The format most (if not all) companies use when they release a press release can be simplified by their answering these questions: What’s the buzz? Where’s the buzz? Who’s in the buzz? When did the buzz happen? and How did it happen? A skillful combination of all or some of the answers to these questions makes up the entirety of your press release. Moreover, notice that all of these questions ask about one thing: buzz.
Need to boost your press and learn how to write a press release for a movie?
You’re in the right place – and the right direction. A well-written press release for a movie will significantly ramp up its viewership by helping spark interest in its production or by generating media buzz about a particular aspect of the film such as a reclusive indie director, a controversial actress playing a cameo role, or an ingeniously crafted screenplay. But, you have to know how to write a press release for a movie.
Like everything else these days, a movie—however exquisitely produced or complemented by big-name stars—will make a terrible mistake if it solely relies on its internal merits to boost its bottom line. In fact, a few critically acclaimed films performed poorly in the box office, while movies with less artistic or technical credentials unexpectedly raked in millions of mind-blowing dollars in gross sales. In many cases, well-written press releases spell the difference between a movie that attracts high viewership and one that miserably misses its revenue targets.
Knowing the secrets of the trade in how to write a press release for a movie will boost your PR readability and power.
Raindance, an international organization of filmmakers, has recognized the importance of marketing and public relations to a film’s success, clearly stating that a movie—even one that has bagged major cinematic awards—is worthless without a viewing audience.
This is from an organization that helps train directors such as Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) and David Yates (Harry Potter), as well as produce brilliant and strongly marketed films such as Pulp Fiction and The Blair Witch Project.
That said, what factors should you consider when how to write a press release for a movie? Press releases represent the main tool outside advertising, which movie publicists and marketers can use to generate viewer interest about a film. Unlike true-blue ads, press releases are deemed more objective and are far more affordable.
Strictly speaking, press releases are pseudo news articles that aim to showcase the newsworthiness of an event, service or product—a film in this case—to a decision maker in media such as a reporter or an editor. Failing to pique the interest of these decision makers will prevent the publication of the press release in credible and widely used channels such as established newspapers and online media portals. Compare the impact of a press release published in The New York Times and the effect of one just wallowing among thousands being hosted by a PR aggregator, and you can see the importance of why press releases should be written and deployed by trained professionals. You can read a related post to get more insight on how to create effective press releases.
As has been established, the process of writing and distributing press releases is very important in the box office success of a newly produced movie. If you are tasked to create one, here are a few tips to help you achieve your PR objectives:
1. Recognize your role.
Trained press release writers for films are aware of the potential impact of their output on the overall profitability of the movie they are handling. Remember that press releases can backfire instead of propelling a movie’s gross receipts, and failing to get published on widely read channels is not the worst outcome a press release can generate. At their worst, badly written or deployed press releases can create negative publicity for a movie, which often results to a major dent in its box office revenues. Poorly crafted press releases can also damage the PR agency’s reputation and—knock on wood—ruin your credential as a press release writer. The key is to take your role seriously and to deftly navigate the potholes that block the development of good, effective press releases.
2. Package the message.
A movie has a message. For PR purposes, the message could be one that is not intrinsic in the film but in the process of making it. However, the best message a movie can communicate is the movie itself. This means that writers tasked to craft a press release for a movie should have a panoramic view (pun intended) of the material whenever possible, including attendance at prescreening sessions whenever there is one. If there are limited prescreening sessions, make do with the information the filmmakers are willing to share and use your ingenuity to package the message. To do this, you can showcase the film’s major draw such as its director, cast, story, or special effects.
Remember to be especially creative, original and clever when deciding on the press release’s title. The first few sentences should also deliver your message in a way that readily catches viewer attention and entices readers to wait for the film’s theatrical release in eager anticipation. If you are new in the trade, it’s a great idea to snoop around the Internet for excellent press releases for films that you can use as models.
3. Follow the standard formats.
Press releases for films generally conform to a more or less standard template and it’s good practice to follow industry-accepted formats in knowing how to write a press release for a movie. Doing so not only reflects professionalism but also lends the press release with a sense of credibility. Commonly, a press release for a movie has the following major elements:
4. Whet your audience’s appetite.
Movies are sensory treats. Leaving too much to the imagination by just submitting a text-based material to PR channels is rarely a good thing. Perk up your press release with production stills, video clips, or poster images to ignite anticipation among potential viewers.
5. Review the final output.
Employ a proofreader or editor to review the final iteration of your press release. This is a critical step for how to write a press release for a movie, prior to submission to PR and media channels and should never be bypassed. Grammatical and factual errors greatly erode a press release’s credibility and its intended positive impact. At worst, errors can put your agency and your reputation as a writer in a bad light, which can cause your client portfolio to suddenly shrink. At the very least, you should review your own work thoroughly and become your greatest critic before submitting your press release.
