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How To Write A Press Release

Guest post by: Jason Kay

Article Overview: A press release, sometimes known as a news release, is a great way of communicating with the media and creating publicity. Publicity is the most cost-effective marketing tool out there and is an extremely useful marketing strategy. A well-written press release can dramatically increase your sales, reveal what your company is all about on a large scale and create a positive image of your business or your products. If you want a credible way of doing all these things, then you need to learn how to produce an effective press release.

How To Write A Press Release

A press release, sometimes known as a news release, is a great way of communicating with the media and creating publicity. Publicity is the most cost-effective marketing tool out there and is an extremely useful marketing strategy. A well-written press release can dramatically increase your sales, reveal what your company is all about on a large scale and create a positive image of your business or your products. If you want a credible way of doing all these things, then you need to learn how to produce an effective press release. A press release can do whatever you want it to; it can announce a range of news items such as scheduled events, personnel promotions, awards, new products and services, sales accomplishments or any new developments within your company. Journalists also use press releases to generate feature stories. In this situation, a press release acts as bait and the reporter is more likely to use a story idea if they first receive a press release.

A press release is the most common format used to present information to the media; therefore it is essential to get it right. The format of the press release is crucial as it needs to supply the reader with all the vital information but not be too long so as to bore. First of all the press release needed to be branded with the logo of the company. This puts the company's stamp on the press release and lets the journalist know whom the information is from. Next you need to clearly state what type of information is being sent e.g. news release, event information or a copy for a feature; this should go at the top of the page.

Every press release needs to be dated for the day it is sent out to a journalist. A good press release will immediately grab the attention of the reader. One way of doing this is to write a short, catchy title that gives the point of the piece in only a few words. If the press release is promoting an event or something then the date, time and location should be just below the headline.

The general rule with regards to the length of the press release is that the main body of the text should exceed no more than two pages. This should also include notes to editors and contact details. That being said, a single page is probably just as effective. Try and keep the paragraphs as snappy as possible, stick to a three sentence per paragraph rule. The sentences should also short to keep the reader's interest.

The opening paragraph is probably the most important part of the press release. Here you should tell the journalist everything they need to know. A good rule of thumb is to stick to know more than 50 words in the opening paragraph. Use the Five Ws- Who, What, When, Where and Why.

With regards to style, this will largely be influenced by the content of the press release and the target audience it is aimed at. Overall however, the style needs to be concise, punchy and jargon-free and this can cause confusion. Try and imagine that you are writing to someone who has absolutely no knowledge of the subject matter and that way you will be sure to include all the relevant information. Include facts but make them interesting. Also, don't include subjective judgments as these can cause offence.

Quotes are always a good way of adding credibility to your material, just make sure they are accurate. Try not to use quotes to repeat what you have already written, instead use them support your words.

Always include contact details at the end of a press release so that the journalist can find out more if they want to.

Finally, before submission check your press release for spelling or grammatical errors, accuracy of dates, times and places, punctuation, and accuracy of any statistics used.

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Article Tags: how to write a press release, press release, publicity, useful marketing



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