John Steinbeck, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, once said, “Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person-a real person you know, or an imagined person-and write to that one.”
While your press release writing might not earn you any awards, this advice should guide every word you write. If you want your press releases to be effective, you need to communicate effectively with your audience. Of course, in order to do speak to your audience clearly, you need to know who that audience actually is. And that brings up perhaps the most important point of all – Every press release has its own unique audience, and that audience can vary greatly from one press release to the next.
Let’s look at a couple of examples:
First, let’s say you want to announce that your company is releasing a new product. You want your press release to build some buzz for the product launch, drive pre-orders, and get customers excited to try it. Obviously, the main audience for this type of press release would be your target customers. So, that means you’d want to send your press release out to the publications your customers read and trust.
Now, let’s say you want to announce a big new hire that your company has made. Would your customers really care about this news? Maybe, maybe not. But your primary audience would probably be investors, partners, and maybe other industry insiders. So, you’d want to tailor the news toward this audience and send it to the publications they follow.
Every press release has a different audience. That means you need to adjust your approach every time, not just from a writing perspective, but also with your media relations. Knowing which editors and reporters to target based on who your press release audience is will help you get your news in front of the right people so you get the maximum value from your efforts.
So, before you write your next press release, ask yourself, “Who is that one reader I’m trying to reach?”
This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (https://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of the Beginner’s Guide to Writing Powerful Press Releases here: https://www.ereleases.com/free-offer/beginners-guide-writing-powerful-press-releases/