Write and publish online press releases

How to Write a Great Press Release

The first question editors and journalists ask when they pick up your release is “Is this important?”. And you know what? – Most press releases do not work.
That’s because they are written in a way that is antiquated, outdated, and deadly boring. These often come as templates in your word processing program. Don’t use them – they’re probably OK for some people, but they are not really good at creating the kind of excitement and interest that you want from the people who are receiving your press releases.
You have to actually have a message that is newsworthy, and if your news is not of such, you must develop the skill of adding a value to your story. (To learn more about art of storytelling in PR please read our recent article on advanced PR techniques).

Press Release Headline

In headline, state your most exciting news, finding or announcement in as few words as possible. Emulate the headlines you see in the newspaper every day.

Bad Press Release Headline:
NEW WEBSITE THAT OFFERS EVERYONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE LITERATURE ONLINE
Good Press Release Headline:
BIG LAUNCH: ONLINE NOVEL WRITING PROJECT THAT EVERYONE CAN JOIN

You’ve just thrown a meaty hook at the reporter.

The Press Release Subhead

Subheads are remarkably useful tools, yet usually overlooked by press release writers. Basically, the press release subhead gives you the opportunity to flesh out your angle and further hook the reporter, without stepping on the drama of the press release headline.

The Lead

The lead is the most important element in a news story; it is the story opener when written in the inverted pyramid structure. The inverted pyramid is a graphical representation of how information should be arranged within a news story. The most important information – made up of the 5 W’s – comes first and the information of lesser importance follows.
It is essential that the lead catches the interest of the reader immediately and by rule-of-thumb it includes the core information of the story, or the traditional 5 W’s: Who, what, when, where, and why. Its objective is to satisfy the reader’s curiosity.
Occasionally an H, for how, is included in the lead. In addition, a news story usually includes the answer to “what’s next?”.

The Rest of the Press Release

The balance of the press release serves to back up whatever claims were made in the lead and headline. Use enough supporting material to make your case, and to demonstrate that, whatever angle you’re promoting, it wasn’t something you slapped together carelessly.
An important question to ask in addition to establishing newsworthiness is simply: “so what, who cares?”

Quotes

Quotations are great additions to news stories; they add credibility and weight and make your story readable and interesting. Quotations can support arguments and information, as long as you attribute your quote, making it more credible and showing you did research, while avoiding any legal or ethical issues.

Inline Tip:
Never start a story with a quote; your story is what’s important, not your company’s president.

Boilerplate

Finally, spend a sentence or two describing your company and what you do. This paragraph is known as the “boilerplate” — an old newspaper term meaning a block of standard text that’s used over and over again (e.g. the explanation of symbols on the stock price page).
In this case, it’s text that you might use at the bottom of all your releases. Place your boilerplate right above the # # #’s.

Inline tip:
Below the ###’s, add a line that says something like:
If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with John Smith, please call Pat Brown at 555/555-2222 or e-mail Pat at pr@yoursite.com

Common Press Release Copy Styles

Press releases falls into a few well-defined categories, each used in accordance with the general format and theme of your headline. The style of copy you use in the body of your release must follow the pattern and pace established by your attention-getter. If you use a direct, factual headline, your body text will usually be most effective if it, too, is factual.

• Straight-line copy
  This is the most frequently used type. It directly follows the headline and proceeds in a straight and orderly manner from beginning to end. It does not waste words, but starts to sell the benefits of your PR subject immediately.
• Narrative copy
  Follows the headline with a story that logically leads into a discussion of your PR subject. This can be a dangerous style to use because you must construct an interesting story that will keep the readers involved long enough to make your point.
• Institutional copy
  Sells an idea, organization or service. Your copy must create confidence in the company or organization, not your PR subjects itself.
• Dialogue and monologue copy
  Permits the person giving the endorsement in your headline to do the selling in his or her own words. The trick is to retain the attention-getting power of the testimonial and at the same time sound natural and convincing.
• Gimmick copy
  Depends upon humor, poetry, foreign words, great exaggeration, gags and other devices to create promotional power. This is rarely used because in most cases you are writing a press release to tell a straight, informative story.

Use these techniques as guidelines, not as rules. You should practice writing headlines in several different styles and then write supportive body copy for each.


This article is written by Elementary Writing