Consider Press Releases OR Press Campaigns to Boost Your Reverse Mortgage business
Monday, 29 March 2010 10:16
Articles - Sales and Marketing
The importance of using successful media campaigns and publicity can be especially important to your reverse mortgage business. The best part is you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars, but you do have to invest your time. So why not? Time is money and you have the knowledge about the reverse mortgage business…. why not share it?
Here are the steps and procedures you will need to make a successful campaign or press release:
Step #1
A successful press campaign can give your reverse mortgage business a great deal of free publicity without leaving a hole in your pocket. There is no other more cost-effective way to generate publicity and credibility for your business.
The challenge is getting the press interested in your story and sometimes this is an uphill battle, because editors and producers are bombarded with hundreds of press releases every day. To increase the chance of having your story published, you must make the editors' job easier by presenting your press release in a format and style that appeals to them. Here’s the good news, they need stories and who better than you to share the good news of interest about seniors than you. We have great stories to tell about our good deeds done for our senior homeowners.
(1) COLLATE AND ORGANIZE YOUR FACTS.
Contrary to what most people think, a journalist actually spends the bulk of his time in collating information and facts. When everything is ready, it is not uncommon for journalists to finish writing the story in just half an hour.
How should you go about collating all the information and facts surrounding a particular event or client experience? A simple rule of thumb is to find answers to questions pertaining to the who, what, when, where, why or simply, the 5 Ws of the event. Do not stop at just the absolute facts and figures, but present them in the right perspective relative to the reverse mortgage industry norms, trends and statistics. You may have to undertake some research by going through past industry and newspaper reports. More good news, there is plenty of information to go around. Just sharing your experiences and stories can make interesting campaigns that are very newsworthy.
The key here is simple, the more you get done for the editor or producer, the less work they have to do, which increases your chances of getting your story published or your face seen and your voice heard.
(2) IDENTIFY YOUR STORY'S ANGLE.
Now that you have collected all the relevant facts and figures, the next step is to identify the "angle" or headline of your story. A good story angle must have the following three attributes:
- It must be the most important fact in your story.
- It must be timely.
- It must be unique, newsworthy or contrary to our particular industry norms and trends.
This story angle must be presented in the first paragraph as well as the headline of your press release. Most newspapers employ an "inverted pyramid" format that presents the most important information in the opening paragraph, followed by other information that supports or develops the key points raised in the second paragraph.
(3) CREATE A CATCHY HEADLINE.
Keep your headline short and simple using less than ten words. It should convey the key point in your opening paragraph in a light-hearted manner that catches people's attention and imagination.
For example:
HEADLINE: “Goodbye Mortgage Foreclosure! Now I Can Stay In My House!”
OPENING PARAGRAPH:
.... followed by details of your story.
(4) WRITE IN THIRD-PERSON VOICE.
Unlike an emailed newsletter that is written in a personal voice, a press release must be presented objectively from a third person point of view. The reason is obvious. Every journalist has a duty to provide his readers with impartial facts and figures. He must not be seen as endorsing a company's products or services. Some of the guidelines are listed below: - refrain from using any sales pitch in your press release. Remember, you are spreading the good word about your story…. it is not an advertisement!!
- Remove the words "you", "I", "we" and "us" and replace them with "he" and "they".
- Provide references to any statistics, facts and/or figures raised in the press release.
- Refrain from expressing personal opinions, unless they are done in quotes.
- Draw your conclusions from facts and statistics only - not general opinion.
(5) PROVIDE "QUOTES" FROM THE NEWSMAKERS.
As a newsmaker, put your most important message down into a quote. Reporters always use quotes from the newsmakers to add a proof voice to their reports. If your press release contains quotes that are important and relevant to the story, chances are high that they will be fully replicated in the published article.
(6) PROVIDE ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
You should end your press release with an appendix that provides brief background information on your company, newsmakers, as well as who to contact for further information. This is very important, since the whole idea of this strategy is to become better known within your community.


Step #2
Step 2 of writing a press release or press campaign is learning how to identify the angle or headline of a story. This is the most important step in writing a press release. The correct choice of a story's angle will greatly increase the chance of having your story published by the media.
(1) IDENTIFY YOUR READERS…obviously ours is geared toward seniors, but don’t forget, children of seniors are quite concerned about their Mom and Dad.
As senior marketers, it is important for you to recognize the profile and buying behavior of your senior clients. Information such as their age groups, interests and preferred media would come in handy when you want to reach out to them effectively. When I meet with my senior clients, I make notes and afterwards spend time detailing the notes and transferring them into my files for easy points of reference.
The key to an effective communication, whether verbal or written, lies in presenting your message to an interested audience or readers. Whenever possible, you should only be sending your press releases to those media outlets whose readers' profiles match that of your senior clients. However, think outside the box as to why others need to hear your message, such as other professionals, and especially the children and family members of seniors who are interested in the well being and care of their loved ones.
To increase the chance of having your story published, you must send your press release to the right people. Look through newspapers or publications and identify those reporters who cover events or activities that share the same theme as items of interest for seniors. You can identify the reporters by the articles' byline.
(2) PRIORITIZE YOUR MESSAGES
Before you start writing a press release, you should list all the relevant facts and details on a piece of paper. This is a good writing practice. It helps you to organize your story better.
The next step is to evaluate and prioritize the facts according to their relative importance in conveying your intended message to the media. The most important fact will form the basis for your story's angle. Remember, just one good hook or angle is enough.
(3) RELATE MESSAGE TO YOUR READERS
What you want to say about reverse mortgages may not be the same as what your readers want to know. What this means is that you and your readers may look at the same event from totally different perspectives.
To spark your senior readers' interest, you must present your intended message from their perspective. If you have done a good job in understanding your senior readers, you should have no problem in empathizing with their view and interest. This is widely known in journalism as having "a nose for news". It all boils down to having a sharp sensitivity to factors that make a person tick!
For example:
A senior organization may want to rally their seniors to consider the benefits of a reverse mortgage and just how much it will cost in terms of finances and time for their members.
The organization may have a difficult time with its seniors, if there is not enough done to lay the groundwork for such a suggestion. Therefore, it may be important for you to provide statistics to the person in charge of the organization that will back up the need for consideration of a reverse mortgage and its financial impact on seniors.
In other words, the organization is providing a solution to a problem, which, if left unspoken, could become an issue for its senior members.
(4) PRESENT STORY IN RIGHT CONTEXT
The above example also demonstrates the importance of presenting your story in the right context.
You are now ready to present the headline or angle of your story. Using the above example, the headline could go like this: ---
Say “A Reverse Mortgage, How Can It Benefit You?”
Sub-headline: [Name of organization] offers information just for you!
Opening paragraph: Giving the fact of extended longevity, the likelihood of a financial shortfall is a real possibility.
Followed by statistics: . . . . . to illustrate the severity of the problem.
Followed by details and merits of increasing the number of seniors living longer and cost rising for care, etc.
--- The above tips should help you get started on writing a press release yourself. Remember that practice makes perfect and the best way to learn how to write an effective press release is to observe how business news is reported.
Remember, this is perhaps one of the most cost effective ways to raise awareness about you in your marketing area. It really works if you work it! 


If writing a press release is something you are not comfortable doing, there are many people out there for you to hire who can provide guidance or even write and submit your press release. To post an advertorial for a writer of your press release, go to www.elance.com or www.guru.com.
Good luck with your new venture.
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