|
"89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases"
Lesson #34: Keep stats simple
If your press release involves
statistics like the results of a survey, for example, keep the
statistics simple in the headline and throughout the release.
The headline on the press
release below, written several years ago by the U.S. Census Bureau,
could have said "almost 20 percent speak a foreign language at
home." But I think "nearly 1 in 5" is easier for readers to
understand.
As you read the release, notice how
it links to tables that provide more detailed survey
results. That's a nice way to handle all those statistics, instead of cluttering the
press release with lots of numbers that would make the reader's
eyes glaze over. Providing the tables lets the media localize the
story for their particular area.
The release also links to sound bites,
available as MP3 files,
that broadcasters could use. I use
Audio Acrobat
to record things like this. All the audio resides on Audio Acrobat's
server, which means it doesn't bog down my website. Their customer
support is phenomenal. I recommend it for anybody who wants to add
audio or video to their website or press releases, or if you want to
start podcasting.
Here's the release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2003
Mike Bergman CB03-157
Public Information Office
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
Detailed tables
Email
Quotes
and radio sound bites
Nearly 1 in 5 Speak a Foreign Language at Home;
Most Also Speak English 'Very Well,' Census Bureau Reports
Nearly 1 in 5 people, or 47 million U.S. residents age 5 and older,
spoke a language other than English at home in 2000, the U.S. Census
Bureau said today. That was an increase of 15 million people since
1990.
The report,
Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000, [PDF]
said 55 percent of the people who spoke a language other than
English at home also reported they spoke English "very well."
Combined with those who spoke only English at home, 92 percent of
the population age 5 and over had no difficulty speaking English.
Among those who spoke a language other than English at home were
almost 11 million additional Spanish speakers. According to the
report, Spanish speakers increased from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1
million in 2000, a 62 percent rise. Just over half the Spanish
speakers reported speaking English "very well."
The report found that more than 9 in 10 people age 5 and older spoke
a language other than English at home in Hialeah, Fla., and Laredo,
Texas, the highest such proportion among U.S. places of 100,000
population or more. The 10 places with the highest proportions
included four in Texas and three in California. (See Table 1.)
The West was home to more than one-third (37 percent) of all those
who spoke a language other than English at home, the highest
proportion of any region. California led the states (39 percent),
followed by New Mexico (37 percent) and Texas (31 percent). (See
Table 2.)
The number of people who spoke a non-English language at home at
least doubled in six states between 1990 and 2000, with the largest
percentage increase in Nevada (193 percent). Georgia's residents who
spoke a non-English language at home increased by 164 percent,
followed by North Carolina (151 percent).
After English (215.4 million) and Spanish (28.1 million), Chinese (2
million) was the language most commonly spoken at home, eclipsing
French, German and Italian over the decade of the 90s. (See Table
3.)
Other highlights:
-- Of the 20 non-English languages spoken most widely at home, the
largest proportional increase in the 1990s was Russian. Speakers of
this language nearly tripled, from 242,000 to 706,000. The second
largest increase was among French Creole speakers (including Haitian
Creoles), whose numbers more than doubled, from 188,000 to 453,000.
-- The West and South combined had about three times the number of
Spanish speakers (21 million) as the Northeast and Midwest combined
(7 million).
-- More than 80 percent of the population spoke a non-English
language in seven Texas counties -- Maverick, Webb, Starr, Kennedy,
Zavala, Presidio and Hidalgo.
The data are based on the responses from a sample of households who
received the census long form. Nationally, about 1 in 6 households
were included in the sample. Estimates in the report are subject to
sampling and non-sampling error.
-- END --
Opportunity #34: Incorporations
If you incorporate your business, write a press release. News such
as this probably will generate no more than a few lines of type in
the back of a business journal. But these short little blurbs keep
your name out there in the media and give you a presence between the
bigger stories you generate. It also provides one more way for
people to find you while searching online.
Paul Furiga, former editor of the Pittsburgh Business Times, gives
you the inside skinny on how to form strong relationships with
reporters and editors at business journals so your company--incorporated
or not--is
featured prominently in big news and feature stories, not just in
the little blurbs in the back of the paper. See
"How to Use Business Journals to Tell Your Story."
Tomorrow: 3 questions your headline should answer
|
