ten elements of press release writing

8/9/2019 Ten Elements of Press Release Writing

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Ten elements of Press Release Writing

1. Only issue press releases that are newsworthy .What is a newsworthy press release? In general, a newsworthy press release addresses issues that

your prospects or customers are grappling with and demonstrates why they, as well as the press,

should care about the press release as well as your company. Here are some examples: a newservice offered by your company that has unique positioning against competitors a new product

!"# a special pricing deal a product or service bundle an announcement with another vendor

such as a strategic alliance or $oint development results of a survey which positively impactsyour business several %ey customer wins winning some sort of contest and so on.

&eep in mind that a newsworthy release doesn't guarantee that it will be covered immediately, or

at all, in your target publications. (here are different levels of news that can be assigned to press

releases. )or example, a *evel I release is newsworthy, has customer references, and industryanalyst references. (hese releases are posted on a wire service and are typically covered. + *evel

II release is newsworthy and has one type of reference such as a vendor, a customer, or an

industry analyst. (hese releases are typically posted on a wire service and have over a -chance of being covered. + *evel III release is newsworthy and is basically an )/I to %eep

people up to date on your company. +n example might be winning a contest, or a new service or

pricing offering which lac%s an analyst reference. *evel III may be posted to the wire. (his type

of release is typically mailed to your target editorial list and to customers0prospects. *evel IIIreleases issued by start ups have less than a - chance of being covered but are an important

way to maintain editorial mindshare.

2. Define Target Press List.

/our target press list consists of the names, addresses, phone, fax, and email addressed of the %ey

press you'd li%e to cover your company and technology. 1ress lists can typically be divided into

three parts which include: (ier " press, or press and freelance reporters who write forpublications that publish wee%ly or bi2wee%ly (ier 3 press, target monthly publications and (ier

4 publications typically include your target vertical mar%et publications, li%e 5elling 1ower,

given that the vertical mar%etplace !in this case consists of sales professionals# is not yourprimary customer0prospect base.

/our tier ", 3, and 4 press lists may include a variety of publication types. (rade press are

reporters or editors of publications in your specific area of business. )or example, if you are inthe 16 business, 16 Wee% would be one of your target trade publications or 7olling 5tone might

be a target publication if you have a music2oriented product or site. 8usiness publications focus

mainly on business. (hese publications, such as the Wall 5treet. 9ournal, do have a variety of

reporters and columnists including the technology beat or area. +rticles in businesspublications typically cover topics0news from a business angle such as how the technology is

changing the way a company does business.

When developing your target press list, ma%e sure you determine who at the publication covers

your product or service area. ;o not use a blan%et distribution strategy to disseminate your pressrelease to publications. It drives reporters and editors craxchange has a list of

technology and Internet beat 7eporters and edia 6ontactsyou can use to get started building
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distribution plan, $ust remember that $ournalists frequently move between beats and publications.

3. Capture the readers attention with the headline.

In order to capture the reporter's attention, the headline !3#is in all capital letters, boldfaced,

succinct, includes an action verb, and gives a benefit if possible. *et's say you're issuing a pressrelease on a new version of a product. (he headline should be something li%e:

!"T #$P%CT D"&"LOP' (R"%)T*RO+,*

TR%#!#!, %!D CO%C*#!, '-'T"$

Net Impact Announces its new product E@SY and its Entryto the Marketplace

(he first four or five words are what people will see when they log into the wire services such as

17 =ewswire and 8usiness Wire. Wire services are discussed in @"-.

(he text underneath the headline is called the subtitle. (he subtitle is $ust that22 additional title

information that explains the news value of your press release. It's not necessary to include asubtitle.

. #n/lude your produ/ts positioning0 ey features0 and enefits to end users.

1ositioning, %ey features, and benefits !4#are %ey elements that press will want to include in an

article. 1ositioning is something that can be conveyed succinctly in a company representativequote or in the first or second paragraph of the release. &ey features and benefits are deserving of

their own subhead !capital letters and lower case# in the press release.

