The Media Release
A media or press release or news release is a condensed article, written in a journalistic style.
What a media release isn’t is a sales pitch, a resume or an advertisement. The purpose of the
media release is to highlight what is interesting and newsworthy about you and your homebased business. You may use a media release to announce many things and a list is included.
Here’s the main thing to make note of: very few of your competitors make use of media
releases yet it is one of the best marketing tools for home-based travel agents.
Press releases do work, but not always on your time table.
The typical layout for a media / press release
is shown here:
Whatever you choose to be the topic for
your story, remember your media release
must always tell the Who, What, When,
Where, Why and How.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
? Contact Person
? Agency Name
? Telephone Number
? Fax Number
? Email Address
? Web site address
Is Your Story Newsworthy?
The primary purpose of your media/press
release is to deliver a newsworthy story
about yourself that the reader will find
interesting. I know many travel agents who
believe their press releases will never get
into print or be posted. The difference is the
story, the information it delivers and how
well it is written.
Headline
The heading: For Immediate Release should
be followed by a date if the news you are
releasing discusses an event in the future.
Being Newsworthy
The whole point about writing and
submitting media releases and sharing your
news with the rest of the world is this – you
are trying to make yourself or your big travel
idea, newsworthy. That is the key to having
your media / press / news release printed. It
must be worthy of being printed. Repeat
after me: “It’s got to be NEWSWORTHY…”
What’s YOUR Story?
You must determine the subject and point of
your story. It could be about a special tour,
an agency event or something like an airline
fuel surcharge and your thoughts on how
this will affect the travel industry. After you
determine the story you will be able to
choose an eye catching headline such as:
Local Travel Agency Owner Advises
YOU to Fly NOW!
Story Ideas
Here are twenty-nine travel related story
ideas / topics for you to think about.
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