Learn to Create a Press Release That Stops Media Gatekeepers Short - and Starts a Flood of Coverage That Brings You Customers

Powerful News Releases Require Distinctive Copywriting Techniques and Understanding of Journalists' Needs

"As written about in the New York Times..."
"We were February's 'Find of the Month' in Photographic Supply Monthly."
"As featured on the NBC Nightly News..."

I challenge you to cite a greater return on investment than that produced by a world-class media release that lands you on page 1 of a major newspaper, in a two-page spread in your top industry magazine or in the fluffy final segment of a network newscast.

Just one major score like this, and you can milk the credibility payoff for your business practically forever. Inspire a feature story that gets picked up by the Associated Press, and enjoy people all over the world clamoring to get their hands on what you sell.

Enticing? Here's what such publicity success requires.

My name is Marcia Yudkin, and I'm the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity, a book that has been sold in bookstores throughout the U.S. and Canada since 1994. Updated and revised editions appeared in 2003 and 2009. It's part of the permanent collection of thousands of public libraries in the US.

The first press release I ever wrote prompted TV cameras from two local stations to cover an antiwar march of women and children that my friends and I spearheaded in my home town. My second one landed my company on page 1 of the Wall Street Journal. My third attempt was quoted and praised in a best-selling book by Tom Peters, besides coverage in local and national publications that brought in customers for an innovative business service.

This wasn't sheer luck. Any major media coup requires three ingredients:

• Understanding what the media consider as news
• Imaginative yet credible use of language
• Avoidance of red flags that lead to a media "no"

The magic of a persuasive press release involves wordcraft of a special sort. If you use the copywriting techniques proven to work for sales letters, you are dead as a dodo.

If you'd like to learn the fundamentals of obtaining media coverage for yourself, your company or your cause, read my book, 6 Steps to Free Publicity. If you'd like deeper mastery of the strategies and techniques for attracting media coverage, my home-study program, The Press Release Makeover Course, provides a unique, hands-on self-study tool.

Insider analysis of media-worthiness and proper tone

The Press Release Makeover Course consists of two dozen "before" versions of releases that had little chance of ending up in the news, an analysis of the flaws and missing elements in each, and my "after" version that eliminates the weaknesses and in many instances radically recasts the publicity angle so as to appeal appropriately to media gatekeepers.

Here are just a few of the points you'll learn:

• The everyday three-letter word you should avoid using in the headline and main text of your release, and why

• How to use the skeptical questions, "Who cares?" and "Why now?" to generate more compelling publicity angles

• The often neglected headline and content element that's necessary to spark local coverage

• Two releases designed to inspire holiday gift or any-time gift coverage

• Ways to dramatize the appeal of new products to journalists, without hype

• Techniques that greatly boost the odds of coverage for your event

• The two types of pronouns that kill media interest in your offering

• Examples of quotes that enhance the persuasive power of a release

• Why and how to tone down enthusiasm for your own product or service

• Cures for vagueness, a flaw often seen in releases for new books

• The importance of dispelling misconceptions that could lead to the mistaken dismissal of your point

• A sample easy-to-use template for local coverage that a national organization can distribute to its members

• A rewrite of a pre-Internet release showing how wording can attract or discourage traffic from search engines

Is this course for you? Let's see...

You're bound to enjoy a rich return from your time studying this manual if you fall into one or more of these categories:

• A publisher, inventor, manufacturer or marketer for any other kind of company releasing a new product, with or without a sizable promotional budget
• A nonprofit or advocacy organization eager to attract more donors and more attention for your cause
• An established expert, company or organization hoping for a profitable media spotlight on what you do
• A performer, promoter or presenter needing publicity for events
• A copywriter interested in offering additional services to companies hiring you to write sales material
• Someone charged with writing press releases as part of your job who knows you don't really know what you're doing or wishes you could get better results

Do the principles explained and concretely put into practice in this manual truly make a difference? Well, my own publicity credits include Entrepreneur, Success Magazine, Women in Business, Home Office Computing, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Daily News, Dallas Morning News, four appearances in the Sunday Boston Globe and many, many more.

An editor at Lawyer's Weekly once called me to say that my latest release was the best she'd seen in her entire career. An editor at Dynamic Graphics said she couldn't use my release, but could I write an article on its theme - for $750? (During the next few years, I wrote something like seven more paid articles for this magazine, articles that in turn brought me clients.) In short, the techniques taught in this affordable course positively get you attention and inspire profitable media coverage.

Learn to create blockbuster coverage from your creativity, positioning skill of the most humble raw materials. Order The Press Release Makeover Course today!