Media Tips

The Press Release Format

Heading: Begin with the basic heading, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. If your announcement is time sensitive, you can indicate a specific date, such as FOR RELEASE ON June 8, 2007

Contact Information: To be placed at the top (just after the heading) or botton of the press release. Make sure the contact information is as complete as possible. Give the Press as many avenues to contact you as you can.

Headline: The headline of your press release will be located right under your heading or contact information. Your Headline is very important, so take some time here. This is the first piece of your release that any reporter will read, so you need to catch their attention right away. Be creative and think of a brief headline that would give someone a reason to want to keep reading while it summarizes at the same time the content of the press release. Take your time and create a good hook.

Dateline: At the beginning of your first paragraph, indicate the date of the release (remember that Active MediaMagnet can do this automatically) and the location from which it originates. Follow the dateline with a period or hyphen and then begin writing the body of your press release. ( See Sample Press Release )

The Body: Summary, Credentials and The Close

Summary: This is the first section of your announcement, so give it lots of attention. Describe the pertinent details of your news event. Be clear and concise and do not hype your announcement excessively, the Press want to know the facts and 'just the facts.'
Credentials: In this section, you want to convey the professional background of your company. Do not do self-promotion, but highlight the qualities of your business.
The Close: The close is much like closing a sale. Instead of just ending your announcement, give the Press a reason to contact you for further information. The Press expect you to ask them to contact you, so do not be shy in doing so. Do not hard sell here, but let them know you're motivated to continue in contact with them.

End of Release: The end of a press release is signaled by one of two symbols, centered on the page below your final paragraph. The two standard symbols indicating the end of a press release are: ### or -30-

Send your Press Release to Contacts and Specific Categories which are Relevant to your Business
Active MediaMagnet was not designed as non-solicited massive email tool, better known as spam! Active MediaMagnet is designed as a contact manager for members of the Media and for automatic and easy submission of press releases to the media. Even if it has all the functionality to be used as a group email tool, this is NOT a spam tool and should not be treated as such. We recommend that you send your press release to those Contacts who are of relevance to your business or announcement and contacting those outside of your relevance is not appropriate and also will not bring any benefit to your release.

Contact Database Categories: We have compiled a varied list of categories and media types for press release submission including domestic and international media. Download the latest version of the software to check the specific media types.

We constantly update and add contacts, categories and/or media types according to our customer needs and media suggestions. If you are a member of the media and want to add or remove your contact information from Active MediaMagnet Database or you are a customer interested in adding new categories or media contacts to tailor your business, please e-mail our press team.