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Writing a basic press release
There is a phrase that is used in newsrooms big and small around the world, so much so that it has also come to be used in the marketing profession, teaching, sales and a range of others. If there is only one thing that you remember from this email, only one thing that leaps to mind when you are putting together a press release for your business let it be this:
Don’t bury the lead
Simple advice, but hard to follow. Put another way it could read: Put the important bit clearly and upfront. Journalists, like us all, are busy people, if something doesn’t grab their attention they quickly move on. So, your press release should start with the most important information, the thing you want to make sure they know. After that, you can start building out the details and adding the less critical information that supports the point you are trying to get across.
Beyond these basic rules, there are hundreds of different schools of thought on how best to structure a press release, how many paragraphs should you use? Should you separate out quotes or incorporate them into the main text? How long should it be? Rather than proselytise my preferred format, I’m simply going to give you three rules of thumb for writing and formatting the most effective press releases:
- Make your title/email subject catchy, if they never open it then what’s in the rest of your press release doesn't matter
- The most important information at the start
- Attention is at a premium, don’t take 20 words to say something that can be said in 5
If you feel you need help writing your first press release or you would like to benefit from our wide range of journalistic contacts. Please feel free to contact our friendly team for a no obligation consultation and we would be happy to help you.
What will a Labour government mean for small businesses in Northern Ireland?
Today we all woke up to the news that for the first time in 14 years, the UK has a new party of government. Given just how overwhelmingly the polls over the last 6 weeks pointed to this outcome I've spent the past few days reading through the Labour manifesto and the analysis of it so that I can pull out and explain the policies that may impact you the most. Several of these policies come with the proviso that they are only going to be applied to England in the first instance, but if they turn out to be popular/effective it doesn't take a massive leap of imagination to see the executive being pushed to adopt them. With all that said, here is what is on the horizon:
Rationalisation of business rates
Labour is planning on overturning the system of business rates (in England) to” level the playing field” between online retailers and high streets and incentivise investment. I would love to give you more detail on how they are planning to accomplish this or what the new system will look like, but Labour's manifesto is sparse on those kinds of details. All that I can say with certainty at the moment is that it is something to keep an eye on and if it goes well something to push the executive/councils to adopt here.
Corporation tax cap
Labour has committed to keeping Corporation tax at 25%, the lowest in the G7, throughout this parliament. This does provide a level of certainty that has been absent the past 14 years since the Tory government changed the Corporation tax rate almost twice a year on average, and it will provide a competitive advantage to large manufacturers and service providers who are competing with the G7. Unfortunately for all of us, 25% is still double the 12.5% Corporate tax rate in the South, meaning that we won't get anything like a competitive advantage.
Annual small business investment allowance
This is another policy that I would love to have more detail on, but since it's only half a sentence in the middle of the economic section of the manifesto it's completely impossible to make any kind of inference about the electability, scope or value of the allowance. Certainly a tax break to be looking forward to though.
There is a lot in this manifesto for us to be looking forward to and the level of realism and consideration for businesses marks a striking departure from the 2019 manifesto.
The marketing tricks in our new leaflets and how you can use them
After weeks of work, we have put the finishing touches on our new leaflets, so we are going to take the opportunity to show you all the techniques we used and how you can apply them to your business.
Anchoring
"Revolutionise your business communications with packages from as little as £100 per month".
This line that appears at the top of the first page is a straightforward example of Anchoring. It informs the reader of the price range they can expect a quote to be in and sets their expectations.
How you can use this technique depends on the type of business you are in. If you have a set price list you should post it so that all customers know what they can expect to pay before they even walk through the door. If, like us, your business offers bespoke pricing setting a base price sets client's expectations so they don't baulk whenever you give them a quote.
Endowment effect
"Contact us to claim your free consultation and no obligation quote".
This line from the bottom of the first page is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It combines the endowment effect, loss aversion and implied contrast. The endowment effect is the most obvious and the most applicable else ware so it's the one we will explain. The endowment effect is the idea that giving a customer something for free creates a sense of goodwill and reciprocity, making them more likely to purchase from you or feel good about their purchase.
How you apply this again depends on the type of business you run, can you give customers a free add-on such as an extra treatment at a salon or a free cleaning set with their new car? Can you throw in some free screws with their new drill? It depends on what you can give away that makes sense with your product and won't hurt your bottom line.
Loss Aversion
"Have you ever considered that your perfect customer is out there, loyal and supportive, someone who truly loves your business, but they have never heard of you?"
Loss aversion is the idea that people are less willing to give up something they already have than miss out on something they never had. This is why the quote above from the top of the second page refers to 'your perfect customer' rather than potential customers. It makes the reader feel ownership of the theoretical customer, and therefore concerned at the thought of losing them.
There are lots of different ways you could incorporate this into your business, but they all hinge on getting the customer to feel ownership of the product or service so they don't want to lose it.
Authority Bias
"- Jack, Founder Wild Rabbit"
Thinking as a process is incredibly energy intensive, so the human brain has several 'rules of thumb' that it uses to avoid having to fully analyse and consider all the situations it could find itself in. These 'rules of thumb' are called heuristics and they are a goldmine for marketing. The heuristic used in this leaflet is the authority bias which is the tendency of humans to believe people they see as being in a position of authority. Ever wonder why brands clamour to have celebrities in their ads? This is why.
The easiest way you can incorporate this heuristic into your business is by having communications with customers come from someone in the business with an impressive title. Your next leaflet could have a quote from the CEO, your order confirmations could come from your head of customer success, you get the idea.
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