Press Release Writers

[Stationery-Direct]

Just wondering if anybody offers a press release writing service and roughly how much this costs.

Thanks

 

[brite-i]

Hi there,

I offer a writing service and would be delighted to talk to you further. If you want to PM me with a few more details I'll be able to give you a better indication of a) whether I can do it and b) how much it would cost.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards

Jeff

 

[Mr Max]

Hello. LowcostPR here.

We also offer a press release writing service. We will be happy to write a press release and distribute it for you, all you need to do is tell us the news story, and any relevant details and we will happily write it for you.

Our prices are:

300 word press release is £195
500 word press release is £295

]If you would like us to distribute it to up to 10 local/regional/national publications, then the cost of this is £25. Remember all prices are inclusive of VAT.

Feel free to ring/call us from the website, or alternatively send me a message and we can see exactly what we can do for you.

Other than that, all the best of luck!

Max
LowcostPR.co.uk

 

[laurag]

Hi,

I also offer a press release writing service, starting from £120 (plus VAT). Are you just looking for the writing or would you like distribution too?

If you want to have a chat about your requirements feel free to pm me.

Thanks
Laura

 

[moo]

Hi,
I am a freelance PR and offer press release writing as one of my services.
Do PM me if you would like further details.
Best, Lou

 

[10Yetis]

If you just want a release writing, you may find it easier to have a go yourself?

The writing is the easy bit, it is the distribution and sell in that is the tough part.

We have a free, step by step guide to writing a press release, and you can also crib from the style of other people's press releases to get an idea.

 

[RobAtPressDispensary]

Well, I might as well do the 'me too' bit in case it might be of help.

Press Dispensary also offers a writing service, at a fixed fee of £160, which includes publishing your press release online through our site, and adding it to our RSS news feeds, Google News feed and more. We can also target journalists precisely for an all-in writing-and-distribution-combined price of £260.

And - in the nicest possible way - I am going to disagree a little with 10 Yetis' contention that the writing is easy. Yes, selling stories in is hard but getting the release right is also a skilled job that demands either plenty of experience or plenty of concentration and doggedness. Some of the best PR writers, with oodles of track record, can take two or three hours to hone down their releases into the concentrations of magic that get their clients coverage.

I don't mean to put you off trying it yourself. Do. And here's even more tips to help, at pressdispensary.co.uk/how_to_write_a_press_release.php . But put some time aside in which you can concentrate. And when you've finished it, walk away for a few hours and then come back to it afresh, re-read it, re-edit it and then ask for some second opinions.

Or follow your original instinct and invite any of us plyers of trade to get involved.

Good luck.

Rob
Press Dispensary

 

[Minuteman Press]

Happy to take the radical step of helping for free.

Examples at this URL:
http://www.minutemanbristol.com/press-2008.html

Email your work to date and I can advise. No charge, just a lovely fluttery sensation inside.

Peter

 

[artona]

Hi

Writing press releases is a real skill. My wife is superb but then her first job was as a legal secretary, then she was a reporter on local newspapers and then a sub editor for The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and then The Lloyds List.

With the development of the internet we all write a lot more however the skill of succesful PR writing is being able to tell the story in as few words as possible. If you can do that publications will find it hard to cut it down further and possibly lose the point you were trying to make

stew

 

[Minuteman Press]

Remember also that quality media do not desire to lift your press release directly.
One of the objectives of the press release is to offer angles to the media (e.g. environment, economics, EU trade, etc) - the result is they will convey a unique article that has not been communicated elsewhere (often with collusion) which will fit with the subjects of the day.

 

[Stationery-Direct]

Thanks for all your advice everybody and your offer Peter.

I went it alone in the end.. http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=83501

Not sure if it is perfect, either way I got a LARGE magazine publishers interested in a possible collaboration, only sent it Friday

Fingers crossed.

Thanks again.

 

[audiolympics]

I charge £150 for a one-side release - an extra £50 for contacting and distributing to editors.

 

[audiolympics]

...but I see you did it yourself. Maybe next time.

 

[holidays2crete]

my site which is my username is a travel related site but would I benefit from a press release? and what would it entail. If useful I would also be happy to look into this avenue of advertising.

