Press releases.
Is there such a thing as press release writers?
Can you make money selling your service as a press release writer online?
But are some good press release examples that actually work and go far on major news
release networks?
And finally, how do you write a good press release?
All these questions and more I'm answering in today's video on this topic.
From 2011 to 2021, I ran my own content writing agency.
We did 40,000 projects for over 5000 clients, and over those ten years we did over
3000 press releases.
We sold those press releases at a $199 each.
That was for the copy.
Only if you do the math, that's $597,000 in ten years.
Just from press release writing.
Now, what I did to make this a sellable service was I wrote the internal guidelines
that drove the creation of successful press releases.
And we used those internal guidelines to hire people with journalism and
communications major and turn them into a qualified press release writer.
And we ended up writing press releases with those writers and my training that had a 100%
acceptance rate on any major news network they were pitched to.
If you know anything about me, I'm Julie McCoy, the founder of Content Hacker.
I teach creative entrepreneurs how to build a successful business out of their skills
using strategy and systems.
My whole platform is about doing things ten x.
If you're going to go in and do it, you better make it the best it can be because
that's when it lasts the longest, makes you the most income, creates legacy, generational
wealth and frankly actually works is of benefit for your clients as a benefit for you
and your family. That's why whenever I went to sell the press release writing service, I
wrote guidelines that didn't exist back in 2012 for this as a service, and I've taught
it to over 1000 marketers and agencies across the last ten years.
So without further ado, let's get into our topic how to write press releases and get
paid with a real life example of a press release in action.
I have thousands of examples of press releases, but for this video I'm going to use
a press release that I did for myself.
This press release went out on prob also known as Cision.
The other major news network that we use was PR Newswire.
In fact, PR Newswire by far was one of the biggest that our clients submitted the press
release we wrote for them too.
We've been able to get press releases syndicated to major sites like Yahoo!
Finance, Business Wire and many more just because of the quality of the content in the
press release.
So this press release was for my first ever book, so you think you can write?
We published the book and the press release back in 2016.
I didn't actually write this press release.
I had my PR writer that I trained write it, and then I edited it to make sure it was my
voice. There are five basic points every press release should have if you want it to
go far. The first one is a newsworthy, clear headline.
You can see that in this press release newly released guidebook for freelance online
writers and business owners.
So you think you can write?
The definitive guide to online writing by Gillian McCoy is out.
You know that this book was just released.
You know instantly who this book is for.
You have the book title and the book author.
See how all of those things are clear?
We found after working with our clients to submit press releases directly to these
networks, which we did for the first five years in my agency, and then we stopped doing
that. We did a copy only was that these news networks looked for a clear headline above
all else not clickbait, not vague, not created to entice or intrigue.
So it really is true clarity over cleverness.
And that is true in a press release too.
So your headline must be clear and this should go without saying, but it also must be
newsworthy. You must have something new that just came out to talk about.
I remember when we had to turn clients away for news releases because we knew their press
release wouldn't work.
They didn't have actual news to talk about.
They were trying to spin a blog into a press release.
They were trying to spin an existing article into a press release.
That doesn't work.
You actually have to have news.
Who knew? Number two, every press release needs a clear location and a clear time and
date. So obviously for this one it was Austin, Texas, and then we had the date of
when the book released on Amazon, number three, up to 650 words of copy about the news
that you're talking about.
The first paragraph should be crystal clear.
And not only that, it should be intriguing, exciting.
In this press release, we presented me, the author, in a fun way.
A young entrepreneur that just got her business to seven figures is sharing her
knowledge. That's an exciting hook.
We started with that in the press release.
Then there's a quote you hear directly from me, the author, how this book is going to
help my audience, the vision I have for it, who I believe it will reach.
Getting quotes from the experts featured in this news piece is critical to your press
release, and we always had our clients submit a quote whenever they paid us the
invoice to write their press release.
In this whole press release, and this is true of all the ones that we wrote, you can
see a flow.
Once you're hooked with the story, we tell you more about it.
There is clarity on who the book is for, who it was written by, and why this is an
important topic.
We have that broken up into four paragraphs and our fifth is all about anything
complimentary to this book that we launched, which incidentally we did.
We also launched a podcast, so we were able to talk about that.
Finally, our last paragraph is about the company, about me, about express writers,
which I ran at the time.
And the very last sentence of that very last paragraph is where we plug a link to our
services. So you can see the entire piece is not promotional.
In fact, we keep that link to the very last sentence of the entire press release.
So that was the third point.
The copy, which is arguably the most important part besides the headline of your
entire press release.
Number four You need a simple way to contact the author, the creator, the brand that is
producing this press release for us that was our clients.
And for this press release in particular, it was me.
You can contact the author or my company.
And then lastly, fifth, it's really good if you can have a short promo video filmed and
created for your press release.
This just adds a lot, especially in this video forward age.
And as you can see in this press release, all I had was a two minute I think it was
less than 2 minutes video of me standing in front of a green screen, which we didn't even
bother to edit out.
And I simply talked for a minute and a half about my book.
It can be that simple.
You don't have to overthink that promo video, but something that shows your face if
you have a product. For me, it was the book, right?
So I could show that product on the screen.
That is a great addendum to your press release, a great way to add something that
puts a face, a voice to the name.
And there is a name in this press release, right?
It's my name. That's the author.
And even better, we put this video on my YouTube channel, so we were able to give that
YouTube channel to PR web and the news networks, which gave my YouTube channel even
more traffic. If you don't have a video though, we did thousands of press releases
without them and the main traffic went back to the website.
That's just fine to if you want a lot more depth on this topic of how to write a press
release, I have a workshop I Content Hacker.
It's currently on sale for just $27, so you can grab that incredibly in-depth workshop
where I show you step by step how to write a press release.
You'll actually see me writing one for one of my personal clients, which is our an
acronym that stands for Operation Underground Railroad.
They help stop child exploitation and trafficking.
I love that company.
So it was amazing for me to be able to write a press release for them that got major
traction. So you can see me write that press release.
You can see the exact template.
I used a downloadable copy and paste template for you to use and you can even
replicate the service with your clients.
Press Release. Writing is a skill that I truly believe more online writers need to
know more. Copywriters can easily pick this skill up, adapt it and sell it.
But first you need to have the skill.
And as someone that sold over 500,000 worth of press release copywriting alone, you can
trust that I know exactly what I'm doing whenever I teach you how to write a press
release. So go check that workshop out.
I'll put the link here on the screen, grab your seat in that workshop while the price is
just $27.
So that's a wrap on how to write press releases and get paid.
I hope that helped you inspire you at the very least at the opportunities for writers
online, because that's truly what this boils down to.
There are opportunities to make incredible amounts of money using your gift for writing
home that into a skill set.
Take that to the web and you can do great things.
As always, if you like this video, please hit like comment.
Tell me what your takeaway was.
If you have questions, drop them here too and hit.
Subscribe to my channel at Julian McCoy.
I'm always creating new content just like this for creative entrepreneurs, just like
you. I'll see you here next time.