Our article on Monday, “Art Press Releases – Powerful Art Marketing Magnets” was one of our most successful of all time – so we are listening! Today we’re giving you 6 simple powerful tips to write a successful press release.. Note that there are numerous resources on the technical aspects of how to write good press releases – what we are focusing on here is what’s really important to get your art press release published!
Step 1 – Visualize Your Desired Reader
Imagine your ideal art reader – someone who would be interested in following your career and buying your work. Keep that image in mind as you write. Write the press release for them – not for you!
Step 2 – Grab Attention In The Title and First Paragraph
In early times people could easily assimilate large amounts of information. There was less news competing for our attention so we could afford the time to read most news items in full. Then came television which taught us all to have 90-second sound bite attention spans. And today with Twitter we communicate less than 140 characters at a time!
Your press release has to literally grab the editor of the newspaper you are sending it to, AND the intended readers by the throat (in a nice way!) – or you will be just another glossed over news feed item. Therefore, the title and the first paragraph of your press release are the most important.
The title is especially important for another reason. In addition to emailing or faxing your press release to newspaper editors you will almost certainly want to have it released online by one of the many online press release hubs. (We’ll provide a list of these in the next article on press releases). When it goes online search engines will find it – and the title is the single most important keyword factor in dealing with search engines.
To summarize this section: Create a punchy, engaging title and opening paragraph designed to grab attention.
Step 3 – Deliver The Information
After the opening paragraph we recommend a body of one (preferably) or two paragraphs in which you deliver information about your event or art news item. Keep them short and engaging – don’t ramble! Please also note: The entire press release must be written objectively in 3rd person.
Step 4 – Include An Engaging 3rd-Person Quote
In our current world we intuitively rate a 3rd-party viewpoint more highly that that of the artist or subject. Ideally then, the next paragraph should be a short quote from someone relevant to the announcement who has something amazing to say about your art. It could be the curator of your show, a local art critic, or a client. If they don’t have an important sounding title create one for them. Perception is important!
Step 5 – Close With A Call To Action
The final paragraph should be short and provide readers with a next step. You got their attention – so what would you like them to do now? In our experience it’s great to include an invitation or reference to an upcoming show or open studio together with a website address, email address, and phone number.
Step 6 – Include Contact Details
For reference you should include a separate section at the end of the press release with a “Contact Details” heading. Do this even if you have referenced contact information in your final paragraph!
Looking for examples? We have them for you! Read the next article in this series 3 Examples Of Art Press Releases That Get Attention for details.
