Imagine you're flipping through a magazine and notice an article on your favorite topic: coffee. As you read the piece, you come across a paragraph that describes a new portable cappuccino maker — so portable, in fact, that it can sit unobtrusively on your desk at work. The article even features a picture of the machine. You think, “Wow, that company was sure lucky. They just got free publicity for their product!”

Free publicity is just a myth. Although most publications will not accept payment to mention products and services in their editorial (it's obviously unethical), companies invest a significant amount of time and money communicating with the press. These activities are often referred to as public relations, press relations, media relations, or PR for short.

Copywriters play an important role in gaining good publicity for products and services. There are a variety of written materials that need to be developed to inform editors and journalists about a company's offerings and capabilities.

When writing PR copy, the key word is newsworthy. Editors and journalists are sensitive to sales pitches and marketing hype. What they respond to best is communications that describe the real news concerning products and services and why that information is important to their readers, listeners, or viewers. The best PR copy is fact filled, with an unbiased tone. The media loves great stories, so the more of these you can weave into your copy the better.