Write a Press Release on a Dealer Donation
A dealer's donation to a worthy cause or organization certainly could invite the production of a press release. Press releases can create awareness of the dealership and heighten awareness of its positive philanthropic deeds and good works. Although there is no cost to submit a press release, there is also no guarantee that its information will get picked up by the media. The goal is to make your press release relay useful news or entertaining feature story content.
Instructions
Crafting a Release that Gets Attention
1. Determine the strategy for the release. The dealer should ascertain the goal for the release. Is it to communicate an association with a charitable organization? Is the release a way to communicate some product news about the dealer under the banner of the donation? Knowing the desired end result will assist you in writing the release as well as establish a measurement criteria of the success of the effort.
2. Determine the article's slant. The slant is the spin put on the basic story to enhance its appeal to the media. Ask yourself what would make the media want to run my press release. Is the charitable organization by itself enough to whet the media's appetite? Does the donation itself constitute big news? It might be the largest donation ever made by a single corporation. Try a number of different possible angles and choose the strongest among them.
3. Write the release using a journalistic format. Begin by announcing your intent by indicating that it is a press release. The release date is also included providing information on when the release can be published such as "for immediate release". Also include the name and means of contacting someone if more information or clarification is needed. Create a compelling headline for the release.
Be sure to include the when, where, what, why and how of the story in the body of the release. Keep the focus of the release on the donation and the charity. This is not the place to take about the dealership if the dealership is ancillary to the news. Keep the release short, 400 words or less if possible. Write in clear, concise sentences and use paragraph headings to aid the reader's in understanding. Set the completed article aside for a day, re-read and edit for flow and logic. Every sentence should support the preceding one and move the article along.
4. Add descriptive copy at the bottom, separated from the main body of the release. Here is where the dealer has license to pat itself on the back and provide a bit of commercial information. This content can be all about the dealership itself. In fact, this section should be entitled "About ". Include 2-3 sentences that communicate who the dealer is and what it has been doing lately from a business perspective.
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