After reading chapter 12 on News Releases, I have found the two main points to be once again following the AIDA model that we have used throughout this entire class, and secondly to know your audience. Everything stated in this chapter is really about making sure that your writing is truthful and well put together in order to get your point across. This goes hand in hand with knowing who you are writing two, their example was that you would advertise ski wax to people in Florida. Writing a News Release that is effective will have to follow the AIDA model, and will have to be read over and picked apart many different times until it is effective.
Chapter 12 is about News Releases. A news release is focused on two audiences. The first one is the general public. This is the person you are looking to sell your product or service to. This audience is easier to write to than the second audience, which is the editor or person who decides to publish your news release. A successful news release has to contain “real” news rather than a minor update to a product, for example. An example of this is adding new hires to your team. This shows the public that your company is growing because it is growing, making it attractive to potential clients, which can boost sales. An example of something that does not require a news release is a new update to the technology around your office. A new computer is not going to have the same effect on a potential client. Like many other documents we have discussed this semester, news releases are AIDA documents. The end of the chapter has a section about tips to remember to have an effective news release. Some tips included adding branding, such as the company logo, beginning the news release with the city where the business is located, and quotes from at least two people to ensure reputation. Lastly, who, what, where, when, why and how are vital details to ensure you get the message across to the two audiences.
Chapter 12 on News Releases has a lot of meaningful information from important conceptual relevancies when working within the news format and specific and detailed tips on the nitty gritty of the release. One central point is that there must be a differentiation in ideas as it is geared for two audiences – one, the public or the people you want to buy or use whatever product or service that is being released; second, the fact that you have to essentially sell your product to the editor of whichever news source you choose so that it even gets out to the public. I found this to be an interesting and important factor because this is where a lot of the specifics on tone, attention to grammar/spelling, and proper format come into play. Another big idea that we see again is the format of the AIDA model – maintaining the model of the news release, you want attention in the first paragraph, with emphasis on headlines, but remember that it is news, not an advertisement, so the tone must be objective/factual throughout the piece even as you try and insight interest, desire, and ultimately action both in the news organization and prospective customers.
News releases generally have two distinct audiences, the professional people that determine whether or not to publish your release, and the public audience you are actually targeting. I think an important distinction made is that news releases are very different from ads, so when wanting to make an announcement for a company, it’s important to know which category the subject falls under. (not surprisingly) the news release follows the AIDA model, which stresses quality, punchy headlines, relevant quotes, and inducement if appropriate at the end. The chapter emphasizes the importance of newspaper language. While the news release is sometimes a promotional document, it isn’t written that way. When doing news releases, the product name is usually announced before the company to give most attention on the product itself, regardless of who the company is. The rest of the news release follows along similarly to a persuasive document.
News releases must be objective in their presentation, despite promoting a service or product. Thus, the word choice for a news release must matter because it can decide if a newspaper editor decides that the paper will run the news release. Thus, promotional language about a new product, such as a cure for baldness, is discouraged. The news service must present the facts and be as objective as possible. On the other hand, a news release that reports on the cure being announced by a company would not be revised as heavily because it reports a story and then promotes it through the news release. The wording and placement of the information are also important to the news release. The 5 Ws are highlighted in the chapter for this reason, as you have limited space to present your information. When giving quotes, for example, unless the company or spokesperson is well-known by the audience, you should briefly describe who they are between their statements or after them entirely. This is not the most relevant information to the audience compared to what the person quoted has to say. This all stems back to the fact that press releases are supposed to be only a page long, around 250-300 words. This means that being direct and not wordy allows the most information to be conveyed in the least amount of time.
So I really liked this chapter because I feel like I learned a lot from it. Before reading I really had no idea what a news release was and what that meant. The chapter makes it really easy to understand and basically spoon feeds you everything you need to know in the general pointers about the news release section at the end. Another thing I really liked about the chapter was the Bald no more example they used throughout really made it more clear to me what I should be aiming for particularly for the formatting and look of the document. This chapter reminds us yet again that this is a document that can be tackled using the AIDA method and gives us a specific breakdown of the things that you need to be doing for each of those categories in a news release. For example for attention it suggests to focus on a headline and a logo. For interest focus on the factual and involve and quotation from someone involved in promoting or producing the product. For desire you want to present the benefits and advantages of the product or service to the buyer and finally for action you want to if possible you want to give an action date and a reason for taking action by that date.
