Business Articles

In baseball, it’s said that you know an umpire is top-notch when you never notice his presence. If he’s doing his job, he won’t call attention to himself in any way. It’s much the same for the writer of a press release. When the recipient of a release focuses only on its content -- and not on its creation -- the writer has succeed

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ed. With that in mind, here's The 10 Commandments of Press Releases:

1. Thou Shalt Be Professional. No goofy fonts, rainbow paper or silly gimmicks. Even lighthearted press releases represent a communication between one professional and another.

2. Thou Shalt Not Be Promotional. If you can’t get enough objective distance from yo

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

ur company to write a press release that’s not filled with hype and puffery, hire someone to write it for you.

3. Thou Shalt Not Be Boring. Even the driest subject matter allows for some sparks of creativity. Journalists like knowing that there’s a human being communicating with them, not some corporate robot.

4. Thou Shalt Be Br

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ef. Learn to cut out extraneous words. Keep your sentences short. Include only the points necessary to sell the story. The well-crafted one page press release is a thing of beauty.

5. Thou Shalt Know Thy Recipient. A features or lifestyle editor is a very different creature from a city desk editor. If you’re promoting the opening

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

of a new winery, the food and wine editor may be interested in all the details about what kind of aging process and wine press you’re using. The city desk editor just wants to know when the grand opening is and what’s going to happen there.

6. Thou Shalt Use The Proper Tense. When writing a hard news release -- a contract signing,

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

a stock split, a major announcement, etc.) use the past tense (Acme Industries has changed its name to AcmeCo, the company announced today...) When writing a soft news release -- a trend story, a personal profile, etc. -- use the present tense (Jane Smith is one of the best marathon runners over 40. She’s also blind. Thanks to new

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

technology from AcmeCo, Jane is able to...).

7. Thou Shalt Think Visually. A press release is more than words -- it’s a visual document that will first be assessed by how it looks.

I’m referring to more than font size or letterhead. I’m talking about the actual layout of the words. Whether received by mail, fax or e-mail, a journ

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

alist -- often unconsciously -- will make decisions about whether to read the release based on how the release is laid out. Big blocks of text and long paragraphs are daunting and uninviting. Short paragraphs and sentences make for a much more visually inviting look.

When writing a non-hard news release, I often use a simple formu

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

la -- the lead paragraph should be one or two sentences at most. The next paragraph should be very, very short.

Like this.

8. Thou Shalt Tell A Story. How to arrange the facts of a hard news release is pretty much cut and dried. The old "who, what, when, where and how" lead and "inverted pyramid" concepts still hold. (Rather tha

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

engage you in a course in basic newswriting, I’ll direct you to a really good discussion of what the inverted pyramid is.

Check out:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=38693

So let’s focus on a soft news release. The trend story, the feel- good company story, the "gee-whiz, I didn’t know anyone was doing that!" release

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

. The difference between these releases and the hard news release is simply a mirror of the difference between a feature story in, say, the entertainment section of your newspaper and the breaking news report on page one. The hard news story is about cold, hard facts (A mudslide closed portions of Interstate 70 last night, causing

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

massive delays). A feature article about the guy who spends all day looking at seismograph readouts trying to predict where the next mudslide will occur will be very different. It’s likely to be in present tense, it won’t load all the facts upfront and it will be designed to draw the reader deep into the text. It is, in short, all

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

about storytelling.

Here’s the formula I use for these kinds of releases. I call it the 3S approach -- Situation/Surprise/Support.

The first paragraph sets up the situation. The second paragraph reveals the surprise. The third paragraph supports the claim made in the second paragraph.

One very typical 3S is discussing a common p

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

roblem in the first paragraph (For centuries, people have accepted memory loss as an inevitable result of aging.) The "surprise" paragraph announces the solution to the problem (But one local man says he’s ready to prove the medical establishment wrong.) The "support" paragraph then tells the story. (John Smith, an Anytown entrep

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

reneur, says he’s found the key to retaining a strong memory function far into old age. His "Memory Maker" software is based on ancient Chinese texts that were used more than 2000 years ago to...)

Another 3S -- let’s revisit our mudslide watching friend. How would you start his story using this method?

While John Smith’s colleagu

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

s at the National Atmospheric Center are watching the skies for signs of lightning and tornadoes, his attention is focused elsewhere.

John Smith is listening to the mud.

As the Chief Mudslide Analyst at the NAC, Smith spends his days glued to a seismograph, eyes and ears peeled for the telltale signs on an impending slide.

Along

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

with the 3S in action, I also followed the 7th Commandment. That really short second paragraph is a visual grabber, and will keep the journalist reading right into the meat of the release.

9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness. This may seem an obvious point, but it always bears repeating.

Tell the truth.

Don’t inflate, don’t co

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

nfabulate, don’t exaggerate. Don’t twist facts, don’t make up numbers, don’t make unsubstantiated claims. Any decent journalist will be able to see right through this. If you’re lucky, you’re release will just get tossed out. If you’re unlucky, you’ll be exposed.

It’s a chance not at all worth taking. Make sure every release you w

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

ite is honest and on the level.

10. Thou Shalt Know Thy Limitations. Not everyone can write a press release. A good feature release, in particular, isn’t an easy thing to craft. If you just don’t feel like you have the chops to get the job done, hire a professional.

One last tip: right before you start writing your release, spend

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

an hour or two reading your daily paper, paying special attention to stories similar in feel to yours. Immerse yourself in how the pros do it and you’ll be in the right frame of mind to tackle the job! To view professional press releases updated daily, go to: http://www.publicityinsider.com and click on the "Press Release Gallery

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.businessarticles.org.ua/article/33143/businessarticles-The-10-Commandments-of-Press-Releases.html">The 10 Commandments of Press Releases</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.businessarticles.org.ua/article/33143/businessarticles-The-10-Commandments-of-Press-Releases.html]The 10 Commandments of Press Releases[/url]

How To Use SEO Software To Attain 1st Page Rankings. Learn the in's and out's of getting first page rankings through the use of SEO software.

I used to have the responsibility for interviewing and hiring employees when I was in marketing and advertising management jobs. And, there are a few things I learned that I apply very well to marketing your own business. These are simple things you can do BEFORE you start marketing to give your business the greatest chance for success.

Are public relations and crisis management planning important to your business? The answer is simple and direct. Public relations and crisis management planning are not only important to your business, they are both CRUCIAL to your business, regardless of your type of business. In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, business is news. Plant closings, mergers and acquisitions, unemployment, strikes, labor negotiations, company expansions, building projects, construction-related accidents and catastrophes are often the lead story on the front page or the six o’clock news. Yet many organizations are totally unprepared or at least ill-prepared to handle the public relations and crisis management aspects of these events. This unpreparedness can lead to many negative and undesirable results for you, your employees, your clients and customers, your company and your business and industry sector.

Tags

Links

Business Articles - The 10 Commandments of Press Releases

Related Articles: