Press Releases vs. Self-Promotion - What Are YOU Really Submitting?!?

The 1st Person vs. the 3rd Person:

A big distinction between advertising and news is the difference in the narration of the information, for example:

• AD: "My company is the leader in the field"
  
  
• NEWS: "This company announces a new service within this industry which is like no other"
  
  
• AD: "We are the best" says Jim Bob
  
  
• NEWS: "The company's support system has been upgraded to help all consumers" asserts Jim Bob
  
  
• AD: "Visit my site to promote your business"
  
  
• NEWS: "For more information, please visit: mysite.whatever"
  
  
• AD: "We have so many great press release resources compared to others" says Jim
  
  
• NEWS: "[Company Name] just introduced 100's of new articles to help entrepreneurs with submitting press releases" says Jim
  
  
• AD: "Here are some tips I learned about..."
  
• (More helpful than news, but still not wanted)
  
  
• NEWS: "Leading expert (Name) offers a new report to help learn about..."
  
  
• AD: "Within my new book, you won't believe what I discovered about...blah, blah!"
  
  
• NEWS: "[Jim's] new book discusses many details on... blah, blah." Reports Jim
  

The Use of "I", "Me", and "We" - Is a perfect example of what NOT to use, ever. This writing method tells people information in the 1st person which doesn't make it news related.

The use of "That", "They", "Them", "This" - Is more likely to report something in the 3rd person as if someone else was telling the story.

1. Self-Promotion uses: "SELL", "SELL", "SELL"
   
   
2. Press Releases use: "FACTS", "FACTS", "FACTS"

The key is not to sell, but to answer questions. Place yourself at a radio station answering questions about your business. This would be the equivalent of a press release. In fact, when I'm about to write a press release, I see myself sitting in front of a reporter and I write down all of the questions that may be thrown at me. Once you have the questions, follow with the answers but write them as if the reporter wrote the answers, not you.

If you write a press release as if a reporter wrote it, you will find yourself using words like ("The industry is moving very fast these days, his company has just launched this new product to keep up with the times" said Jim).

Don't Hype! Just Show:

The number one mistake people make when writing a press release is they tend to add a lot of "hype" and "hot air" to boast about their new service or product. This is a terrible mistake. If you pick up a newspaper, the only "hype" you'll ever read is through their paid advertisers.

Instead, try to list all the benefits, changes, updates, upgrades which could potentially help consumers. This is how to "Show" people that all new changes you made are in fact awesome!

Take these simple tips serious and you may find yourself getting more and more interviews as time goes on.

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux is the president of Smartads, helping companies around the globe to promote their business online through:

http://mind-power.Smartads.info - Business article directory
http://www.prarticle.com/submit-press-release/ - Press Release Marketing
http://www.Article99.com/ - Authors Club

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