Press releases are a bit more restrictive and formulaic. Their word count should be limited
to one full page of content or less (500 words is a good average), and the tone should target
the media??”details, numbers, and first-hand testimonials count for a lot more than
descriptive prose. The more salient, chewy nuggets of fact that are included, the greater
the chance the press release will be recycled into a news story by an outside writer.
Receive approval from the customer
Getting the material approved by the interviewee is a necessary step. While it may seem
redundant??”after all, they did agree to be interviewed??”it is more than just a formality.
Enabling people to read what they said before it goes to print is the courteous and professional
course of action because it provides the writer and participating companies
several important final checks:
Make sure people were quoted accurately: This is especially true when interviews
are not recorded and the writer is relying on hand-written notes. Generally, people
don??™t mind having their quotes cleaned up for grammar and structure, as long as
the meaning is not altered.
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