Press releases (also called news releases) are used to announce your company's news to journalists in hopes that they will publicize your story. Many news and feature stories published in newspapers or broadcast on radio and TV originate from press releases. Press releases are sent to news reporters and journalists by mail, email or fax. They are also included in Press Kits.
Because journalists receive dozens to hundreds of press releases daily, your release will compete with many others for attention. It's worth spending time to make yours the best it can be.
Typical press release topics include:
- Announcing staff appointments. (For example, your company adds a vice president of finance.)
- Introducing a new product, service or idea.
- Reporting new findings from a survey or research.
- Announcing an upcoming event.
- Presenting new information such as reaching a milestone for your business or industry.
There are a number of good books on writing press releases. Here are a couple of useful ones that your may want to add to your library:
Writing Effective News Releases...
6 Steps to Free Publicity
Also, many books on marketing communications and public relations contain sections or entire chapters on preparing press releases.
The Web site of the Public Relations Society of America, a professional association for public relations practitioners, contains information about press relations in a database of newsletter articles.
The Inverted Pyramid
Newspaper journalists have long used the inverted pyramid model for story writing, so press release writers should structure their releases accordingly. In general, this model reminds the writer to:
- Summarize important information in the beginning of the release. The reader should be able to grasp the point of the release by reading the first sentence. This is the lead statement.
- Follow with details that back-up or confirm the lead statement of the release.
- Including less important - yet relevant and interesting - information last.
The inverted pyramid model is used for several reasons:
- Including "who, what, when, where and why" upfront quickly informs the reader of the story content. With press releases, the reader is a busy journalist who doesn't have time to read everything they receive.
- If the reader stops reading before completing the article, the most important information is conveyed.
- When space is limited, newspaper editors cut stories from the bottom. Therefore, the least important information will be cut first.
To learn more about writing a good press release, see Guidelines for Writing and Formatting Press Releases
