How to write a press release
By Paul Green
When you want to get publicity for your business, a press release is a powerful tool to use.
It’s not the be all and end all of PR. So long as you have a story suggestion to make, you can easily get publicity without a press release.
But the press release format is the perfect way to communicate your story to a journalist in a way they are most comfortable with. And that means they are more likely to use your story if they think it will be of interest to their readers, listeners or viewers.
Here is how to write a press release for your business.
Headline: The most important part of your press release. 99% of releases are thrown in the bin (by that I mean deleted on email) by journalists, based purely on what the headline says. So your headline has to be the strongest part of the release. It must “sell” the story suggestion and persuade the journalist to read the rest of the press release. This means your headline must be relevant to the journalist and their audience, and contain something called Standoutability – an ingredient that makes it stand out from the 99 other press releases they are looking at.
First paragraph: The job of this paragraph is to summarise the entire story. That means telling the journalists the five W’s: who, what, where, when, why. If the headline gets them to open your press release (open your email), the first paragraph gets them to read all of it and make a decision whether or not to give you free publicity.
2nd, 3rd and 4th paragraphs: Here you expand on the details of the story. You explain in great details who is doing what, where they are doing it and when, and most importantly why. The why of a story is often the most interesting thing. Good journalists know that people’s motivations to do things are where good stories come from.
Quotes: Around the middle of your press release you need to quote yourself or someone else, talking about the story, like this… Paul said: “Knowing how to write a press release is easy when you get expert help.” Ensure your quotes add colour to your story and aren’t just repeating existing information. Some journalists will reprint your quotes, others may contact you and interview you themselves to get some new quotes.
Information about your business: Ensure you have fully explained every detail of your story, then give some basic information about your business. Avoid corporate nonsense about how prestigious your business is. Stick to facts about the business and its people that help to reinforce the story. For example if your story suggestion was your opinion about something as an expert in your field, you would need to show how your business makes you the expert in your field.
Notes to editors: End your press release by writing the word “ENDS”, then write “Notes to editors”. Here you can give information that will help the journalist compile their story, but you wouldn’t like to see directly published, such as your mobile phone number.
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