If you are opening a retail store or have an announcement related to retail business, then the best means to get the word out online is by using press releases. Startups and established brands use press releases regularly to showcase new events and announcements related to their company as it generates a quiz buzz online. For a retail press release to become successful, you must become familiar with all the necessary components. This article will explain all the essential components like template, example, writing tips, etc so that your PR announcement would get big results.
Aim: To announce new retail business/store (or other news related to it) using press releases.
Tools: The tools given in this article are template, example, tips for writing and distribution.
Retail Press Release Template: The template is given below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Headline] /* Retail company name + main focus of press release (grand opening/new branch/new changes) + attractive news angle */
[Sub-heading] /*A summary of 2-3 sentences.*/
[Location City], [Date]. [Retail company name], a [new/reputed/emerging] player in the [retail/type of industry] sector, is pleased to announce [type of announcement like new opening, new branch, new changes] at [location + date, if applicable]. [How can customers benefits from it or participate on opening day]. [Any special event on launch day + offer, discounts].
[what are/will be the specialties of the retail store + key team members + amenities to customers (parking, cashback offer, festive coupons, etc)] (3 to 4 sentences)
[Quote from the company head or key person like CEO/CMO]
[Discuss recent shifts/trends in the retail industry + future scope of retail industry + what are their future plans + how their store will benefit customers] (4-5 sentences)
[Quote from a team member/partner/customer]
For more information on the [opening/launch], visit [website/social media] or reach at [email/phone number].
About [Retail Company Name]
[Company background (when establishment, by whom, initial days) + vision + mission (2-3 sentences max)].
Media Contact:
[Name]
[Job Title]
[Email address] /*official email, not free ones like Gmail, yahoo*/
[Phone number]
[Website URL]
[Location city and state]
Significant Benefits of a retail press release
A press release issued to announce the grand opening of a retail store/business (or any other event related to retail business) can provide the following benefits:
Quick Buzz Creation
To generate a quick buzz for any event/launch, a press release is the most preferred means for many businesses. The process of PR distribution is the key contributor to generating quick visibility. Any PR that gets broadcasted by a reputable PR distribution vendor gets published on a number of sites (over 200+) and due to this the initial momentum required for generating views is achieved. So this can get the right start for your retail store.
Builds Brand
A business that doesn’t yield any result in Google, apart from its official site, when people search for the name of the business in Google creates a bad impression. On the other hand, when people type your business name in Google and find hundreds of sites covering news/announcements related to your business, it instantly signals that the brand/business is reputed and credible. To get a number of sites to show up in Google when people search your retail business name, a press release is one of the best mediums.
Gets New Link Portfolio
If the official site of your retail business is ranking at any position for some terms related to your business on Google, then issuing a press release helps to generate many new links which enrich the link portfolio. This in turn helps in raising the search engine ranking which leads to more traffic and sales.
Helps in Better Local Listing Position
Google shows local listing for keywords that indicate local searches. Issuing a press release along with the location of the business helps to push the ranking of the business/store in Google’s local business listing. This adds more traffic and sales to a business.
Helps in Investment and Partnerships
An investor or a potential partner will lookup for the credibility of the business before investing. If he sees that the business is mentioned on high-end sites, then it will create a good impression of the company/business and the chances for attracting new investors and partners will grow.
More Press/News Coverage
Journalists usually subscribe to various sources of news and information and one of these sources is press releases. If the PR for your retail business is newsworthy and is written creatively, it can get attention from media and relevant entities due to which the possibility of getting organic press and news coverage increases many times.
Writing Tips
Before writing a retail press release, note these factors for a good write up and distribution
1 Don’t Show Word Power in PR
You may have a good hold in the English language and your vocabulary might be very good but a press release is not the place where it must be showcased as it has a bad effect on readability. For a press release to get a good readership, keep an average internet user in mind while writing the PR. An average person who finds your press release will not be interested in the PR if it sounds complex to read and understand.
2 Mistakes Affect Your Brand
A press release carries much more weight than a typical blog post because it showcases the official stand of your company. If the PR contains mistakes like spelling errors, grammar errors or factual errors, it will be damaging to your company/business image. Though big PR platforms do have editors who check press releases before publishing, you must not be reliant on their corrections as the stake is ultimately on your brand/company.
3 Headline is the Prime Influencer
If you look at the distribution process of a PR, you will find that the subscribed group of people (journalists, blog owners) get notifications of 100’s of such PR’s daily and they typically spend a few minutes scanning through all of them. If the headline doesn’t attract them to read further, your PR won’t get attention from them. So make your headline creative.
4 What Readers Get?
You might be very excited about your retail PR announcement but it will get better results if you can explain the benefits that the reader of your PR can get i.e. your target audience. People value their goals first and this is true for the readers too. If you have targeted a particular demographic, explain the best benefits that they can avail of by your news announcement.
5 Don’t Become Boring
A PR is fine if it can easily explain the relevant points concisely. If you go in-depth, the PR would become longer which will have a bad effect on the readership. Aim to contain your PR below the limit of 400-500 words. If you have much more to say/announce, provide the URL link where they can read more on it.
6 PR’s Need Third-Person Writeup
A general rule applicable for all PR’s is that the writing must be in the third person only unless it is within the quote section. It means that unlike normal article writing or blog post writing, you cannot use words like I, You, We, etc in a PR.
7 Multimedia Gets Better Response
Reading a text is much boring compared to watching a video or a photo. This is true for PRs too. So to get more interaction from readers, use multimedia files. Though you cannot freely use any number of multimedia files, one good way is to upload them on your site and provide the URL link in the press release.
8 Distribution Affects Results Greatly
Writing a good PR is only one side of the coin, distributing it through a quality vendor is the second part that greatly affects the success of PR. Getting on 100’s of low traffic and useless sites won’t do any good. Instead, a few powerful high traffic and high ranking sites like Yahoo, AP can provide much bigger benefits. So check if your PR vendor can get you on such top sites.