Right away this chapter was very eye opening since I know close to nothing about a news release, let alone how to write one. In the beginning of the chapter it tells us that news releases are written for two audiences, the first one is easy, it’s the public. The second one is harder though (apparently) and it’s the editor or publisher that you are trying to get to sign your news release. This makes sense because it applies with most things, you may have the bait on the hook but you still need to catch the fish. Another thing this chapter brings up that has been touched upon in every project we’ve talked about is the aida model. Seems to be a common theme in professional tech and writing. The last thing that I think is going to be very helpful to remember when writing a news release is the questions you make sure to answer. On page 234 it says that it’s best to answer who, what, where, when, why, and how all in the first paragraph mostly. Thus is the best way to capture readers interest before you dive into the rest of aida. After reading this chapter I think this will be an interesting project and possibly difficult because I have never done anything like it before.
Chapter 12 focused around the important aspects of news releases and how to properly write a formal news release using the proper language that is associated with the task. To start off, one central point from the chapter was once again the AIDA model. Chapter 12 emphasized about using the model to help grab people’s attention, create desire, etc. Another idea the chapter stressed was that of appropriate language. It was made clear that understanding the different themes and audiences the specific news release is trying to reach is important in deciding the overall tone and language of the writing. For instance, the news release should be concise and straight to the point instead of using flowery and promotional wording. The purpose of the news release is to be an announcement that connects to the advertisement. It isn’t usually the advertisement itself and it needs be informational, attention-grabbing and easy to follow.
One of the main important ideas through this reading was the idea of knowing your audience. It is super important to understand who you are talking to. You do not want to be giving a tutorial on chemistry to a nuclear physicist or explaining quantum physics to a fifth grader. The audience is super critical to getting your message across. The typical idea is to present information as if you were talking to a middle school student. This is to ensure no matter the level of education, almost everyone can understand. The wonderful AIDA model comes back to us again as a useful tool to help us format and present the information in a news-reporting way on paper. Headlines and formatting are a big part of creating a news report. The fact-checking of information is also super important to get the information to the reader.
Once again we are talking about the AIDA model. In the News Releases chapter, we learn that using the AIDA model is a critical part of a successful new release. Something that stood out to me as important when writing news releases is using an objective voice, or newspaper language, as it is described in the chapter. It may seem tempting to use a promotional tone, but a news release is not an advertisement. I think that will be the main challenge when writing a news release myself. From the perspective of a company, it is hard to write objectively about your own product. Something else that stood out to me when reading was that you need to understand your audience. Both the target audience but also the editor who will read it before. The chapter emphasizes that the editor will not hesitate to cut down your news release from a page to a paragraph. So it is important to be ready to accept that editing and move on. Don’t get bogged down with your own ideas and be ready for feedback.
Something important I noticed in this chapter is the shift from promotional language to news language. Up until now, we’ve been focusing on the AIDA model and how to best promote what we’re selling (the brochure) but now the focus is moving to impartial, professional writing. Now, we’re writing for two audiences: the one we’re primarily catering to as well as the editors. All that being said, we do still utilize the AIDA in our news release, just in a different way. In news releases you want to focus primarily on facts and use straightforward language to get the reader their news as fast as possible – using something like a teaser or a hook in the headline is more of a trick than an allure, so it’s a good idea to be upfront about what you’re presenting from the get go. It’s also important to include key quotes from important figures in the story. Something to note is that these quotes can be promotional, as it’s the company/individual saying it rather than news release itself.
Two big ideas from Chapter 12, “News Releases”:
1) The importance of remaining objective in your writing— never promotional or personal. Remaining unbiased and stating only cold, hard facts is what makes news credible and “good.”
2) Know your audience.
Understanding the lifestyle of the people your news is aimed at is crucial to tailor your information to grab attention and build desire. Always consider your primary audience, the news editor and how they like their press to sound, and more importantly, your target audience or who you’re trying to sell to. It’s helpful to consider the type of environment they live in, their age, and what organizations they’re affiliated with where they might benefit from your product or service.
