Crucial Reasons Why Use Noted Facts To Write a Press Release

If you are needing specific facts and figures, find the best almanac or reference book available to you. These contain almost every known piece of scientific information we have to date. If you use one, be sure to use the most recent edition, as population figures, and number counts can rapidly grow or decline in a short amount of time.

For geographical information, you'll want to source out the areas atlas or encyclopaedia. Don't say the company headquarters are going to move to Arlington, if your national audience doesn't know if you mean Virginia or Texas.

If you're in need of statistical data, find out if you can utilize a current abstract. This uses sets of statistics and turns them into reader-friendly information that you can use to add credibility to your news item.

If using quotes in your work, you'll have to make sure that you attribute it to the right person. If you're dealing with a celebrity, you can look up their most famous quotes in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, or some other book of quotes that might be helpful.

Additionally, if you're quoting a source from the company you're working with, it might be wise to contact them before the press release goes out, and read their quote back to them to make sure they agree with what it is you say they said.

Research doesn't end with library books and phone calls, however. The Freedom of Information Act allows for any citizen to obtain certain government information at their request. You have the right to use any non-classified documents at your disposal in your press release, and using a government study definitely adds an element of reliability to your piece.

Census data can come in very handy when a company wants to directly inform the readers how their product or service will affect the community in a positive manner. You can use census data that is compiled every ten years, or yearly, depending on the source you get it from.

If you have the need to find legal decisions to back up your information, you want to start with a publication such as the Index to Legal Periodicals. This will direct you on where to find the most accurate information and court decisions that relate to your subject matter.

Other government agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Information (FBI), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issue annual reports that come in handy when you need to find regional information that affects the audience.

With the technology available today, its easy to enter your subject matter into an Internet search engine, and get back thousands of results with the lick of a button. Don't assume everything you see is accurate.

A website, unless an official state or other government agency site, cannot be considered accurate until you have produced a verifiable source. If Andy's Website on Pollution says that half of the countries water source is contaminated with e-coli bacteria, you don't want to consider Andy an accurate source unless you verify that he's the Director of Water Waste Management for the United States Government. Only then, can he be considered credible.

The Internet is a valuable source of leads, however. It can open up new questions that you hadn't previously thought to consider, and it can also point you in the direction of other lead sources who might be able to provide accuracy and credibility to your piece. If you have a library that has a public online database, its a great way of using the Internet and the library combined from the comfort of your own office (or home).

Interviews are another important part of researching your topic. Don't go into an interview without first thinking through your questions. The source you're meting with (or talking to on the phone), doesn't have the time to waste waiting for you to fumble around with your notes and figure out what direction you want to take in your press release.

Sit down before the interview and consider the type of piece you're writing. Then, jot down some notes on importance aspects of the topic you wish to discuss with your source. Don't try to ask your source for off the record information. It will only make he or she nervous, and it feels like more of an interrogation than an interview.

Carry a mini-recorder with you to the interview for accuracy, and to make sure the meeting moves along quickly. Before you leave the office, make sure it has fresh batteries, but don't rely on a tape alone for the notes.

Write down as much information as you can, without making the source stop and wait for you. You don't want to have to call him back a day later asking him to repeat everything because your tape failed to record the conversation. Its unprofessional, and will make him leery of dealing with you in the future.

Some things you might want to clarify in your meeting with a source are:

• What exactly do you need to know? This is important because they might not know the reason for your interview, or the topic you'll be writing about.

• Why do you want to know this? Some information is rather sensitive, and sources might not want to divulge certain facts if they don't have to, or if its not crucial to the topic.

• How are you going to use this information? Your source is going to be fuming if you use this information against him, so be upfront about how it will be used in your press release.

Before you go to the interview, do a bit of background research on your subject and the person you're going to meet with. It will help to know if he left a particular corporation because of their ethical standards being lower than his expectations, or if he had a dream of building his small entrepreneurial expedition into a world-wide venture.

If you run across some sensitive information that might be damaging to others, weigh the consequences of its use before you jump in and deliver it to the publics eyes. Its not always best to reveal everything you know without considering how it is going to affect others.

If you present your press release with a authoritative voice, and the editor knows that you've done your research, he or she will be appreciative of your effort, and may in turn ask you to write even more on the topic. Once they have worked with you, ad verified your facts to be true and accurate, they'll be impressed enough to move your submission to the top of the ranks the next time you have information that needs to get in front of the eyes of the public.

If, however, you disregard Journalistic principals, and offer a document full of misleading information, or unreliable sources, the editor wont want to work with you in the future. It would be a waste of his time to have to re-interview, re-verify, and re-write your entire piece to a factual story he can actually print.

To write a successful press release, it takes a minimal amount of time to do the groundwork on which to lay your information. The further you go in making sure your piece has a newsworthy, trustworthy tone to it, the greater your chances of succeeding in a rewarding press release campaign.