If you're running a small business with a modest marketing budget, the idea of getting some press coverage can seem very attractive. Sending out a press release telling the whole world about your company and its products costs next to nothing, especially if you write it yourself and distribute it by email.

The trouble is, every other small company-as well as the big and medium-sized ones-have had the same idea. I recently conducted a survey of 89 editors and senior journalists for a new book*.

On average, they receive 215 press releases each week. Some get a great deal more than that. I spoke to one editor who employs an extra secretary just to plough through the 1,500 that swamp his email inbox every week.
As a result, if you're one of the hopefuls looking for some free coverage, your release is more likely to end up in the "recycle bin" on the editor's PC than in the paper or magazine. That is, unless you follow a few essential rules.

First, make sure the information you're sending is relevant to the publication's interests. Four out of five editors say this is the most annoying thing about press releases.

Second, ensure that you've got a real story to tell. Too many press release writers can't tell the difference between news and advertising. So search for what is new or unusual about what you've got to say.

Once you've decided what your story is, tell it without self-promotion. Three out of four complain that puffery often kills an otherwise acceptable story.

Next, make sure you use good English. This partly means weeding out the grammar and punctuation howlers, which abound in releases, (particularly incorrect use of the possessive apostrophe).

More positively, it means choosing short words to tell your story in sharp sentences. Use your information in descending order of importance-many editors won't have time to read the whole release. And avoid using technical jargon-it will usually be edited out.

Finally, write your release to an appropriate length. If you're sending a new appointment release to a magazine and you know it only publishes one paragraph per person, there's absolutely no point in sending three pages.
Of the editors I contacted, 43 per cent admitted to finding a "really good" story in a press release. So don't give up: your story could make it into print.

*You can read the first chapter of How to Write the Perfect Press Release at www.writeapressrelease.co.uk