Have a 007 related product or event you think followers of The James Bond Dossier would love to read about?
In that case I’d love to feature it. But please make it easy for me and submit a well structured press release.
The less time I need to spend on your press release the sooner your product or event will be promoted.
And if it requires a substantial rewrite I probably won’t find the time to do it, no matter how good your product is.
How to write a Press Release
Before you write your press release you need to work out who your ideal customer is exactly and how they benefit from your offer.
- Target market: Bond fans isn’t specific enough. You need to dig deeper and ideally come up with a customer persona, or avatar. Who are they, what are their wants, needs, fears and ambitions? How old are they, where do they live?
- Pains, gains and jobs: Does your product solve a specific problem? Does it provide a benefit? Or does it help perform a specific task?
These can be social (e.g. the status of owning an Aston Martin); emotional (e.g. the joy of finally completing a full set of Pan paperbacks, or seeing the latest Bond film and that feeling of nostalgia when you remember the whole family watching 007 on TV); or functional (e.g. buying a second hand car because you need to be able travel to work – I can’t think of a Bond related example here!).
In reality it is probably a mixture of these such as wearing a Turnbull & Asser shirt to work because (functional) the office dress code requires it and (emotional) you get a thrill from dressing like James Bond. Since we’re talking about fandom emotional reasons are likely to predominate.
Ready to start writing your press release? Here goes – ideally it should be 300-400 words long and follow the following structure:
Headline
You need to grab people’s attention. If your headline doesn’t get the reader interested enough to read the first line of your press release then you’re wasting your time. Make it short and snappy, but make sure your release delivers what the headline promises. Avoid clickbait headlines at all cost.
Opening
The opening sentence of your release should expand on what’s promised by the headline. Make it concise but get the reader intrigued enough to read on. And forget about how great you are. It should be about what’s in it for the reader – think benefits over features.
Body
Here is where you should put in all the detail but don’t make it all about you – put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. By all means introduce your company but let your product speak for itself.
Focus on features and benefits; make it interesting; don’t ramble.
Anyone skimming the press release should be able to understand what it’s about and get the main points.
Contact
If a reader makes it to the end of your press release what do you want them to do?
Email you? Visit your website? Pick up the phone?
End with a single sentence telling them what to do and how to do it.
Images
Ideally you should have an image that helps support your press release and you must have permission to use it in your promotion.
That’s it, you’re done.
Press release ready?
You can email me directly, or you can paste your press release into the form below.
Upload any images to Dropbox/Google Drive or another file sharing service and include links at the end of your release.
If that all sounds like too much you can hire me to write your press release.
As well as publishing it on The James Bond Dossier I’ll advise where else you should send it.
Get in contact using the form below and we’ll see if you’re a good fit.
