Top Eight Tips on Writing a Press Release

Whether you are a small business or a major corporate leader, we can all value the importance of writing a press release. They can make the difference between having your company promoted in the news or not. So if you are looking to get more publicity for a recent event or venture your company has gone into, you have to ensure that your press release is ticks all the right boxes .

There are eight steps which must be considered when writing a press release, to ensure it reaches its maximum potential. The last thing you want is for the reporter receiving you press releases to spend 20 minutes figuring out what it’s about and to realize that it has no importance to them at all.

So when writing a Press Release, keep these points in mind:

1. Who are you writing for?

Before you start writing anything, first think who do you want to send this to, and will they find it interesting? If the answer is yes, then get to know their style of writing and what they have previously written about. By getting to know what the reporter has already written, it will give you a better idea of what to put in your own press release to ensure it catches their attention. It also makes sure that you are targeting the right person for your press release and not wasting their time as well as your own.

2. Catchy Headline

You might think it’s obvious that the headline has to be catchy, but more often than not we forget about it. Make sure you keep it short, at around 5-7 words long and ensure that it sums up exactly what you want to talk about in your press release. If you are emailing your press release to journalists, think carefully about what your subject line will be. Busy journalists will click delete if you email looks like a bulk sent email with the subject line along the lines of: “Press Release: Announcing new venture”. Before sending the email, just ask yourself, “would I open this email?” based on the subject line. If the answer is no, start again.