Press Release Biography and Q&A

Bio Sheet

The first of these documents is called the bio sheet, or biography sheet. This is a one page summary of who you are. When you write your bio sheet, be sure to stick to the issue at hand.

So, if your press release is about fishing, don't talk about how you're a tennis pro in your bio sheet. Your bio sheet should be packed with information that will prove to the media people that you're worth interviewing.

The "Rules"

Bio sheets have less strict rules than those of a press release. At the top of the bio sheet, you put your name and phone number (usually at the left top hand corner). Or your name, phone number and address. If you decide to just put you name at the top (which is perfectly fine), make sure you have your phone number displayed somewhere on the page (make it stand out, maybe at the very bottom).

Then comes the headline of "Biography Sheet" or "Biography and Fact Sheet". Just like the press release, the bio sheet has three sections.

The first being a brief summary of what the entire document is about, the second being further details like credentials and the third part is again your sales pitch and/or contact information.

Remember that the bio sheet is just facts about you pertaining mostly to your product or service. Be concise and stick to the point. Just like the press release, end your bio sheet with # # #. This indicates to the reader that he/she has reached the end of the bio sheet (or press release).

Q&A Sheet

The next document is the best of all. It's called the Question and Answer sheet, or Q&A sheet. I'll bet that not one in a thousand people sending out press releases uses a Q&A sheet or even knows how to write one.

The Q&A sheet is simply a list of questions you are suggesting the interviewer ask you. Think this is too forward? Not on your life. The interviewer will love you for having a Q&A sheet available. Think of how much work you've just saved him!

Questions?

What type of questions should you include on your sheet? Well, there should be a variety of them with several features. Just like a good headline, your questions should arouse curiosity and interest from both the interviewer and the audience.

Make sure they're not simple yes or no answers or the interview will end before it starts. On the other hand, do NOT blab on and on about nothing. (You know those type of people . . . you don't listen to them, so don't do it.) Your answers should be long enough to completely answer the question, but short enough to keep the interest.

Remember to put your name and phone number at the top of this document as well. For your headline, put something like, "Suggested Questions for ____________," and then fill in your own qualifications pertaining to the topic at hand.

Make It Flow

Lastly, make sure each question flows into the next one. A good way to come up with questions for your Q&A sheet is to ask friends and family members what they want to know about your subject. What are they dying to know or what are they totally confused about. What have they heard about your subject or what needs further clarification.

The interviewer will look over your questions. If you've written them in the right way, don't be surprised if he asks you each and every question in the order you wrote them.

By now, you pretty much know how to write your press release, but you may not be sure if your business, product or service is "publicity worthy". You can't just write a simple press release, send it out and expect tons of free publicity and advertising.

Life just isn't so easy (it would be nice though!). So, let's discuss a few of the guidelines needed to insure that your press release gets recognized.

Make It Interesting And Newsworthy

First and foremost, if your press release doesn't get the editor's/publisher's juices flowing, then forget about (this is why headlines are so important).

Your press release has to be about something different... something that can bring attention to itself, all by itself!

After reading your press release (if it even gets that far), the editor says to himself, "so what?!!", then you've blown your chances completely. You don't have to be outrageous, but you need to try and present your story in a unique way.

Make It "Hot" And Shocking

One other tactic you can use, is to see what's "hot" and "in" at the time and some how work that subject into your press release story.

For example, I have a friend who manufactures cigars. Well, when the President Clinton/Monica Lewinsky thing happened in early 1999 (remember the cigar incident?...), my friend really "milked" that story for all it was worth.

He sent out hundreds and thousands of press releases and one of the headlines I came up with for him was, "Shocking!: Discover How To Get Monica To Play With Your Cigar... For FREE!" He got a TON of free publicity (well over a million dollars worth) and TV coverage with that one headline/story.

[Note: We tested and continued to test lots of different headlines (about 25-30 of them). The above was the best pulling one and it was the first and only one I wrote for him. Some of it was luck, but most had to do with my background knowledge as a copywriter. But if you don't have the experience that I have, you need to make sure you continual test everything!]

When you get a hot story like the above, you have to jump on it immediately! The media can be very moody and picky, so... "if you snooze, you loose!"

Target Your Audience

As with everything in the world of advertising, you must target your audience, market and media outlet.

You're not going to send the above cigar story to the editors over at Muscle & Fitness Magazine. That's totally lame.

Now, they may print up a little blurb about your story somewhere, but chances are it would have been because the editor saw, read or heard about you from some other media source (like maybe being on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno or something big like that).

You'd want to send out the above info to cigar magazines because that's what the main topic is about. You'd also send your press release to all the major newspapers and other "news type" resources (like MSNBC, CNN, etc.) because the subject is indirectly connected to politics!

Don't Brag!

This should go without saying, but whatever you do, don't make your press release sound like you're "number one" or come off as a braggart. This is a total turn off in real life as well as the media world.

Instead of saying, "Our company is number one at...." Say something like, "Our company has produced two number one rated software programs in less than a year according to XYZ Magazine and we aim to do it again with our new software program called..."

The second method still allows you to inform others of your "superior" product line and at the same time, it allows you to introduce your newest product (which would have been the subject of the press release) and allow it to ride the wave of "number one rated software programs...".