12 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 24”
After reading chapter 12 on News Releases, I have found the two main points to be once again following the AIDA model that we have used throughout this entire class, and secondly to know your audience. Everything stated in this chapter is really about making sure that your writing is truthful and well put together in order to get your point across. This goes hand in hand with knowing who you are writing two, their example was that you would advertise ski wax to people in Florida. Writing a News Release that is effective will have to follow the AIDA model, and will have to be read over and picked apart many different times until it is effective.
Chapter 12 is about News Releases. A news release is focused on two audiences. The first one is the general public. This is the person you are looking to sell your product or service to. This audience is easier to write to than the second audience, which is the editor or person who decides to publish your news release. A successful news release has to contain “real” news rather than a minor update to a product, for example. An example of this is adding new hires to your team. This shows the public that your company is growing because it is growing, making it attractive to potential clients, which can boost sales. An example of something that does not require a news release is a new update to the technology around your office. A new computer is not going to have the same effect on a potential client. Like many other documents we have discussed this semester, news releases are AIDA documents. The end of the chapter has a section about tips to remember to have an effective news release. Some tips included adding branding, such as the company logo, beginning the news release with the city where the business is located, and quotes from at least two people to ensure reputation. Lastly, who, what, where, when, why and how are vital details to ensure you get the message across to the two audiences.
Chapter 12 on News Releases has a lot of meaningful information from important conceptual relevancies when working within the news format and specific and detailed tips on the nitty gritty of the release. One central point is that there must be a differentiation in ideas as it is geared for two audiences – one, the public or the people you want to buy or use whatever product or service that is being released; second, the fact that you have to essentially sell your product to the editor of whichever news source you choose so that it even gets out to the public. I found this to be an interesting and important factor because this is where a lot of the specifics on tone, attention to grammar/spelling, and proper format come into play. Another big idea that we see again is the format of the AIDA model – maintaining the model of the news release, you want attention in the first paragraph, with emphasis on headlines, but remember that it is news, not an advertisement, so the tone must be objective/factual throughout the piece even as you try and insight interest, desire, and ultimately action both in the news organization and prospective customers.
News releases generally have two distinct audiences, the professional people that determine whether or not to publish your release, and the public audience you are actually targeting. I think an important distinction made is that news releases are very different from ads, so when wanting to make an announcement for a company, it’s important to know which category the subject falls under. (not surprisingly) the news release follows the AIDA model, which stresses quality, punchy headlines, relevant quotes, and inducement if appropriate at the end. The chapter emphasizes the importance of newspaper language. While the news release is sometimes a promotional document, it isn’t written that way. When doing news releases, the product name is usually announced before the company to give most attention on the product itself, regardless of who the company is. The rest of the news release follows along similarly to a persuasive document.
News releases must be objective in their presentation, despite promoting a service or product. Thus, the word choice for a news release must matter because it can decide if a newspaper editor decides that the paper will run the news release. Thus, promotional language about a new product, such as a cure for baldness, is discouraged. The news service must present the facts and be as objective as possible. On the other hand, a news release that reports on the cure being announced by a company would not be revised as heavily because it reports a story and then promotes it through the news release. The wording and placement of the information are also important to the news release. The 5 Ws are highlighted in the chapter for this reason, as you have limited space to present your information. When giving quotes, for example, unless the company or spokesperson is well-known by the audience, you should briefly describe who they are between their statements or after them entirely. This is not the most relevant information to the audience compared to what the person quoted has to say. This all stems back to the fact that press releases are supposed to be only a page long, around 250-300 words. This means that being direct and not wordy allows the most information to be conveyed in the least amount of time.
So I really liked this chapter because I feel like I learned a lot from it. Before reading I really had no idea what a news release was and what that meant. The chapter makes it really easy to understand and basically spoon feeds you everything you need to know in the general pointers about the news release section at the end. Another thing I really liked about the chapter was the Bald no more example they used throughout really made it more clear to me what I should be aiming for particularly for the formatting and look of the document. This chapter reminds us yet again that this is a document that can be tackled using the AIDA method and gives us a specific breakdown of the things that you need to be doing for each of those categories in a news release. For example for attention it suggests to focus on a headline and a logo. For interest focus on the factual and involve and quotation from someone involved in promoting or producing the product. For desire you want to present the benefits and advantages of the product or service to the buyer and finally for action you want to if possible you want to give an action date and a reason for taking action by that date.
