💡 Business Tip - Write Your Press Release (Issue #39)
This will help you focus your offering
Since the early days of Amazon, Jeff Bezos asked his teams to create a "future press release" before launching a new product or initiative (e.g., several months before). This technique helps provide clarity around what you are creating to sell to customers. You can think of it as working backward from your vision, imagining ideal customer delight, and visualizing a successful end state.
Carlos Arguelles worked for Amazon for 11 years. He described their “secret sauce” as working backward from the customer.
“A good customer announcement tells me the WHAT, the WHY and the HOW, and it does not talk about implementation details at all. It’s generally in the format ‘We’re happy to release X. Before X, our customers struggled because a, b, c. Now with X, our customers are happier because d, e, f. To start using X, do this: …’”
Rules for writing one:
How far in the future are you writing it (e.g., one year from now)? What does success look like on that day?
Why does your product or service improve your customer's life? How is it better than competing products or services? How will it delight customers?
What are the clear and measurable results you've achieved by this day (e.g., total happy customers, sales results, etc.)?
What problems or challenges did you overcome to reach this goal?
Write the press release for your business and the product or service. It should only be one page long and capture the essence of your offer in a clear, concise, and compelling way. Check out these examples of press releases.
You can structure your press release as follows:
An attention-grabbing headline.
The one-sentence hook at the beginning.
Who your primary client is.
What they’re trying to accomplish.
The problems they struggle with that you solve.
How you make their lives better.
Why your product or service is better than the alternatives.
The success you’re already seeing (e.g., sales, testimonials).
What it is not:
It’s not your life story, although a brief description of you might help with sales.
Don’t include a list of features. People care more about how it helps them solve their problems (e.g., sell the sizzle, not the steak).
It’s not the monstrosity mission statement that X wrote about being all things to all people all the time.
Forcing yourself to write this press release will make you focus on what it is you are actually selling, why it exists, what it does, and who it helps.
You want people to read it and say:
“That’s me!”
“Yes, I have that same problem.”
“Okay, I get what they’re doing.”
“Oh wow, I want this now!”
“How do I find out more?”
Let this press release serve as an inspiring vision of your future success!
I’m Larry Cornett, a coach who can work with you 1-on-1 to design, launch, and optimize your business. You might also be interested in my “Employee to Solopreneur” workshop. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and Great Dane while running my businesses 100% remotely.
