An online press release for your cleaning business is designed to help you increase your online visibility, push your cleaning business to the top of search engines and reach your target market.
As a result you’ll be able to generate more traffic to your website due to the increase in your search engine ranking which in turn will give you more chances to expand your customer base.
Creating an online press release step by step
The last decade has truly transformed how businesses promote themselves. Not that long ago the phonebook was king of the advertising hill but now people use a quick search of the web to search for links, content and discussion that helps them find what they are looking for. With that in mind you need to write your press release remembering these two pointers:
- You need to write for those who are searching for cleaning services. This would be your potential customers.
- You need to write for those who deliver your content to the customer. This would be search engines like Google.
A well thought out online press release will do both for you at the same time if you can follow this basic format…
- Headline that creates interest
- Brief summary
- Dateline & Lead
- Main Body of text
- Boilerplate statement
- Your contact information
Not that hard huh? Only six parts!
Using proper press release “etiquette”
Before you get all excited and start writing your press release let’s go over some “do’s and don’ts” you’ll want to keep in mind. Let’s get started with the “do’s” first…
Start strong. Grab their attention! The headline needs to suck the reader in so they stay around to read your summary and first paragraph. This is the “overview”, the rest of the release provides the “detail”.
Write in a professional tone. A press release shouldn’t have any slang or hype included within it. Doing so risks your release being viewed as an “advertisement”, which is NOT the goal you are seeking.
Eliminate technical jargon. Don’t bore people with the technical specs of whatever you are speaking of as they will only “tune out” until you start using ordinary language again.
Be interesting and timely. Think like your prospects would and provide them content that is worth their time. Highlight new and interesting stories about your business.
Have a good “hook”. You need an angle that is the central theme throughout the release. Connect your information to current events, trends or a recent case study to add importance to the message.
Showcase how you solve problems. Use some real life examples of how you solve problems within the cleaning industry. Point out common issues and explain how you solve them.
Blow your own horn when appropriate. If you have reached a milestone, achieved an award of any kind or made a significant hire then be sure to promote it. Doing so makes you an “expert”.
Give them a place to “learn more”. Ideally you want to get readers to learn more about whatever you are talking about by taking action. Point them to a phone number or website to get more details.
Now let’s move on to what you need to avoid. Many people use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS to emphasize something, while that’s fine for a blog post or personal letter it is very much frowned upon in a press release! So don’t do it! You will also need to avoid spelling mistakes, fluffy language and hype.
Press release topics to consider
Though you may have a small company, that doesn’t mean you lack newsworthy topics to share with the public at large. A little creativity can go a long way in getting your cleaning business some publicity in a cost-effective way. Here are some ideas…
Announcing a new service. Whenever you dive into a new area of the cleaning business make sure to promote it! When you are adding carpet cleaning, window cleaning or floors care services make sure you create a new press release to broadcast the news.
Winning an award. There may come a time when you are chosen “Best Of” your town or region. When it happens make sure to promote the living daylights out of it! This gets you “expert status” in the customers eyes and makes your phone ring with new prospects as well.
Announcing new hires. Bringing on new team members gives you an easy opportunity to get some exposure for your business. Also consider making mention of promotions whenever possible as well.
Let’s break down each individual section in a press release
1 – The Headline. A well thought out headline provides valuable information without sounding like an advertisement. It should contain the KEYWORDS that people will use to discover this type of information. It should also grab their attention and make the reader want to learn more about your business.
The maximum length of the headline itself should be 60 characters for Google, 120 for Yahoo and 170 for PRWeb. This format requires you to capitalize every word except prepositions and articles of 3 characters or less. An example would look like this…
Maria’s Cleaning Services Expands Commercial Cleaning Operations into Ocean County Area.
2 – The Summary. This section is pretty simple as all you need to do is summarize the “big picture”. So do your best to provide a brief description of your business and the info you are sharing with everyone.
Generally one to four sentences are optimal for this section. Make sure you mention your company name right off the bat so those with short attention spans can connect you to the info you are providing. An example would look like this…
Maria’s Cleaning Services, a leading provider of cleaning services, carpet cleaning, and floor care services, is pleased to announce its expansion into the rapidly growing area of Ocean County in New Jersey.