Right away this chapter was very eye opening since I know close to nothing about a news release, let alone how to write one. In the beginning of the chapter it tells us that news releases are written for two audiences, the first one is easy, it’s the public. The second one is harder though (apparently) and it’s the editor or publisher that you are trying to get to sign your news release. This makes sense because it applies with most things, you may have the bait on the hook but you still need to catch the fish. Another thing this chapter brings up that has been touched upon in every project we’ve talked about is the aida model. Seems to be a common theme in professional tech and writing. The last thing that I think is going to be very helpful to remember when writing a news release is the questions you make sure to answer. On page 234 it says that it’s best to answer who, what, where, when, why, and how all in the first paragraph mostly. Thus is the best way to capture readers interest before you dive into the rest of aida. After reading this chapter I think this will be an interesting project and possibly difficult because I have never done anything like it before.
Chapter 12 focused around the important aspects of news releases and how to properly write a formal news release using the proper language that is associated with the task. To start off, one central point from the chapter was once again the AIDA model. Chapter 12 emphasized about using the model to help grab people’s attention, create desire, etc. Another idea the chapter stressed was that of appropriate language. It was made clear that understanding the different themes and audiences the specific news release is trying to reach is important in deciding the overall tone and language of the writing. For instance, the news release should be concise and straight to the point instead of using flowery and promotional wording. The purpose of the news release is to be an announcement that connects to the advertisement. It isn’t usually the advertisement itself and it needs be informational, attention-grabbing and easy to follow.
One of the main important ideas through this reading was the idea of knowing your audience. It is super important to understand who you are talking to. You do not want to be giving a tutorial on chemistry to a nuclear physicist or explaining quantum physics to a fifth grader. The audience is super critical to getting your message across. The typical idea is to present information as if you were talking to a middle school student. This is to ensure no matter the level of education, almost everyone can understand. The wonderful AIDA model comes back to us again as a useful tool to help us format and present the information in a news-reporting way on paper. Headlines and formatting are a big part of creating a news report. The fact-checking of information is also super important to get the information to the reader.
Once again we are talking about the AIDA model. In the News Releases chapter, we learn that using the AIDA model is a critical part of a successful new release. Something that stood out to me as important when writing news releases is using an objective voice, or newspaper language, as it is described in the chapter. It may seem tempting to use a promotional tone, but a news release is not an advertisement. I think that will be the main challenge when writing a news release myself. From the perspective of a company, it is hard to write objectively about your own product. Something else that stood out to me when reading was that you need to understand your audience. Both the target audience but also the editor who will read it before. The chapter emphasizes that the editor will not hesitate to cut down your news release from a page to a paragraph. So it is important to be ready to accept that editing and move on. Don’t get bogged down with your own ideas and be ready for feedback.
Something important I noticed in this chapter is the shift from promotional language to news language. Up until now, we’ve been focusing on the AIDA model and how to best promote what we’re selling (the brochure) but now the focus is moving to impartial, professional writing. Now, we’re writing for two audiences: the one we’re primarily catering to as well as the editors. All that being said, we do still utilize the AIDA in our news release, just in a different way. In news releases you want to focus primarily on facts and use straightforward language to get the reader their news as fast as possible – using something like a teaser or a hook in the headline is more of a trick than an allure, so it’s a good idea to be upfront about what you’re presenting from the get go. It’s also important to include key quotes from important figures in the story. Something to note is that these quotes can be promotional, as it’s the company/individual saying it rather than news release itself.
Two big ideas from Chapter 12, “News Releases”:
1) The importance of remaining objective in your writing— never promotional or personal. Remaining unbiased and stating only cold, hard facts is what makes news credible and “good.”
2) Know your audience.
Understanding the lifestyle of the people your news is aimed at is crucial to tailor your information to grab attention and build desire. Always consider your primary audience, the news editor and how they like their press to sound, and more importantly, your target audience or who you’re trying to sell to. It’s helpful to consider the type of environment they live in, their age, and what organizations they’re affiliated with where they might benefit from your product or service.