There are thousands of articles written about “how to write a press release or product news release,” and it is no wonder why.  Product news releases, when properly prepared, can result in tremendous publicity coverage.  Enough to launch a product into the stratosphere! Witness the Iphone 4S recently, preceded by the Ipod, Ipad, and the original Mac.

As a product publicist, however, I get a kick out of most of the articles on the topic and I’m not going to disclose why specifically.   Suffice it to say that most are erroneous.  But, I’ll offer up the following analogy for you.   Just for kicks I searched the web for “how to hit a baseball.”  Like the instructions for “how to write a press release,” I figured, great, now I can follow the instructions, learn to hit like Alex Rodriguez and make myself millions in the big leagues!

Here’s the point.  I can write a very detailed article on how to prepare product news releases, even provide an actual writing formula, but that doesn’t mean you have the skill set to execute any more than I have the eye-hand coordination to hit a baseball.  What’s more, it would be a great disservice because there’s a lot more involved to preparing a press release than writing.  While we’re at it, does a camera make you a good photographer?  Does a word processor make you a good writer?  No more than a baseball bat makes you a good hitter!

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