Stop writing 103-word leads
Are you still smooshing all of the W’s into the first paragraph of your press release?
Stop that!
“If the copy doesn’t excite me within 20 words,” says one editor, “I won’t read the rest of it.”
You’d think PR pros would have noticed that the media outlets they wish to get published in write short, snappy leads.
Here, for example, is an 8-word lead by The New York Times:
Russia has a new enemy: the currency markets.
And here’s a 103-word news release lead:
An international committee assigned to review all of the available evidence on red meat and cancer risk were divided on their opinion whether to label red meat a “probable” cause of cancer, according to the Beef Checkoff nutrition scientist and registered dietitian who observed the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) process. After seven days of deliberation in Lyon, France, IARC was unable to reach a consensus agreement from a group of 22 experts in the field of cancer research, something that IARC has proudly highlighted they strive for and typically achieve. In this case, they had to settle for “majority” agreement.
Which would you rather read?
Are you ready to make journalists love you?
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