No matter how I word it, my press releases always veer to sounding more like an advertisement than a press article. How do you keep it original and not sound so canned? It is my biggest issue with my business.

There may be a difference of opinion regarding topic but I think a press release should be along the lines of a feature as opposed to being a piece about what a business does. I believe that by doing the latter is how a release becomes advertising and not information with substance.

Some schools of thought believe releases could be about anything including the launch of a new business. When I write a release, I believe the content should be timeless and have staying power and should not be entirely written just about the business itself. So my point is that perhaps you can write a piece about something interesting you do or something intriguing which has happened around you and then incorporate the 'who you are and what you do' into that piece.

Often features are easier to write if you have the title down first. So let's say your title is, "Florida Business Woman Offers Virtual Assistance Services for Local Humane Society Charity" (for example only). The piece would be written about that topic thus incorporating the "who" and "what" you do into that piece as opposed to just writing a piece about the VA business. So in essence, the services you offer and the business you run becomes the back-up information to the topic. You could incorporate how VA work helped the charity and thus, the piece is not advertorial but you get the point across about the services you offer. The idea is to create interest with a topic the reader will find value in spending the time reading and then ease in the VA services description.

There is a great interview on the forums with Diana Ennen here well worth reading several times over.

Jan

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Thank you for your feedback. I'm going to read that interview right now.

I agree with Jan. You should absolutely use your press release to highlight the benefits of using your services without stating them outright. By showing exactly how your business helped another business, you're giving potential customers confidence that if you helped that other business, you can help them too.

And Dianna's piece is definitely worth reading!

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Tammi Metzler ~ The Write Associate
Free call: "How to Write Email Subject Lines That Grab Attention!"

Jan gave an excellent answer. I understand your problem, and am always very cautious about using press releases at all. If there's some way you can incorporate info about your business into a news story, fine. Otherwise, stick to writing articles or a blog (though they also must not be advertising - think about aspects of your business you could discuss in an article, and write 'em up!).

I suppose the upshot in today's 'new marketing' is that you really don't want to advertise at all in the usual way; rather, you want to get people to trust you, and therefore buy from you. Selling is buried under heaps of relationship-building.

In addition to the advice already given, I suggest you use online social networks, forums, and other internet tools to spread the word about your business, and not spend much more time on a press release. The only exception to this would be if you want to serve local clientele and your local newspaper is likely to publish your story.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

Hi

Another thing too that I'd like to add to help make it newsworthy is this:

You know how in business letters and our websites we always encourage you to write about benefits to your clients, you can do the same with your press release. You can talk about how your services are solving a problem and benefitting their clients because ... For example, if anyone does legal transcription I've been reading a lot lately how attorneys' offices are cutting staff in record numbers. I'm sure there's a great statistic out there on how many. You can write how your business helps attorneys survive this crisis by offering virtual assistant services on an as needed basis and without the overhead, etc.

Also, I know recently I saw a new statistic on how many were unemployed. I was able to write on how becoming a virtual assistant can solve that problem.

Also, I love January because that's the month you can write on anything about doing business better.

Thanks!

Diana Ennen
Virtual Word Publishing