You've heard "them" say it, haven't you?

By "them" I mean the experts. The teachers. Even some people from advertising & PR agencies.

They'll tell you there's only one way to do a press release "right."

Single page, double spaced, 12 point type.

Bull...

I've been working in radio and TV full time or part time since 1972, and that means I've seen thousands of press releases.

I never threw one away because it didn't fit the "classic" or "standard" format you hear about so often.

A journalist -- especially a journalist working on deadline -- doesn't care about that stuff...

There are, however, five things that *are* important, and if your press release doesn't have them, it will probably wind up in the trash in seconds.

I call them "The Five Tests Every Press Release Must Pass."

1) The Instant Eyeball Test,

The person reading the release takes a quick glance at the overall appearance.

Does it have a catchy headline, or is the top of the page crowded with unnecessary information or big graphics (like PR agency/company logos)?

Is it readable? Does it look cramped, with block paragraphs that suck up most of the white space? Will the screener have to search through a lot of print on the page to figure out what