new release Archives - Wylie Communications, Inc. https://www.wyliecomm.com/tag/new-release/ Writing workshops, communication consulting and writing services Tue, 08 Aug 2023 16:14:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://www.wyliecomm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/cropped-wci-favico-1-32x32.gif new release Archives - Wylie Communications, Inc. https://www.wyliecomm.com/tag/new-release/ 32 32 65624304 Get your story across in 120 seconds or less https://www.wyliecomm.com/2023/08/one-minute-release/ https://www.wyliecomm.com/2023/08/one-minute-release/#respond Mon, 07 Aug 2023 13:51:46 +0000 https://www.wyliecomm.com/?p=32361 5 steps to telling your story fast

Journalists spend, on average, less than a minute reading news releases, according to a study by Greentarget. You can reverse-engineer that to less than 200 words.… Read the full article

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]]> 5 steps to telling your story fast

Journalists spend, on average, less than a minute reading news releases, according to a study by Greentarget. You can reverse-engineer that to less than 200 words.

Get your story across in 120 seconds or less
Get your story across in one minute or less with a 200-word release. Image by qvist

So how do you write a one-minute release?

I worked with a PR pro in my PR-writing workshop to boil down an 800-word release to 200 words or less with these five steps:

1. Tell what happened in an 8-word headline.

XX earns honors from Institute for Medicaid Innovation

2. Summarize the impact in a short deck. Bonus points for emotional language, like “feed the hungry” instead of “reduce food insecurity.”

Programs fed the hungry, provided street medicine for the homeless

3. Show how your program changed lives in the lead. Try a triad: Summarize three outcomes in quick sentences. Make people the subject of every sentence.

Rural Californians were able to meet with their doctors online during lockdown. Diabetic people living on the street received checkups and insulin shots. Hungry people without transportation had food delivered to their doors.

4. Transition to the body in the nut graph.

These four XX programs earned recognition from the Institute for Medicaid Innovation:

5. Write a quick list for the body. Keep the focus on people who benefited from your programs, not on the programs themselves. Make it scannable with bold-faced lead-ins:

  1. Program A. Californians were able to meet with their doctors online thanks to $XX4 million in grants.
  2. Program B. Specialists delivered care to the homeless with $XX million in grants.
  3. Program C. Parents got help raising healthier children with $XX million in grants.
  4. Program D. Hungry Californians learned to get more out of their food stamps with $XX million in grants. Plus, elderly neighbors received meals at home via an online food bank delivery program.

6. Link to more details in the conclusion.

Learn how we provide equal health for everyone.

Would your release be twice as good if it were half as long?

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