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Home Some useful stuff TSJ Sep 2010 (How to write a bad press release)

TSJ Sep 2010 (How to write a bad press release)

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How's this for an enticing headline: "Tile can not only showy but useless".  Would it make you want to buy the product involved, if you can even understand what it is on about?  The rest of the article is in similar vein, and talks about the danger of radiation from tiles and tiles breaking in the home, before going on to provide links to its own products, which in case you are wondering are tiles.
"Qualified tile radiation is negligible
That consumers are said always loved the texture of ceramic tile, wood floors and it has not so squeamish, so converted to heat after themselves on the ground all covered with tiles. However, just stay online new home not long after it was discovered that the natural stone with a radioactive, and the tiles are made from natural raw materials, so radiation is unavoidable. In addition, a greater danger of broken tiles, so try not to use a large area in the interior tiles. Newly renovated home, how it appeared the radiation?"
Quite apart from the dire translation, which has probably been done by machine (although possibly by a Chinese native, not overly familiar with English), it is a case study in how not to write a press release or any piece of copy for that matter.
Whoever wrote the release seems to be trying to counteract the effect of information in the market place about tiles giving off radioactivity.  However he/she also brings up other bad points about tile such as the fact that it can crack, without pointing out that it is normally due to the way it is installed rather than the tile itself.  It would be much better to talk about the good points of tile first before going into the supposed bad effects of radiation emission and countering them with the facts, and leave out the fact that tiles can crack as a distraction from the main issue.
Press releases are best kept fairly short and to the point with the main points highlighted and clear language used.  They should also be tailored for the market that is being addressed, so that if you are sending out a release to local as well as national/international press, you should stress the points that are most likely to interest the people (and journalist) that you are addressing.   For example if you are announcing a new showroom launch in a town other than where the business is based, then the local story could be "local company flourishing", the release in the town where the showroom is, would obviously be about the wonderful new opportunities for buying tiles in the beautiful showroom and the trade press would receive something along the lines of "tile company opens its xth new showroom".  Above all leave the negatives for the installation brochure where you can point out how to avoid them.