Press releases are seen by many as free publicity. Upon their publication in a news publication, if focused on your law practice, you can reap exposure that would otherwise have cost significant money in advertising costs. This also holds true when a press release is used by new media such as blogs, websites, podcasts, online news aggregators and more.
The process of writing a press release is more straightforward than most realize. Follow these steps and you’ll have a very good chance of getting your press release published. This will result in an opportunity to spotlight your law firm within the community and potentially bring in new clientele.
Distill the Message You Want to Deliver
A quality press release can be as short as 300-500 words, as Public relations firms trusts might explain. Edit it as many times as possible to keep it under the maximum number of words. The goal is to identify the main points of information that you want to get across to readers as concisely as possible.
- The first paragraph. Use a strong opening for your lead sentence. Within two or three sentences, the main point of the press release should be well established. Keep the first paragraph to no more than four sentences as a general rule.
- The middle paragraphs. Again, less is more. Use the middle paragraphs to expound on your first paragraph. Keep them to two to three sentences long, but stay under your maximum word count.
- The last paragraph. This is where you sum up what you established in the first paragraph and touch on what you mentioned in the other paragraphs.
Provide Your Law Firm’s Media Contact
Like traditional business letter, a press release address is “signed” with the media contact of the company who wrote the press release. The media contact should be someone at your law firm who will have a general understanding of the press release’s contents. Very often a law-focused press releases includes technical information. For that reason the media contact should be knowledgeable of its contents.
Include All Pertinent Information
A press release should contain all the information central to the story. Answer in as few words as possible the questions: who, what, when, where, and why of your message or announcement. A press release is presented as a news piece but is actually about your law firm.
The Potential Power of a Press Release