6. Deploy your message.
Once you get a go signal from your editor (or if you already feel highly confident about your work), you can distribute the press release to the appropriate channels. Note the term “appropriate.” Similar to a game of chess, strategically deploying your pieces means a higher likelihood of winning. In the PR world, haphazard deployment often results to useless but cost-incurring efforts.
Next is distribution, which we’ll recap later. Be smart and use distribution that is high quality, relevant, and targeted. Distributing a press release for a movie to a food magazine will hardly gain traction for your campaign. However, things could be different if the film strongly uses food as a symbol or its main cinematic platform. Strongly targeting niche magazines, popular blogs and online portals that focus on food and the culinary arts can then be very powerful.
Need great press releases? Let our pro team of PR journalists help you today. Check out our PR services in the Content Shop!
Because the structure of a press release is pretty standard, numerous content writers erroneously think that creativity has nothing to do with first-class press release writing skills. While the format of a press release leaves very little room for surprise, its content should make your announcement truly stand out. After all, your main goal is to capture the attention of numerous media channels; to deliver a meaningful, compelling message; and to create buzz around your product release, upcoming event, and any other newsworthy element that you plan to put on full display. Are you worried that your press release writing skills might be a little rusty? Start implementing these 5 amazingly effective tips to craft informative, attention-grabbing press releases, enabling you to get a significant amount of media coverage.
Here’s the scenario:
Your company has decided that it needs to publish four press releases a quarter in order to leverage the Internet marketing, content marketing, and public relations opportunities created from online releases.
The question is:
How do you come up with enough topics to create quality releases each and every quarter?
Actually, there are a bunch of ways. And many of them are right under your nose.
Consider the following strategies as you create press releases for your company throughout the next year of operation. By the end of it, you’ll have figured out which work best for you, your company, and your audience, and you’ll be prepared to increase your content marketing initiatives in the years to come.
It has long been understood that a well-written press release with newsworthy appeal and relevance will get attention. But many businesses continue to write releases that don’t fit the bill, often hindering their image instead.
Check out this vintage journalist… smokin’ a cigar in the office.
1. Make it relevant. A news release won’t garner attention if it’s not newsworthy. You have to craft it well. A good rule of thumb: does it read like a news story—is it factual yet engaging, and does it represent you well? If not, go back and re-sketch. Consumers can see the difference between credible news and promotional gun slinging. A sales pitch with lots of superlatives will go nowhere. So skip the hard sell.
2. Always incorporate keywords. You can’t underestimate the importance of search engine optimization. SEO is the fastest way to get your press release into the hands of your target market. You need to know which keywords best convey your service or brand and then incorporate it within the headline, summary, body, and even in the About the company section.
3. Know your audience. Keep your target audience in mind. Speak the language a consumer can understand and relate to. Is your product geared more to a particular audience than another? It’s better to pitch within your market than to be all over the board.
4. A short and sweet headline. When creating a headline, focus on two things: positioning for search (a keyword phrase) and creating a compelling-clickable title. The best headlines do both by conveying the content of the release. Though there is no standard limit on how many words to use in a headline, Google New’s guidelines suggest fewer than 23 words; and to be displayed on Google’s SERP use 67 characters (letters and spaces combined) or less.
5. Never write in the first person, or use the word “you.” Always write in the third person. Businesses who write in the “you” form potentially risk being targeted as spam. Moreover, it’s unprofessional.
6. Embed, embed, embed. Today’s press release is no longer the announcement of yesterday. Now you can include pictures, audio, video, and other multimedia components. They bring context to your content and give the consumer a chance to interact with you. So it just makes sense to become familiar with the new online template of today.
7. Use simple language. Now that everyone has access to your news release—from the everyday layman to industry experts—skip the industry-specific language, unless it’s essential to communicate your message. You could potentially turn away readers if they can’t understand your terminology. Brevity and clear writing is key.
8. Link it. Everything is on the Web today, so make sure you provide a list of clickable links to your brand website, blog, or social media sites. If you can, try to include anchor texts in three different keywords of the body text, with one linking to an internal page other than your homepage. It goes without saying that wherever you send your reader, it needs to enhance your brand or product.
9. Include quotes. Always include one or two quotes in the body text. Quotes give you authority, making you sound credible. Give reference to the person at the end of the quote, instead of in between sentences.
10. Don’t forget contact information. It’s important that people can contact your business. Besides that, many publishers will not accept your submission without contact details. Include media contact person, address, phone, email, and website.
Hopefully, these tips can help you enhance your PR writing. But if writing a news release feels intimidating, let us take on your press writing for you.
A knowledgeable press release writer can create press that will increase your exposure, putting you in a better position to be picked up by reputable media outlets and other well-established sites—such as bloggers, industry experts, or key-note organizations—thereby directing target traffic to your business, brand, or service.
Get your press release services today!