Apologies if hijacking

 

[audiolympics]

Duncan, you're only going to benefit if you have any actual news, or if you can piggyback some news in the press about travel or holidays. There's usually some beat-the-credit-crunch angle you can exploit at the moment. But if you get in the press, it's unbeatable (practically free) advertising. The other thing you could look at is writing is authoritative articles for the travel supplements. Try approaching the sub-editors and seeing if they'd be up for the idea, outlining what each article would cover, then work with a writer to draft them.

 

[ccjo]

V handy thread - such useful info for those of us whith zero PR knowledge & just thinking of having a go!

Jo

 

[brutondave]

Very handy indeed Jo, I'm umming and aaahing about the whole press release thing at the moment too. I'm still not sure though how we are meant to know who to choose when embarking upon this. How do you know whether you are going to get something decent written for your money, and what incentive is there for a PR person to really push for it to be published after they have received their fixed fee? (Apart from professional integrity of course).

Some people have said that they will contact journalists for £x. But how many journalists/publications would be contacted? Are these just journalists that they have regular contact with? Can we provide a list of publications that we would like to be targetted?

 

[Minuteman Press]

So true - you folk are the best promoters of your businesses. Writing a press release is not difficult but requires compliance with a few rules.

Have a bash yourselves. Target the audience, research key contacts in local media, outline angles to them that they can build on. You'll be astonished if you work at it. All for free (apart from own time).

Magazines, radio, tv, newspapers, websites, local mags, clubs, societies, etc. Don't just write to the editor - find the most appropriate individual.

Peter

 

[RobAtPressDispensary]

I'm still not sure though how we are meant to know who to choose when embarking upon this. How do you know whether you are going to get something decent written for your money, and what incentive is there for a PR person to really push for it to be published after they have received their fixed fee? (Apart from professional integrity of course).

I can appreciate your dilemma. When we started in this business our only competition was a couple of American biggies who, in my opinion, weren't really relevant to the UK. Now it's a crowded market place with lots of journalists and PR freelancers offering press release writing etc. and it is, truly, hard for newcomers to make a selection.

I can only speak for my own business in answering you. We stand by our body of work, we're very happy for anyone to read it and we publish it on our website for prospective clients - as well as journalists - to look at. Our home page (at pressdispensary.co.uk) has a sample of recent releases and you can click on any one of them to see what we wrote. If you want to burrow further, there's a search engine where you could put in some key words about your own business and see what comes up.

Then there are our dozens of testimonials at pressdispensary.co.uk/press_release_testimonials.php. And you can follow the links in the testimonials to see who the clients are and what we wrote for them, which means we can't have made it up!

Some people have said that they will contact journalists for £x. But how many journalists/publications would be contacted? Are these just journalists that they have regular contact with? Can we provide a list of publications that we would like to be targetted?

Again, I can only speak for my company. When we distribute a release, we manually compile a press list for that specific release from a large database (80,000 in the UK, 1.5million worldwide) and we send you a draft for your comments and approval. You're also welcome to suggest your own titles or journalists and we'll find their contact details.

The size of the press list depends on the nature of your story. If you're launching - say - a club night in Brighton, it will normally go to the appropriate sectors of the entertainment press, the city's free sheets and the entertainment journalists on the local and regional papers. The number's likely to run into the dozens or scores but not hundreds. On the other hand, if you were launching an online consumer business of interest to the whole of the UK, we might target the appropriate correspondents on every local and regional newspaper in the country, as well as the relevant national and trade press, in which case your press list might number the low thousands. Some of them we might know in person (and some might know us as we're a recognised brand) but, of course, we wouldn't know all of them.

We would also publish the release online, to be taken up by Google News and many other online news sites.

Other companies send releases only to journalists they know, or who've signed up to their site. Some claim to have many thousands of subscribed journalists but if you look closely, a few of these sites are using worldwide lists and aren't necessarily UK-based, so there's no guarantee you'll actually reach British journalists - or, particularly, the right British journalists for your story.

Other companies, again, only publish releases online but don't send anything out. This can sometimes be good for SEO but not so good for targeting journalists! But watch out for sites which offer to publish releases online for free. There is no free lunch. They'll either then plague you to upgrade to a paid version or they're really only using your release as a chance to sell advertising around it.

I hope some of this helps. I'm afraid there's no real substitute for spending some time shopping around and seeing what people offer in detail.

Cheers

Rob
Press Dispensary

 

[The Movie Booth]

Agreed with Senor Yeti, the tough part is getting it to the right person who will use your news. If you have money to spend, I would use it on a distribution service.