Writing a Press Release to get your Adventure noticed.
Promoting your adventures can have many benefits, whether you're looking to attract more followers to your socials, or raise awareness of a good cause you're supporting, however you might be left scratching your head trying to figure out how to get it 'out there' and noticed by others. We wouldn't call ourselves professionals, but we have managed to grab the attention of various news websites, and recently landed ourselves a live interview on BBC Radio; so hopefully you'll find at least some of the tips we have useful.
Start with Why. Before you even begin to put a press release together, really consider why you're doing it, and consider what it is it you're trying to achieve. Secondly then consider why any particular news team would feature your article.
Once you've had a think about these things, it's probably a good time to start putting your release together, starting with the headline. Just as a punchy headline will grab your attention, a good headline will also grab the attention of the editors reviewing submissions. You might want to consider who you're pitching to and the types of headlines they general use, and also try a few different ones out and see which fits with the rest of your article best. Recently we used "Suffolk based bloggers part of national campaign" to promote our 24hr Adventure Challenge with What 3 Words as part of their #KnowExactlyWhere campaign. We went with this because it immediately let's the reader know that we're 'locals' who are part of something 'national', which for local press can be recognised as a 'good news' type story. When it comes to writing the release, again, consider which publications you're sending it out to, and the average word count of their articles; generally 200 - 300 words seems to work well, if they're particularly interested they can always get in touch for more information. Again, try putting your 'journo' hat on, avoid writing in the first person, unless you're inserting a quote, and read it over to see if it feels like something you'd read in a paper or on the web. Include the facts, names, and details, and by including a solid 'Call to Action' you're probably on your way to putting together a half decent press release. You'll also want to make sure you've ticked off the 5 Ws; Who, What, Where, When, and Why, throughout the body of your article, just have a read through and make sure there's no key information missing.
Include a high quality photo for the article, and make sure that all the contact details are accurate before you start firing it off. As with anything like this, getting a second / third pair of eyes to read through will always uncover slight errors which as the writer you might have become blind to.
If you're thinking of putting together a Press Release for the first time and would like some support, just drop us a message and we'll see what we can do to help your next adventure get noticed.