far... eeeeeeh!

[TimW]

That's one reason why PR flaks make the money. Writing is both an art and science. I suppose the best advice I can give is "what would you want to know about this service if you heard about it?", then go from there.

Or you can hire someone to do it for you.

[Vagabond]

How do you write a press release for a website that does exactly what Gumtree does, but is exclusively for Londoners! I can just about muster up one paragraph so far... eeeeeeh!

Um, hate to point out the obvious, but why are you launching something with not a single differentiating factor?

[kamakiri]

Press releases are a great tool. I put out 10-15 a year, and have refined
it to the point that I can just about guarantee at least one TV plug, and
2 magazine write ups for my pizza chain.

There are tons of tools out there, but you need a list of contacts to get that list to. Most TV stations, Newspapers, and magazines are starved for news. Just doing something remotely newsworthy stands a good chance of getting picked up somewhere.

With the internet, you can send out hundreds to people in email, be careful of that. Just do a bit of checking and use your head. People hate spam. For example Chris Anderson of Wired deals with poor marketers this way:
Chris Anderson's PR Blacklist Backlash - The Long Tail of Bad PR (http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2007/10/chris_andersons.php)

[webgal]

http://jhmattern.com/

The person above has the contacts and writes releases. I write them occasionally but I don't have the contacts like a real PR person. I only have contacts for my biz. PR is about getting it in to the right hands.

And there is the traditional media plus online media. I was thinking of using webwire myself. But I've not yet had time to even write a release.