Be a Press Release Pro

In affiliate marketing, you can employ your writing skills in many ways to promote your particular business. You can engage in article marketing and in e-mail campaigns. You can write advertisements and direct-mail packages that promote your affiliate product. You can also send out press releases to announce the latest news concerning your product.

Press releases are a staple when it comes to getting an important message out to the buying public. They are a public relations tool to give useful information to potential customers. They have a rich history in business marketing. They keep consumers informed about products and services. They can certainly be helpful in making people aware of your affiliate product.

When you write up a press release, you send it off in the hopes that someone will publish it. This may be offline or online. Your best bet for publication is a trade or professional publication in your market niche. Your press release will have a journalistic, news reporting tone and look to it. It will not “read” or appear as an advertisement. Even though it will be about your affiliate product, it will not blatantly “sell” the product.

What are the components of a good press release? There is a general standard format for this type of communication vehicle. They are traditionally a page or two in length. For an example of press releases from corporations, check out different companies’ websites. They often post a record of their press releases under their “Investors” tab.

Study a sampling of press releases from different enterprises and look for the similarities in format. You can then write your own affiliate product press releases according to this accepted format. The following are what you will typically see when it comes to a press release:

Company Name, Address, Date, and Release Information

Your business name and your address should appear above the main headline. It will be on the left-hand side of the page. The date of the press release will appear above the main headline on the right-hand side of the page. Above the main headline in this area, you will also type the words “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.” You may also want to delay release until a specific date. In that case, you may type something like “HOLD RELEASE UNTIL JANUARY 1, 2009.”

Headline

This is in bold type and trumpets the most important and significant aspect of your press release. An example would be “John Doe and Sons Introduce Environmentally-Friendly Widget.”

Origin of Press Release

Below your headline, at the beginning of the first sentence of your press release, you type the location from where the press release is coming from. This will be the city or town from where you conduct your affiliate business. The date can go here again. This area would look like this: Des Moines, Iowa, January 1, 2009.

Body Copy

In your body copy, you want the news out. Here you relate the Who, What, Where, When and Why of your press release. This is where you give all that vital information to your reader.

You can break up the body with sub-titles, bullet points, and short paragraphs for an easy read. Let your readers know why this press release is important in a concise and compelling way. Include interesting facts, figures, data, and statistics that will catch your readers’ attention here. Just make sure they are relevant to the press release.

Final Paragraph

In a final paragraph, you can direct readers to where they can find more information about you and your affiliate product. This will be your website, blog, and article writing efforts on the Internet.

You can also include a small paragraph here about your enterprise. In addition, press releases, often conclude with “END.” A publishing mechanism that has the weight of tradition behind it, it is still part of many press releases today.

Keep your press releases focused, short, and to-the-point. They are a great way to promote your affiliate business and cost you nothing but the time needed to write one. They can gain you exposure and help you drive you affiliate business forward.

Write On!

Tiva

(Tiva Kelly is the Head of Article Coaching and offers advice to authors at Article Marketer, a highly popular article distribution service. Learn how to market your small business by submitting articles through Article Marketer. )