Submissions policy

1. Quality: genuine news announcements only!

Well-written, interesting announcements help to maintain Training Press Releases' reputation as a great source of information for the learning industry's media, thus providing value to all customers. Press releases should be newsworthy: thinly-veiled advertising and un-newsworthy, self-promotion must be avoided. Press releases that advertise will be removed.

Press releases should have a specific point to make that is likely to be of interest to the market: press releases focusing on the general merits of a company or product often reflect poorly on the issuing organization as well as on Training Press Releases and must be avoided.

Each press release must be specifically about or related to the issuing organization, such as its activities, people, markets, research, customer projects, services, products, etc and while it's acceptable and encouraged to include external subjects, these must not lose sight of the issuing organization and the main theme of its announcement. Blog-style personal notes and feature-style articles are inappropriate as press releases. Opinions may be given as long they are used in support of the announcement's main theme and are not a subjective narrative.

It is especially important that press releases are not used as adverts. Press releases which do appear like adverts will be withdrawn. If your press release is about an event or seminar it must focus on its news value and must not advertise it. Under no circumstances will we carry a press release that is an advert for a course or a learning event.

Training Press Releases is a newswire for the learning sector and as such will only carry press releases specifically about learning, training, education, coaching and other learning related topics.

2. Accuracy of information

Organisations issuing press releases are solely responsible for the facts and accuracy of all of the information that they contain. Marketers must hold documentary, objective evidence to prove all claims made in press releases. Should a complaint arise such evidence may be requested by Training Press Releases.

Claims for the content of press releases that have not been independently substantiated should not exaggerate the value, accuracy, technical validity or practical usefulness of a product or service and should not contain untruths, exaggerations or statements likely to mislead. Obvious untruths or exaggerations that are unlikely to mislead are allowed provided they do not affect the accuracy or perception of the press release.

3. Opinion

Authors may give a view about any matter, including the qualities or desirability of their products and services, provided it is clear that they are expressing their own opinion rather than stating a fact and usually written as a quotation. Subjective opinions, suggestions, recommendations and advice should be avoided.

4. Complaints

Training Press Releases will promptly deal with any complaints about press releases. When a complaint is made we will review relevant information and if upheld, request that the issuing company amends or removes the press release. Training Press Releases will use reasonable efforts to correct any error brought to its attention.

5. Duplicating news announcements

Each press release may be issued only once. Dressing previously-issued press releases up and republishing them without a substantial new news angle should be avoided. Edits to existing press releases may be made, and are encouraged, at any time. Do not submit different press releases with the same general content - each press release should have a unique news value and unique content. It is especially important not to copy-paste chunks from old press and reuse them in new releases, as this negatively affects the new press release's ranking (and Training Press Releases' wider ranking) in search engines. This is potentially extremely damaging to Training Press Releases and as such we have to act decisively, removing offending releases.

6. Quantity of news announcements

There is no limit, within reason, to the quantity of press releases that may be posted. However, this should not be confused with repeatedly posting similar news stories that do not contain sufficiently unique newsworthy angles. Where more than one press release is posted in the same week additional care should be taken to ensure they are truly unique, newsworthy and not just promotions, for example: multiple, frequent product announcements will be rejected; multiple 'new client' win announcements without a sufficiently substantive/unique news angle will be rejected.

7. Regional distribution settings

Training Press Releases' registered users select which region's news they wish to receive. Issuers of press releases may determine which regions they feel their news should be distributed in. Issuers of press releases should avoid selecting to distribute news into regions where the news story is likely to be of no or limited interest. For example, a press release about a project or contract with a company which is only present in one world region should not be distributed elsewhere, unless there is a likelihood of genuine interest about it.

8. Industry events

Training Press Releases carries profiles and news feeds for the learning industry's main conferences and expos around the world. Customers may themselves determine whether it's appropriate for them to assign a press to one of the learning industry events, but should only do so if they are a confirmed sponsor, exhibitor or speaker at that event. This is self-policing and it's our expectation that customers will not want to assign releases to events that they are not active in and it's important that they do not do so.