3 – The Dateline and Lead Paragraph. Now we have come to the point where we need to address the “who, what, where, when and why” of the release itself. Provide the details that are compelling and stick to the facts.
Ideally this sections should be about 25 words but can run up to 55 words if needed. Make sure to follow this sequence of information: City, State, Day, Month, Year, then the most important part of the info you are sharing. An example would look like this…
Tabernacle, NJ June 23, 2013 – Maria’s Cleaning Services has served Burlington County for many years and the expansion of our cleaning services to a broader area was a natural progression. Now in addition to offering superior cleaning services in Burlington County we now offer a full range of services to the entire Ocean County area as well.
4 – The Body Copy. This is the guts of the press release where you will tell your story. For best results pretend you are a broadcaster or journalist when writing to keep the tone neutral and objective from start to finish.
The length of this section should run between 300 to 800 words. If you need some help on where to start revisit the who, what, where, when and why of your story. Make sure to add the important details that bring substance or add interest to your press release.
Generally when you get to the final paragraph within the body section you would include the least important info, but the online press release is much different. For our purposes you’ll want to summarize the key points you are making as well as provide any links that the reader may need to obtain more information. An example would look like this…
“Maria’s Cleaning Services expansion into Ocean County was driven by commercial and municipal requests. They spoke and we listened”, stated Maria Gomez, founder of Maria’s Cleaning Services. “Maria’s Cleaning Service is very excited to be a part of the Ocean County community and we are encouraged by the interest we have received thus far”.
Maria’s Cleaning Services has a broad base of customers that currently exceeds 75 regular commercial cleaning accounts and several hundred carpet cleaning and floor care customers.
“We are happy to welcome Maria’s Cleaning Services to our area as they have shown to be a leader within the cleaning industry” said Mike Mulberry, a local businessman who operates the Ocean County Business Association.
“In addition to offering Ocean County business owners the same level of quality that has been available in Burlington County, all new customers of Maria’s Cleaning Services in Ocean County will receive 35% off their first full month of service. It’s a win – win situation” stated Doris Simpson, Sales Manager for Maria’s Cleaning Services.
Companies or municipalities interested in learning more about Maria’s Cleaning Services can visit www.mariascleaningservicenj.com to or call 1-555- 555-5555 between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.
5 – The Boilerplate Statement. The “boilerplate” is nothing more than info about your company that can be used over and over again. For the purposes of a press release, the boilerplate basically is your “about us” section. An example would look like this…
Maria’s Cleaning Services is a commercial cleaning company headquartered in Tabernacle,NJ that serves both Burlington and Ocean counties with superior cleaning, carpet cleaning and floor care services.
6 – Contact Information. This section provides the media and anyone else the contact info needed to reach you. An example would look like this…
Doris Simpson, Sales Manager
Maria’s Cleaning Services
555-555-5555
www.mariascleaningservicenj.com/contact
To give you a head start on creating your own press release I’m making the example we’ve been reviewing available as a free download. I’ll provide two versions as usual. One will be a PDF that can be edited by your local printer and the other is in OpenOffice format. Have fun making it “yours”.
Press Release – PDF Download
Click Here To Go To Download Page
Press Release – Openoffice Download
Click Here To Go To Download Page
I would happily welcome any and all thoughts, ideas, suggestions or questions you may have concerning this post. Should you have any feel free to leave them below to get the conversation started about your online press release!
* Special Note: Maria’s Cleaning Service is a fictional company. Any resemblance to a real company is unintentional.
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Hi Tom,
I first want to say that you do what you say you will do. I have emailed you a couple of times and you have gotten back to me right away. I haven’t purchased anything from you but you still are willing to answer questions free of charge.
My question is; are there any press release websites that you recommend?
Thank you for all of the information you provide!
Hi Neil! Thanks for being so kind in saying that, I appreciate it! To your question… The answer DEPENDS on what your GOAL is for the press release. For FREE press release submission this is my recommendation…
For getting your press release to show up in “Google News” try http://www.onlineprnews.com/
For getting your press release to show up in “Google search results” try http://www.newswiretoday.com/
REMEMBER to follow their submission guidelines, as they MAY DIFFER from what you read here. Odds are they are similar, but each site that accepts press releases has slightly different rules.