:: day of diy :: Press Release

"lettered" by roseredrose via flickr

Thanks to everyone who got in touch about wanting more information on writing a press release, I know how hard I found it at the beginning, so as we go along, keep asking questions. I'm going to break it down into sections, every Tuesday some more information. I don't want to bog you down with too much at once!

FACT FINDING

Before you start getting excited about whipping up catchy phrases and pictures, we have to go on a fact finding mission. I know it sounds dull and you want to tell the world about your creations, but hold your horses!

The first thing about writing to your press release is working out who you want it to go to. If you are a fine artist there is no point sending one to Vogue fashion magazine. You want to reach your target market, what magazines are they reading? Spend some time working on this first, and have a clear idea who your target market is.

Once you have a clear idea of who you are trying to reach, it makes everything else so much easier! Now write down a list of what magazines they will be logging into or flicking through for all their information. Go through the list a couple of times, keeping in mind that you don't want to be waisting your time or editors time sending out information that isn't relevent to their readers.

Now you should have a list of 5 or so publications, enough to get started with. Let start with magazines. Can you buy a copy of the publication or go to the libery with a pen and paper? Look for the page with the list of who does what. You are looking for a phone number for the magazine or the email address of the person you want to consider your press release. It may be the editor, features editor or for example the shopping & style editor. Take a note of this and hold onto it tightly! This is your contact list.

Here is a list of some recommended reading for you & some ideas:

Etsy - Storque - articles on target markets

Magazines.com - just one list of magazines to start you off with some ideas

Finding your niche - by modishblog biz tips (a great place!)