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? Ok, you have some news, BIG news... now what? Well, if you have a PR or marketing person/department then no doubt youll be sending out a press release soon. The following are 5 tips for a better press release, some useful tips from experts, and some related "how to" tools. Before you do that though, make sure that your press release doesnt suck!5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham

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1 Have Something to Say Sounds like a no-brainer, but seriously, unless you have something new, earth shattering, and/or down-right cool then you might as well save your time. Some announcements may be idea for certain publications and others might be of interest to all journalists... you might want to hand-pick who gets which release.5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham

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2 Get Visual Many industries are visual. So, if you have a new solution, app, service or ? then use graphics that enable the reader to visualize exactly what your talking about. Include an image and provide links to where high-res images can be seen on your website along with supporting information. Dont bother distributing your PR releases with 10 image files attached, a ZIP file or other large media files. Ideally just provide a link to where the images can be accessed.5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham

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Make A Movie 3 Video is all the rage and if PR folks havent clued into that yet then you may want to ask them why? If appropriate, consider creating a short video to complement your news. If you have a new app, solution, project win or the like then Im sure your team can put together a short video about it. If video isnt your thing then you can always use still photos and images, mash them up and drop some nice music in with them. Dont have movie mixing software? Sorry, thats no longer a valid excuse as Windows PCs come bundled with Movie Maker software, theres freebies galore online, and YouTube even provides basic movie mixing. Lastly, keep it under 3 minutes!5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham

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4 Let Them Find You Again another no brainer, however, youd be amazed at how many companies fail to include detailed contact information with their PR. Include a valid email address, phone number, website URL, and be sure to also include your Social Media resources - Twitter and facebook page at a minimum.5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham

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5 Track It Creating and distributing a good PR takes time and effort so dont let it all be for nothing. Create custom short url web links using a service like bit.ly. Include these unique links in your PR then follow up to see how effective your press has been. If you send your PR via a number of different channels then consider unique urls for each site/source that will be running your PR.5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham

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Helpful Things on the Web ● Bill Stoller - How to write a great press release ;0) ● PRweb - how to write a press release ● WikiHow - 7 steps to creating a press release ● MAshable - writing an SEO friendly press release See Also these Articles: ● Create A Custom, Daily or Weekly paper.li to Enhance Your Social Presence ● 10 Things That You Should Be Including In Your Press Release ● How to add Google +1 Button, Twitter follow Button, and LinkedIn share to your blog or website ● Own Your Listing! Local Search and Social Location Map Resources To List your Business ● Dont Stop With the Map or WebMap - Repurpose Your Success Stories Keywords: press, "press release", PR, news, journalist, media, SEO, howto, "social media" Source: http://bit.ly/gupr5things5 Ways to Make a Press Release that Doesnt Suck! @gletham