A press release is basically a mini news story used to garner the attention of reporters and editors. Really good ones result in news coverage, and news coverage drives customers to your company. If you don?t want news coverage or think you don?t need new customers, then don?t bother reading on. Chances are, however, you know better than that.
The secret to a good press release is in it's newsworthiness. Not just something that falls within a broad newsworthy topic, but a new and interesting angle on a narrowed down newsworthy topic. So what makes something newsworthy? In the world of journalism, there are six traditional news values under which all news stories need to fall in order to be worthy of coverage. They are the following:
Impact: something that has an effect on readers? lives
Timeliness: events that occurred recently
Proximity: events that occurred nearby (location)
Prominence: something involving people in the public eye
Conflict: events or people that feature conflict
Oddity: events, people or things that are weird or out of the ordinary
If you don't have a story that meets at least one of these core values, then don't write a press release and bombard journalists with your non-news. It's kind of like the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you insist on sending press releases that have little or no news value, journalists will start to ignore you and not even bother reading what you have to say. Then when you do have something of news value, you won't get coverage because your press release was instantly discarded. It may be easier said than done, but you have to be objective and only send the good stuff.
It's also important to fight your natural inclination to do nothing but sell yourself. Journalists can see right through the hype. They have no interest in making you money or bringing you customers, so give them information that will be useful, accurate and interesting to their readers. That?s it.
There is a formal structure to all press releases that needs to be followed. Here?s a basic outline:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Month Day, Year
-OR-
EMBARGO UNTIL DATE & TIME
Company Name
Contact Name
Address (Optional)
Phone Number
Email Address
Headline Headline Headline Headline Headline
Subhead Subhead Subhead Subhead Subhead Subhead Subhead Subhead Subhead
CITY, State? Lead Paragraph
Body Paragraph
Body Paragraph
Maybe a Quote
Body Paragraph
About Company Name
Boilerplate Boilerplate Boilerplate Boilerplate Boilerplate Boilerplate Boilerplate
###
Right now this looks like a press release in shambles, so let?s break it down and eliminate the confusion. The top right-hand corner of the press release should either read FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, with the date below it, or EMBARGO UNTIL the date and time. For various reasons, news sometimes can?t be released to the public until a certain date and/or time, yet companies want to allow journalists to have adequate time to work on their stories. That?s why they use ?embargo until? to notify them as to when it's OK to publish the information being provided.
Below the release date/time information, you need to have contact information. This is usually seen along the left-hand side of the press release. This information is essential. If journalists are interested in your story, they?re likely to follow up with questions and interviews, so they need a point of contact.
The headline comes next. State the news, finding or announcement in as few words as possible. Use strong, active verbs in the present tense. The present tense creates a sense of timeliness and urgency. Eliminate the words ?a,? ?an? and ?the;? they're almost always unnecessary in headlines. You'll also want to be sure to include your company name somewhere in the headline. A great way to get inspiration is to read headlines in the newspaper.
Under the headlines, you'll write the subhead. The subhead is often overlooked by writers, but is incredibly useful to journalists. It?s where you reveal your angle and hook the reporter. The subhead is one sentence, one line long. Again, use strong, active verbs.
The first part of the first paragraph is the dateline. The dateline shows where the press release is coming from. The city should be in all capital letters. The state should not be in all capital letters and should be properly abbreviated (not postal abbreviations!). Because of their length, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Utah are not abbreviated. In addition, there are certain larger U.S. cities that stand alone on the dateline and do not need to be followed by the state name. They are as follows:
(WASHINGTON means D.C., but you don?t add the D.C.) There are also many international cities that don?t require the country name to accompany the city name. Consult a current Associated Press Stylebook to find a list. In addition, the entire dateline should be in bold lettering.
The lead paragraph contains the most important information in the press release. It needs the who, what, when, where, and sometimes how and why. A journalist should be able to read the lead and have all of the information needed to pursue the story. This is not the place to add hype or use bloated terms like ?unique? or ?state-of-the-art.? You want to write the text of the press release in such a way that it could potentially be published as is. So things like fluffy ad-like copy and improper grammar or usage of Associate Press style will force a journalist to have to edit your piece, making him or her much more likely to move on to the next one.
The following paragraphs are where all press releases differ. This is where you go into further detail and elaborate on your lead paragraph. It's also beneficial to add a quote. Quotes add perspective or establish credibility. Occasionally journalists will also pull those quotes and use them in their stories. The number of paragraphs and length of this section varies.
At the end of each and every press release you distribute, you need to have what is called a ?boilerplate,? which is an old newspaper term. Basically it's a recyclable ?about? section that gives a brief overview of your company. It could include where you're headquartered, when you were founded, what you do, etc. It?s also a good idea to end your boilerplate with, ?For more information, visit www.yourwebsite.com.?
The very last piece of the press release is the ###, three number signs in a row. The ### is a journalistic symbol that signifies that you are truly at the end of a piece. It is usually centered.
