What makes a press release catchy? It was an event designed to call attention to animal rights, and that really gets your attention, the alliteration, "Million Mutt March" (a play off the Million Man March). Those are qualities that are used in good writing, so why not use them in headlines as well?

If you want to learn this skill of injecting drama and pizzazz, then just start reading headlines and start thinking about what makes them work. When I stand in the supermarket checkout line, I always read the headlines on the women's magazines and just marvel at the skill at which they can make me want to pick up that magazine and find out what are the "7 Tricks that Every Married Woman Should Know in Order to." whatever. Here's one on Yahoo today, and this is timed for Valentine's Day, "Secret to Romantic Intimacy: Skip the Nagging." But it's timely, and even if you read that story before, somebody's going to pick it up and write it this year. Here's another one. This is on a science story. Now you would think that a story about some discovery of the geological composition of the rocks on Mars would have to be very dry and unimaginative. Well, here's the headline, "Water on Mars, But Not a Drop to Drink." Think about plays on words and putting a little fun in the headline once you have that clarity. For more tips on how to write fantastic press releases, read "The Do-It-Yourself Press Release Makeover."