Have news: When you sit down to write a press release, ask yourself, “Is this really news? If you answer no, put the pen down or step away from the keyboard.

Get to the point: Remember those 5 W’s in school. Put them to use. Who, what, when, where and why. That’s it. You will be sending this to reporters who have deadlines and thus skim the release looking for answers to those questions and your contact info only…you’ll have about 5 seconds. Your boring, robotic quote will not be used; if they want a quote from you, they’ll call.

Ditch the buzz words: This is why people hate press releases, “green” “eco-friendly” “foreclosure” “toxic tomatoes”, don’t use these words if they have nothing to do with your company or if you are a politician.

Grammatical and Spelling Errors: Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Do not use all upper case…yes, not even for the title. Do not rely on spellchecker. Do not go in the complete opposite direction and sound like an English Lit. major…no one likes a pompous press release.

Spam I Am: You’ve sent 10+ press releases of similar “news” to a media contact and nothing has come of it. You are blocked. Make one, I repeat one, attempt to contact said media representative and inquire as to what releases would be of interest and abide by their suggestions.