9. Reasonable usage

An annual subscription to Training Press Releases provides customers with unlimited press release postings under reasonable usage guidelines: The intention of Training Press Releases is to allow and encourage learning-provider organizations to issue frequent 'news value-based' publicity and not to encourage peppering of the market with promotional communications. Training Press Releases will reject press releases it considers not unique and not having a 'news value-based'.

10. Images

Training Press Releases encourages the use ofnews photographsandnews graphicsin press releases. Product/pack shots on the whole should not be used, unless they clearly add to the press release's news value: products shots can make press releases appear as adverts and where a product shot is used in this way we will be unable to publish the release. Likewise, do not use logos as images in press release. The logo of the issuing company logo will usually already be positioned at the top of each release.

Writing guidelines

The following guidelines apply to all submissions to Training Press Releases. If your release does not comply with our writing guidelines below, it may be withdrawn. Where relatively simple corrections are required, such as simple formatting and grammatical corrections, we may make these without notice where we deem necessary.

a. All press releases should be written in English.

b. Do not use ALL UPPER CASE in your press release, other than for abbreviations. This applies to the headline as well.

c. Do not write in first and second person: always write in the third person. For example: do not use "I" "we" "you" "us", instead refer to company names, groups, and markets. Releases that use the first and second person often appear more like adverts and will not be perceived as news by media professionals.

d. Opinions are acceptable as long as they are clearly written as a quotation and support other points within the press release. A quote on its own is not acceptable as a press release.

e. It is acceptable and encouraged, to use web links in the main body of a press release, for example to link to further information on your own web site or elsewhere on the internet. Avoid using links like 'click here': instead place the link around descriptive words that relate to the content of the linked page. 

f. Do not give advice, tips or recommendations. Those are all subjective and should not be used in a press release. If your business offers these things, then write about why they are available. For example, if you are offering a 10-step program do not list all the steps, rather list one or two and concentrate on explaining why your offer the program and who it's for.

g. Do not use slanderous information. If your submissions contain slanderous information, all previous releases will be removed and your account suspended.

h. Press releases should be at least 200 words in length, excluding the headline and company description (boilerplate). While there is no limit, within reason, to the maximum length of a press release, those in excess of 1,000 words may be truncated.

i. If using exclamation marks be sure to use them correctly, to create emphasis and not to extend unnecessary hype. If your press release includes exclamation points they may be removed unless they are used correctly.

j. Whilst not an absolute requirement, we recommend that your texts do not include any special characters, such as Registered Mark and Trade Mark characters, which should be acknowledged in a short footnote. The reason for this is that while special characters display correctly in this web site surprisingly many web sites that syndicate them do not display them and substitute random characters in their place, reflecting poorly on the issuing company and ourselves despite it being beyond our control. We may on occasion remove special characters.

k. Be careful when issuing press releases about individual courses, events, seminars and webinars, books, products, services and resources. If your submission is promotion without a valid news theme it will be rejected. The way to do this and avoid creating an advert, is to write about why it exists and its target market.

l. When quoting someone or writing about other companies and products, obtain permission from the persons or companies you are referencing.

m. Be careful when using words like 'free' or 'only' in relation to a product, service or offering, or a price point. If used in an advertising way, or in upper case, they will be removed or the release may be withdrawn. For example: 'Download your FREE copy', should be written as 'A free copy is available to download; XYZ is ONLY $99, should be written as XYZ's price is $99; etc.' Writing in the third person helps to avoid press releases appearing as adverts.

If you are not sure whether your press release complies with these guidelines please e-mail it to us and we'll take a look, without charge and let you know. Additionally, for a fee, we will edit or re-write a press release for you. E-mail it to enquiries@trainingpressreleases.com for a quotation.