Others will be grateful for the deviation from the standard news format, and will appreciate the relief that comes from knowing it wasn’t a bad accident after all. Look to your intended media target to find out what lead style the editorial staff prefers, or adheres to.

If you don’t see any leeway from the basic factual lead intro, then stay with what works for that particular publication. In the example above, you would rephrase it to read:

“Mothers Against Drunk Drivers sponsored a lifelike wreckage scene at Cross County High School Tuesday morning to demonstrate the ill effects of drinking and driving.”

Whatever method you use to entice your audience into reading the rest of your story, do it fairly and honestly. Don’ trick a reader into thinking a story is about one subject, only to have them discover it’s really about something totally different.

Make your teaser intrigue and attract readers, but stay away from misleading them or giving away too much information on your news from the beginning. Give it an unexpected twist or turn to add a bit of the unexpected to your piece.

Your teaser should prepare the audience for what’s to come. Never start your piece in a positive light, only to take a dark tone later on in the body of the press release. An example of this might be:

“Patterson Industries will open a new location on the East Cost this summer. Unfortunately, this means 15,000 jobs will disappear from our county in late August.”

Tell your readers from the start if the news if good or bad - especially if it has a profound impact on the lives of the citizens who are reading it.

Your intro should indicate the tone of the piece following the first sentence. A teaser can be introduced at any point in the story, but the text following it should directly relate back to the teaser.

Don’t open with a teaser and then not explain it until three paragraphs later. Your reader will be frustrated trying to find the information, or lost once he stumbles upon it, and can’t recall what it’s referring to.

This is called a trick lead, and your audience will hate you for it. The premise here is that if you tempt them right away, then they’ll be willing to read the rest of the story just to find out three-quarters of the way down the page, what they thought they were going to find out in the beginning.

It defers crucial facts, and shouldn’t be used to enhance your message. It might end up bringing you a disaster.

The “Less-Is-More” theory can best be effectively used if you can find a unique method of enticing your audience, but immediately following, answer the riddle you placed before them. It breaks the monotony of the standard news format, but quenches their desire for the basic facts.

You intentions in writing a provocative teaser are to try to make the reader choose your story over someone else’s, and to spend some time in your story before they leave. On average, readers spend only 20-30 minutes per day consuming news.

Break that down to each section they open, and every page, and the chances of them actually reading your entire story are slim to none at best. Make sure you follow the guidelines below to increase the stretch of time readers spend learning more about your article’s contents.

If your press release allows for a minimal amount of teaser touting, your readership will increase as the audience anxiously awaits your next bit of information. If you overdo it, though, they might view you as someone who doesn’t provide them with professional news quickly enough.

Tantalizing teasers have more to do with how you present your information than what your information actually is. The bad thing is, you don’t really have control over how your ideas are ultimately presented to the audience.

The editor of the publication has full control over that. And he or she will ensure that the publication is uniform in how it delivers its news to the public. Your most valuable source of direction, then, is to get a hold of an actual recent publication, and write your intros in the same format.

This development also has a lot to do with what medium you choose to send your press release to. If it’s the newspaper, chances are, they’ll follow the basic Five W format of leading into a story.

However, if the release is being sent to a local television station, the producers will almost definitely lead with a teaser. They’ll tempt the audience right before a commercial, hoping they don’t change channels in the meantime, and then again once they return from their break, as they dive into the story itself.

One difference between the paper media and print media is the way they promote their stories. In a paper, the headlines are front and center – readily available as the very first thing a reader sees and consumes.

But in a news show on television, the best is saved for last. Time after time, you’ll hear the broadcaster say, “Coming up next,” but next doesn’t happen until 55 minutes into the show. It’s a way to make sure you stick with their channel, and they do it because they can.

A paper makes its money selling advertisements no matter what. Once the paper is sold, it’s a done deal. But a broadcast station has to keep you tuned in for the entire timeslot so that you’ll see their advertiser’s commercials.

Use your teasers sparingly, but effectively, and you’ll find the public has fun with your piece, and might take the action you desire on your product or services. If you feel better sticking with what’s safe, the adhere to the Five W’s, and allow the editor to come up with a more enticing lead.

   
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