Get media attention with a press release
Writing a press release is pretty straight forward. For our purposes, the press release will exist not to be the story that gets printed, but rather to be the fire-starter that gets a reporter or editor thinking about doing a story. But in some cases, you may need to write a press release that will be the entire story–things like announcing specific events. I’ve included a model here for that as well.
My purpose here is not to teach you to write a press release from the ground up. If you need that kind of information, here’s a site that will teach you all the nuts and bolts. What follows are a set of model press releases for specific uses that you can modify for your own purposes.
Technical formatting matters
A couple of things I do need to point out. These releases are set up to be emailed. If you were mailing them, they would need to be double-spaced. The ### at the end of each press release is supposed to be there in what you send out. It tells the contact person the story ends here.
Press releases need to be kept short–no longer than one page of typing paper. They need to include a single contact person for the reporter or editor to talk to. That person can direct the reporter to doctors or researchers for technical information, but needs to be knowledgeable enough about the topic to handle most of the general questions a reporter may have.
Finally, these are models. You should not use them word for word–you need to customize them for your particular situation.
Press Release #1 (Interview opportunity)
For Immediate Release
Local man/woman has rare cancer
Fall River (Use the place you live here, instead)–The average doctor or nurse has never heard of the cancer Jane Dybowski has–in fact, neither has the average oncologist.
Dybowski has Neuroendocrine tumor (NET) cancer, sometimes called carcinoid cancer. She has multiple episodes of diarrhea every day, constant insomnia, regular episodes of flushing and painful bloating. Doctors told her she had irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, and early onset menopause.
The failure to diagnose the disease was not the fault of her doctors. Until recently, this form of cancer was considered so rare that it was rarely mentioned in medical schools. Young doctors are taught, “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” That means a set of symptoms is most likely describing something common, rather than something rare.
But about 15,000 cases of this cancer will be diagnosed in the US this year–and about 120,000 Americans know they have it at any given time.
There is no cure for this disease if it is not caught early–and it is very hard to diagnose. Standard scans and blood tests rarely detect it.
Dybowski wants to raise awareness of the disease for NET Cancer Awareness Day on November 10 and is available for interviews by local media. To arrange an interview, contact her husband, Harry Proudfoot, at 1-555-555-5555.
For more information on the disease, visit our website at walkingwithjane.org. More information is also available at carcinoid.org and caringforcarcinoid.org.
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Press Release #2 (Event)
For Immediate Release
Clam cakes and chowder event to fight cancer
Walking with Jane will sponsor a clam cake and chowder dinner at the Westport American Legion Hall, 489 Sanford Rd., October 24 from 4:30-7 p.m. The event benefits the group’s Greater Fall River Relay for Life team.
Tickets are $12 and can be ordered in advance by contacting Harry Proudfoot at 555-555-0279. Tickets can also be reserved by sending a check to Walking with Jane, P.O. Box 9721, Fall River MA 02720.
Only 200 tickets are available for this event. Take-outs will also be available.
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Press Release #3 (NET Cancer Awareness Day)
For Immediate Release
Fighting a cancer most people have never heard of
November 10 is NET Cancer Day
Most people have never heard of neuroendocrine tumor (NET) cancer–which is sometimes called carcinoid cancer. Most doctors have never heard of it either.
But 12,000 Americans will die of it this year–and another 14-15,000 will learn they have it, often after years of being told they have something else.
That’s not because their doctors are incompetent but because detecting the disease–even if you know to look for it, is devilishly difficult. The primary tumors rarely get larger than a lentil–and can form almost anywhere in the body. Most are virtually invisible to all but the most advanced scanning techniques. And the symptoms can look like any of a number of more common diseases and maladies.
To further complicate matters, the tumors can–but don’t always–produce any of the more than 24,000 hormones and peptides the body produces. Even a small increase in any of those can do bad things to the body’s internal chemistry, affecting digestion, sleep, blood pressure, respiration, heart rate, fertility–virtually anything and everything.
Right now, about 120,000 people in the US know they have NET cancer. How many people actually have the disease and die of it–while being told they have something else–is anybody’s guess.
There is no cure for this form of cancer unless it is detected very early–when surgery will sometimes do the job. But for most patients, all doctors can offer is a series of holding actions that will slow the progress of the disease and ease some of its symptoms.
And chances are that reality will not change anytime soon. This year, less than $10 million will be spent on this disease–less than a rounding error on what we will spend on better-known cancers, as one doctor puts it.
November 10, doctors, researchers, patients, caregivers and organizations around the world will work together to change that reality through the fourth annual NET Cancer Awareness Day.
Locally, (insert here what you will do on that date to raise awareness)
For more information contact Harry Proudfoot at 555-555-5555.
For more information on NET cancer visit netcancerday.org, carcinoid.org, caringforcarcinoid.org, and walkingwithjane.org.
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Final words on press releases
I hope you will find these model press releases useful as we all gear up for NET Cancer Day on November 10. Remember, the more you can make these releases locally relevant, the better. I’ve tried to keep the formatting of the releases as they need to be–bold face headlines and the Immediate Release notification in the upper left.
(Editor’s Note: This is the fifth of a series of pieces that will approach the problem of carcinoid/NETs not as a medical problem but as a marketing problem. If we are going to increase funding for the disease, we have to think of it as something other than a medical issue. We need to make it a human issue for the general public. In the next part of this series, we’ll look at the importance of timing events so they don’t get lost.)
