Write Like a Pro – Content Suggestions

Quick reference

• 00:04 Professional writing will convey commitment and seriousness.
• 00:08 Writing a professional press release will be crucial to increasing your
• 00:12 chance of standing out among the many other press releases that are out there.
• 00:17 Now if we reverse engineer a really good press release, the following element will
• 00:22 appear, and I'm going to actually talk you through exactly how to make it work best.
• 00:29 So when we start with a headline and
• 00:32 we work our way downwards, obviously the headline alone can make or
• 00:37 break you, because that's what gets people to read further.
• 00:40 The headline is gonna be catchy and is gonna arouse people's curiosity,
• 00:45 because it must be just about enough to draw their attention and to draw their
• 00:51 attention away from perhaps any competing headlines when you are on an online world.
• 00:56 So the headline has also gotta be accurate too,
• 00:59 because there's nothing worse than reading a headline that promises something.
• 01:04 For example, it says, here is how you need to do something, and
• 01:09 then when you read the article or the press release,
• 01:11 it doesn't actually tell you how, so it's gotta be accurate.
• 01:14 Typically, it's short, that's roughly eight words long, because search engines,
• 01:19 for the online version, will only index the first 65 characters, and
• 01:24 that's why, if you do want to include an important keyword,
• 01:28 then that's gotta go within the first couple of words.
• 01:32 Now the subhead is slightly longer than the headline itself,
• 01:36 cuz that would be about 20 words.
• 01:39 It's gonna provide additional information with the purpose of expanding.
• 01:44 So anything that you couldn't fit into the headline,
• 01:47 that you feel is the next most important thing, that you would wish to clarify,
• 01:52 or that you would use to continue arousing curiosity, that should be here.
• 01:58 So the subhead, it really acts as the spillover,
• 02:01 what we couldn't include in the headline due to any length restrictions,
• 02:05 lovely it can fit into the content of the subhead.
• 02:09 Now we move on to the body, and
• 02:12 we will see that the body is normally not longer than two pages.
• 02:16 Now, imagine you wanna work with one page and
• 02:19 you wanna work with between 3 and 600 words.
• 02:22 So that's a little bit shorter than what I normally aim for,
• 02:25 because I tend to allow up to 800 words.
• 02:29 So really in this case, there's not much time for us to waffle.
• 02:32 The press release is divided into really short paragraphs,
• 02:36 which will be only a couple of sentences.
• 02:40 So, even if the paragraphs are to the point,
• 02:43 they should not be written in fragmented sentences.
• 02:48 There's gotta be a couple of questions that we want to answer.
• 02:52 And if I talk you thought this, it will make it easier.
• 02:54 We start off with who.
• 02:55 So, this will be the key players or the people closely involved with the product,
• 03:00 and the people who will benefit from the news.
• 03:03 In what, we will say the news that we're sharing ,that's precisely the what.
• 03:08 And the when, is the date and the time that surrounds the news.
• 03:12 The where is, for example, the geographical location of
• 03:16 the product launch or the new offices that we are discussing.
• 03:20 And the why, this is really to say, why is the news important and relevant right now?
• 03:26 And then the how is, you will typically answer the detail surrounding your news,
• 03:32 how did you design the new product and so forth.
• 03:36 So let's just zoom into the lead paragraph in the main body right now.
• 03:41 In the lead paragraph, you need to give your news, in a nutshell.
• 03:44 So normally the who and
• 03:46 the what of the press release will be covered in this section.
• 03:49 It's really the heart of your press release now and
• 03:52 it should further arouse the readers interest, so that they continue to read.
• 03:57 Now the subsequent paragraph,
• 03:59 is gonna have more information about answering all the other relevant
• 04:03 questions, this is also where the quote from an authority figure will be included.
• 04:08 The quote's kind of useful here because the journalists,
• 04:12 that decide to cover the news, can recycle that quote.
• 04:16 It's very common, if a press release runs wild for
• 04:20 at least 200 different sources, to recycle that quote.
• 04:24 So it can be pretty powerful, if it's a great quote.
• 04:28 And then, of course, we move on to the closing paragraph, and this is just like
• 04:33 the lead paragraph, but it has a huge impact on the readers, because this will
• 04:37 determine the last impression that your company is gonna form.
• 04:42 So the closing paragraph will just sum up the main message of the release,
• 04:47 and it will lead the users forward with a call to action.
• 04:53 Here would be a link to your website for further information, or it would lead them
• 04:58 towards a video or a podcast that you would like them watch.
• 05:03 And this will ultimately then, generate new traffic and
• 05:07 new interest, as a result of the release.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.