How To Write a Press Release for Your Credit Union

There are thousands of books out there on how to write a press release. There are even more online resources. Here is one more neat, short how-to segment on how to write one for your credit union.

I am going to give you some good stuff here on what not to do and some tips on how to get your release read by the right person.

Before I get to the good stuff, please take this thought to heart: Press releases do not constitute proper Public Relations. Press releases are the invitations to your huge public relations party.

I’d go so far as to say that what NOT to do is more important that what to do when putting together a release. A less-than-perfect release summarizing a good story will still appeal to a news editor. But people often sabotage their efforts.

I promise not to make this a super long post - I know you guys must be getting tired of them by now. This is what you need to think about as you are getting prepared.

1. Your Story

Is it really news? Be honest with yourself here because this is important. Are you just promoting your new credit union website (yawn…) or your new branch redesign (zzz…). A press release should be triggered by a story - nothing less will work. Just because you have it in your marketing or business development plan to send out a press release every week - doesn’t mean that you should.

Your new branch marketing or maybe moving to a new branch location (or even opening a new branch) may be a big deal internally but is it really news? THINK HARD ABOUT THIS – was the move due to the lease expiring on the old building (not a story) or you have hired 10 more people and need more space (not a story) or because you’ve decided that you want to open a “Green” branch that runs on 50% solar power with plug-in stations for your members who drive electric vehicles (which would be a REAL STORY).

2. Writing for impact

Don’t get confused or freak out about the phrase ‘press release’ – it’s ‘news’. It’s brief factual notes in easy to swallow bits and pieces. I’m assuming you don’t want to be a professional public relations guru, you just want to get the job done fast. So I’ll leave out a lot of the ‘fluffing’ and simply tell you how to get the thing published. Sound good?

Journalists are busy people - well they think they are busy people. They will be researching and writing features, planning special reports, conducting interviews, playing solitaire or World of Warcraft online, all sorts of important stuff.

To them, a news story is like grabbing a sandwich for lunch – they want it, they want it now, and they want it simple and easy to swallow. So your release should be a quick and easy ‘delivery’ with plenty of facts and thought, but no fluffing.

It’s not brochure or website copy; and if you don’t know what the difference is then it’s best you never try writing a press release. Sorry but it’s true. Press releases should not be written like marketing pieces.

Don’t worry too much about stuff like typefaces, line spacing and so on. A good story will rise above all that for you. It’s supposed to be easy to read and to the point with all the important facts included - nothing more. So concentrate on what matters.

Your busy journalist is a potential customer for your news. So treat them like a valued member of your credit union. Remember that other people (non-credit unions) are competing with you to ‘sell’ to the same customer.

Get your ‘sales pitch’ right. You will probably be issuing your press release by email so briefly identify your news story in the subject line (news: XYZ Credit Union Builds Environmentally Friendly Branch in Hometown USA).

Try to avoid using all capital letters, quotation marks and hyphens in your subject line or headline – they often get identified as spam by filters and your journalist may never see your email.

DON’T use jokes and puns as a ‘catchy headline’ – if you are trying to get this into the hands of real journalists, they will take care of this for you. Trying to be funny makes you look ridiculous and is a little insulting to the writers (they are a sensitive bunch sometimes).

Summarize your story in the first short paragraph. It’s the teaser copy at the top of the page that will persuade (or not) the journalist to read on or to delete your submission. What are your facts? Are they unique, such as a brand new product (SMS alerts for credit union accounts)? Do they evidence a trend against the norm such as an investment into a market when others are pulling out (like when Kinecta bought Nix Check Cashing)? In essence, what’s your ‘angle’?

Think ‘Who, What, When, Where, Why’ and you’ll get the idea… and keep it snappy! They don’t want to work for the story.

In using quotes, make them short and sweet and only use them if there is a point. Do not repeat yourself in quoting people - it is just bad writing. If you have something like ‘John Smith was delighted and honored by the award. “I am both delighted and honored” said Mr Smith’. I will make fun of you.

If the journalist likes your story they will probably follow up for a quote and an image or two if you’re lucky. So remember to include your contact details – name, telephone and email - and your website address in case they want to check you out.

3. Getting it out there!

I’ve mentioned the subject line. Write the rest of the story in the email box. Don’t attach it as a word document. And don’t attach big images – they will get rejected by the magazine or newspaper’s server. You might be able to add a link to your credit union website where a copy of the press release is hosted with photographs, but be careful to send the email as text and hot HTML as the embedded code may get you spam-blocked. Some places only allow you to paste your copy into an online press release submission form. In this case, make sure you have all your line breaks, headlines and bullet points separated if necessary so it reads well in plain text format.

And of course, thanks to email, you can issue the story to 50 or 100 journalists in seconds right? WRONG! This is one of the biggest crimes you can commit. Remember what I said about the journalist being your valued customer?

So would you call 100 potential customers all with varying needs, offering exactly the same product in exactly the same way?

Of course not – so don’t insult the journalists. Take your list and look at each journalist in turn. Arrive at a shortlist. Read what they write. Keep a list of potential press release channels. On that list note if they have a politically left, right or center slant - re-write your copy accordingly. Note if the delivery channel does a lot of business stories (Wall Street Journal) or if it is a very hometown type publication (Pleasantville Press). Find out if the delivery channel does a lot of stories of a specific type and be selective. If your local morning TV “News Zoo” program likes to do lots of community fluff pieces, this is a good opportunity to get some exposure to your annual branch book donation drive.

Ensure you understand the readership/listener/viewer profile of the newspaper, magazine, e-zine, radio or TV channel.

Then, and only then, should you examine the story you have, honestly assess its relevance, and pick out the key point for the writer in question.

Yes – tailor each press release to the delivery channel! Time consuming? Sure it is, but if you actually want to see your news published or broadcast, rather than insult the writer with a ‘fax blast’ then get it right or don’t do it at all.

And finally…

Get someone to check what you’ve written before you send it. After all your efforts with your brilliant press release it’s so easy to miss that you’ve spelled the name of your credit union or CEO incorrectly (I’ve seen it plenty of times) or your contact phone number is incorrect (I saw that again yesterday!)

One more thing. Some people will tell you that it’s a good idea to follow up by telephoning the journalist to make sure they received your release. I have never been one for the follow-up call on our own press releases, but it probably won’t hurt if you can get a journalist to give you a little ear time.

The journalist is not one to ‘bully’ or ‘beg’ and is certainly not there to teach you where you may have gone wrong. But it never hurts to bribe - I have sent in coffee to the desk of a journalist with a press release folded into a thank you card. Journalists love coffee.

If there is a genuine follow-up to your story such as a significant development, a great quote or an image that didn’t exist when you released, make a brief call to advise and ask if the journalist can spare you 30 seconds before ‘launching in’.

Other than that, if all your efforts still don’t get you coverage then you could always give up and appoint someone who actually does the job professionally… (hint).

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