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Writing Effective Press Releases
In today’s business world, it is essential for an organisation to communicate effectively to its audiences. Whether they are internal or external it does not matter except that the message has to be conveyed accurately and correctly. The humble press release is the vehicle that we use for this task. The dangers are ever present with the advent of the prosumers in society. If we do not report on our own news they (the prosumers) will. Anyone can write a press release, but this course will teach you how to plan and strategize your message and get it across to the media and targeted audiences.
This course is aimed at helping organisations and their communicators understand why dealing with Public Relations writing especially the Press Release can beneficial to them rather than seeing it as a death knell. It is all about being on top all situations and not allowing them to topple you. It will cover identifying problem mindsets and developing level-headed approaches to deal with the situation and how to increase confidence in the organisation using the press release. We will discuss issues like the spiral of confidence and how to handle crisis situations using PR writing skills.
Participants will be exposed to practical situations and be encouraged to use the knowledge learnt to defuse these potential threats and communicate effectively
This course is aimed at helping organisations and their communicators understand why dealing with Public Relations writing especially the Press Release can beneficial to them rather than seeing it as a death knell. It is all about being on top all situations and not allowing them to topple you. It will cover identifying problem mindsets and developing level-headed approaches to deal with the situation and how to increase confidence in the organisation using the press release. We will discuss issues like the spiral of confidence and how to handle crisis situations using PR writing skills.
Participants will be exposed to practical situations and be encouraged to use the knowledge learnt to defuse these potential threats and communicate effectively
Objective
- Understand how to use the press release
- How to design and plan an effective message
- Who are your target audiences
- How to identify issues and pre-empt them
- How and when you should talk to the public and media
- Crisis management and communications and how to handle the media statements in these situations
- Media and management communication control
Outline
What is a Press Release and why is it so important to corporate communicators?
We will cover the definitions of communications and work on how using press releases properly can work towards building a better corporate image as well as bridging the gap between the organisation and its publics. We will deal with the basics of communications and what it entails to be a good communicator.
Crisis Management
We will discuss how press releases are essential in a crisis situation and how we can use it to create communication bridges to our audiences and influence their opinions and create opportunities for us. Crisis communications containment will also be discussed
Dealing with the external and internal audiences
Participants will participate in this process through examining cases studies and role play on managing both internal and external audiences for various forms of communications.
Communications Strategies
We will spend some time on communication strategies and how we can use them to influence and persuade our target audience.
2 day programme
Day 1
• Morning: Introduction to communications
• Tea break
• Late morning: Who are the media and why we need them
• Key Elements of a Press Release
- The headline: How to craft a compelling headline
- The lead: Writing an engaging opening paragraph
- The body: Structuring the main content
- The boilerplate: Company background information
• Lunch
• Afternoon: How to communicate to the media and our target audiences
• Tea break
• Evening: Introduction to press releases and how to develop them
Day 2
• Morning: Press release exercise
• Tea break
• Late morning: Crisis communications and how to handle them
• Lunch
• Afternoon: Press release exercise
• Tea Break
• Evening: Rounding up of course and evaluation of press release
• End
We will cover the definitions of communications and work on how using press releases properly can work towards building a better corporate image as well as bridging the gap between the organisation and its publics. We will deal with the basics of communications and what it entails to be a good communicator.
Crisis Management
We will discuss how press releases are essential in a crisis situation and how we can use it to create communication bridges to our audiences and influence their opinions and create opportunities for us. Crisis communications containment will also be discussed
Dealing with the external and internal audiences
Participants will participate in this process through examining cases studies and role play on managing both internal and external audiences for various forms of communications.
Communications Strategies
We will spend some time on communication strategies and how we can use them to influence and persuade our target audience.
2 day programme
Day 1
• Morning: Introduction to communications
• Tea break
• Late morning: Who are the media and why we need them
• Key Elements of a Press Release
- The headline: How to craft a compelling headline
- The lead: Writing an engaging opening paragraph
- The body: Structuring the main content
- The boilerplate: Company background information
• Lunch
• Afternoon: How to communicate to the media and our target audiences
• Tea break
• Evening: Introduction to press releases and how to develop them
Day 2
• Morning: Press release exercise
• Tea break
• Late morning: Crisis communications and how to handle them
• Lunch
• Afternoon: Press release exercise
• Tea Break
• Evening: Rounding up of course and evaluation of press release
• End
Who should attend
Anybody who drafts press releases
Profile of Gregory Tan
Gregory’s experience in public relations spans over three decades and includes being consultant with two of the world's biggest PR consultancies - Burson Marsteller and Ogilvy and Mather Public Relations. He specializes in Strategic Communications and Crisis Management.
He is the past President of the Institute of Public Relations of Singapore (IPRS), as well as the former Chairman for the Federation of ASEAN PR Organisations (FAPRO). While president of IPRS, he introduced a complete training scheme for PR practitioners. He was on several advisory bodies like the NTU (Communications Studies), Singapore Hospice Council, and St. Joseph Home. He lectures for Newcastle University, Curtin University and Charles Stuart University of Australia, NUS ( Eng & Comms), the University of Windsor in media training and broadcasting. He is an adjunct lecturer for NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communications ( for the past 14 years).
In 1986 as the Head of Public Relations for Sembawang Shipyard-the region's largest shipyard, he helped lead the revamp of the image of the group and create an identity for them. He was also AVP of Public Relations of the United Overseas Bank (UOB) in 1985
Some of the companies he worked with in the group included, the Fraser and Neave Group of companies, Asia Pacific Breweries (Tiger Beer), Centrepoint Properties, Asia Dairies, CarnaudMetalBox, Tat Lee Bank, and International Theme Parks. He was the Editor of Labels and Labelling Asia and Tyre Asia, two regional magazines.
He has worked with government organizations like MOE, PUB, and MINDEF on courses in PR and Crisis Communications. He has worked with companies like Levis, Siemens Nixdorf, Boston Scientific, GSK, DuPont, British American Tobacco amongst others have for both training and Strategic Communication Consultancy.
A leading expert in local and international PR- Strategic Communications, Gregory has also traveled extensively both in the region as well as in Europe and the States to give talks and help official bodies build-up their communication skills. A firm believer in the power of positive communications, he has helped many companies overcome their internal and external communication issues and problems.
He holds a BA (Hons) in Communications Studies from U of Windsor and an MA in Communication Management from Uni S. Australia.