. #n/lude a /ustomer and0 or analyst 4uote if possile.Including a customer or analyst quote !A#in your release helps raise its level of newsworthiness

and chance of being covered by the press. It's also helpful to offer these references to %ey presscontacts to encourage them to write an interesting article. /ou will need to obtain permissionfrom the analyst or customer to ta%e press calls, and you will want to coach them on what to say

before the press release is issued. It's also wise to call customers to let them %now a member of

the press will be calling.

5. #n/lude a 4uote from the president of your /ompany or other appropriate spoesperson.

Including a quote from the president !#or company spo%esperson is a useful way to conveywhat the release means to the company and its future. !It also promotes the name to the press to

get exposure.#

6. #n/lude pri/ing and a7ailaility information./our press release must includepricing information, !B#such as the cost for software or

subscription fees for content products. 5ometimes exact pricing may be inappropriate, for

example with consulting services or businesses based on advertising model. In such cases,provide as much information as appropriate, especially if it is a %ey distinguishing feature of

your business, site, product, or service. 1rice points are facts reporters want to include in an

article. If you ma%e the pricing information succinct, it helps ensure accurate coverage. If youdon't want to list the high2end pricing, give an example for typical customer usage.
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1ress will want to include availability information !C#in a subsequent article 2 whether the

product0service is available immediately or within a few months. &eep in mind that you will also

want to include where the product or service can be purchased as well as number to call to ma%ethe purchase. )or example, let the reader %now if the product or service is available directly from

your company or through an integrator or other reseller. If the product may be purchased over the

Internet, let the reader %now the D7*.

8. #n/lude /onta/t information for press to re/ei7e additional information.

5o press %now with whom to follow up, it's important to include company contact information, atelephone number as well as an email address, at the top of the press release under the heading

)or more information contact. !E#6ontacts are typically whoever handles mar%eting or

mar%eting communications for your company, and your 17 representative if you have one. It is

also crucial to include your company'sboilerplate !F#, which is essentially your company'smission and strategy, at the end of the press release. /ou will also want to include your

company's D7* address in the boilerplate. )or releases about $oint ventures or partnerships, it's

common to include contacts from each company.

9. Rememer press release formatting rules.

/our press release should be double spaced or ". spaced with the appropriate usage of boldfacedcharacters. +lso, your press release should be succinct and not exceed three pages in length. If

the release is longer than three pages, see what you can ta%e out and put into a separate document

such as a product or service overview. When deleting information from the press release, youneed to ma%e sure that it can still stand by itself without any accompanying documents. /our

press release should also include!more# !"-#at the end of the page so the reader %nows to

continue. + @@@ is used to mar% the end of the press release. (rademar% information follows the

@@@ !""#.

1:. 'o you7e written the release0 now what do you do with it;

When planning a press release, you will need to determine its *evel of newsworthiness !I, II, orIII#and plan accordingly. (ypically, *evel I and II press releases will be placed on an electronic

news wire service such as 17 =ewswireor 8usiness wire,and are faxed or emailed to your

target list of editors0reporters. 9ournalists log onto the newswires daily loo%ing for areas ofinterest. +lso note that you can control the geographic areas and publications0media that receive

your press release through the wire service's select distribution list. /ou can find lin%s to wire

services and other online 17 organixchange's 17

achine. +nd be sure to send your release to editorGnetpreneur.org.

+fter you put your release on the wire, you'll want to follow up via snail mail and mail the press

%it, which includes the release and accompanying information such as company bac%grounders

or product0service white papers. *evel III releases may be placed on the wire and should bemailed to your target press list.

;on't forget to add your press release to your Web site. 1ress release pages are typically added to

the 1ress 7elease lin%, which is often a lin% under the +bout /our 6ompany area of your

home page. (his is important because your press release invites people to your Web page, and
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because you don't want to miss any opportunities a%e sure your page is up2to2date and

loo%ing good.

ten elements of press release writing

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