I’ll let you into a secret. I’ve written for a lot of newspapers and magazines. Nobody would know this if I didn’t say so. My name doesn’t appear as the writer.
Many times I’ve sat there with the newspaper, reading the article I wrote, word for word.
How? Thanks to the art of writing a great press release.
Here’s 5 reasons why press releases are a key music business skill
1. Copy and Pasting
If you learn to write like a journalist then your work can simply be copy and pasted into the newspaper.
2. Journalists Are Overworked
Get to know today’s journalists and you’ll discover that the past decade has seen cutback after cutback. Journalists today are seriously overworked. Every journalist today is doing the jobs of several writers.
3. Journalists Will Love Your Perfectly Written Press Release
So imagine you’re in that situation of tight deadlines and too much work. What would be better than a perfectly written article that could just be dropped onto the page?
4. You’ll Be Much More Competitive For News Space
Scenario time: there’s a journalist with a deadline and some space to fill on the music page. The choice is to cover your music or another band. You’ve delivered a perfect press release. The other band has just sent over some rough details.
You can simply be copy and pasted into the newspaper. Or the journalist can choose to phone the other band, do an interview, and write up a story. Three guesses who will get the coverage!
5. You’ll Build Relationships
Relationships are all about serving others. By writing great press releases, you’ll be helping overworked journalists to have an easier time at work. They’ll love you for it, and they’ll trust you and your writing.
This often leads to extra coverage. My press releases were so great that my local music journalist asked me to contribute to the music industry special pullout section in my local newspaper. This is great free coverage – and all because I took the time to learn how to write great press releases.
Top Tip
Always make sure the 5 key questions of your story are covered in your opening paragraph.
- Who
- What
- Where
- When
- Why
Example
Local rock legend Elvis McFabulous [who] is performing [what] at Jeff’s Record Store [where] on Friday evening [when] to launch his brand new EP [why].
