Netco Resources

Please help yourself to the information below. Feel free to use it but don't pass it off as your own: we retain copyright and ask only that you note the source if you use it.

• How to gain a media profile
• How to write a press release
• Web
• Written

How to gain a media profile

The Challenge
The day you set up shop, hang out the shingle or mortgage the house to set up in business you may figure large in your own mind but be invisible to most people.

Contacts
Contacts with reporters provide short cuts into news rooms. Reporters work a lot on trust. If they receive a news tip or release from a stranger, they must first check out the stranger's credentials before deciding whether they have a story.

Becoming known as an expert
The first step to becoming a local expert is just to become one. It can be done in several ways and all should be attempted simultaneously.

The media
The media is awash with content generated by public relations writers. Their goal is to place material in editorial content rather than advertorial.

How to write a press release

How to structure a press release
Businesses and people publish press releases as a way of attracting attention in the media to themselves. They do it because they might be trying to stoke up interest in an issue or to cool it down.

Writing Style
Your writing style and use of language are important and need serious thought because they matter to your audience - and whom are you trying to impress? - them, of course.

Composing the release
All press releases, no matter their subject, must have a beginning, middle and an end. The beginning and middle are by far the most important of the three.

Aiming a Release
After you have written the perfect press release, you must aim it at a likely prospect and time its release to advantage.

Timing the Release
Hit while your news is hot. Wait even a week and your timing will be out. Today's hot news wraps fish and chips tomorrow.

Getting the angle
The angle of a press release often determines whether it gets used or binned

Web

RSS
An RSS feed is an excellent way to let people make use of your information.

Promoting a web site
Some individuals and companies build a Web site (or have it built for them) and sit back thinking, "we've done the Web thing". However, launching the site is just the beginning. The trick is to be noticed.

How to use e-mail sensibly
E-mail is probably the most efficient way of reaching your business contacts ever invented. It can also be one of the most frustrating. Good use of e-mail is an invaluable marketing tool and most of the rules for good use are plain old common sense.

Catchpas
Telling humans and computers apart was hard enough in Blade Runner, to make it easier just add a Catchpa to your form.

Written

News Letters
When someone looks in on your Web site, find a way of holding their interest.