How to ‘UnSuck’ Your Press Release Title – #MTGA

• Your Titles are Boring – How to Make Consumers Read Your Press Release
• Why Your Press Release Title Mustn’t exceed 65 Characters
• Lets Make Titles Great Again – #MTGA

Most MyPR Press Release submissions succeed in telling people about a company/product.

BUT, at the risk of offending you, most press release titles are boring, uninspiring and do not compel anyone want to read them.

You need to rethink what you want to achieve and how you will accomplish that.

Every PR Company tells me that their clients insist on seeing their business name in the title of every release and that is so boring and counter productive to just why we tell people about our products or services. We only write to establish ourselves as the top dog, the authority in our industry.

Most readers want to know that they will get ‘bang for their buck’ if they invest a little bit of time in reading their message. Getting people to read your message is the first step in establishing yourself or your client as the authority in their industry.

As PR Professionals we sometimes forget that the average consumer/reader is selfish and only decides on whether to read a press release or not based on getting a positive answer to this SELFISH question; “What is in it for me?”

MyPR recently had an example press release submitted for comment and below is how we answered:

The title; “How We Built [SA Online Shopping Site]: From Cash on Delivery to a Trusted Payment Experience” achieved it’s job BUT, it tells the reader that I am about to read about some other companies success. Now if I was engaged with that company and used their products or knew the people, maybe I would read further. BUT, the title doesn’t answer the SELFISH question; “What is in it for me?”

So, here is a quick spitball around alternative titles for the above:

1. How to Solve the Trust Issue With Your Online Store
2. How to Build a Reliable Online Delivery Team
3. Get One Step Ahead by Learning From [SA Online Shopping Site’s] Online Success
4. Building an Online Shop – How one SA Based Business Thrived

All the above alternatives are based on the content in the body of the press release.

The main premise around a compelling article is that you want someone to take one second to answer the “What is in it for me?” question.

AND the above is why newspapers have journalist, sub editor, caption editor, title editor and editor roles.

Think about a brand such as Nando’s – they very seldom put their name in the titles of any content BUT you know that you are going to be entertained when consuming it.

The three most read articles on MyPR this year are these:

1. https://mypr.co.za/how-to-check-an-electricians-registration-and-the-validity-of-your-coc – published 25 September 2023
2. https://mypr.co.za/my-prepaid-meter-has-stopped-working-and-wont-accept-any-tokens-7-easy-troubleshooting-steps – published 9 November 2023
3. https://mypr.co.za/how-to-differentiate-genuine-and-fake-ghd-and-kerastase-products – published 22 June 2023

The 3 above all answer the “What is in it for me?” question and promise a reward for the reader – that reward being knowledge that will save them money and heartache.

They also demonstrate the value of good SEO and the STAYING POWER of a featured press release on MyPR – the gift that keeps on giving.

Last Tips:

1. Make sure that you choose ONE thread (keywords) and include those keywords in your tile, lead in, body and lead out and ONLY hyperlink those to highly relevant pages where people can find out more – less and highly relevant hyperlinks are definitely MORE (imagine this – you are reading on a specific subject, you follow a hyperlink and the page you land on is NOT relevant to what you were reading which results in negative feelings and a lost opportunity).
2. If you subscribe to MyPR’s Featured Press Releases you have the luxury of being able to LASER FOCUS each release on a specific set of keywords, in as many releases as you can write.
3. Write as if you are explaining to a friend with a Grade 10 and a limited attention span.
4. Have fun and don’t be afraid to show your personality.
5. Take risks.
6. Measure your success (or not) of every release – use media monitoring companies, specific landing pages A/B testing and get comfortable.
7. Include alternative headlines as bullet points at the beginning of your article – these will help further precis what is important in your article.
8. Keep your title to 65 characters (including spaces) – this will ensure that your entire title appears in the Search results of a search engine like Google (without those pesky ….. after being chopped off mid word).

Life is short – look to entertain and educate. Make Titles Great Again – #MTGA

CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.

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Gretchen Wilson Prangley: Gretchen Wilson Prangley is a South African journalist who has worked for The Star and The Sunday
Times. She is known for her reporting on social issues.