Put Your Logo at the *Bottom* of Your Press Release

You should always include your logo and your contact information in your press release. Just don't put it at the top of the release.

Why? Because the top of the release is the first place the reporter looks for the "newsworthy" item - the potential story. He/she is looking for the *headline*, not your logo. Reporters are always looking for stories, so you make sure that they see one the moment they look at your release.

Reporters are very busy people. They don't have time to read every release line-by-line looking for the story. They glance at the release quickly, and if they don't see anything interesting, they move on to the next one.

Therefore, the first thing they should see is the potential story. That belongs in the headline, and the headline should be at the top of the news release.

"But Gordon..." you say, "I was told in my 'marketing your brand' class that I should always put my logo at the top because then they start to recognize my brand". Trust me, they don't care about your brand. They care about finding good stories.

I was a TV news anchor for eight years. I looked for the story in the headline. I didn't care who sent it to me. If I found a good story then yes, I cared who sent it. But not before.

So our lesson for today is: Make the reporters like you. Put the story idea in the headline where the reporter can see it. Put your logo and contact information at the *bottom* of the news release. If the reporter likes the story idea, they'll look for your contact information and call you.