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Guidelines for Writing and Formatting Press Releases The Message The Length Lead Time Standards Format Fact Sheet Photos and Photo Captions |
Standards for the press release need to follow these guidelines:
Print the release on your company's letterhead (or with a top heading that includes your business name, address, phone and fax numbers).
Type "News Release" at the top of the page so the journalist knows immediately what it is.
Indicate whether the announcement is for immediate release or for release on a later date. For example, you can type: "For Immediate Release," "For Release on Month/Day/Year," or "For Release On or After Month/Day/Year."
Include a contact name and phone number. The contact should be available to answer questions or provide further information if the reporter needs it. Call the reporter back promptly with a response to their inquiry.
Provide a short headline that describes the content at a glance. Try to include your company name in the headline to build instant name recognition. For example, "Small Business Notes Introduces Industry Specific Business Start Up Advice" is a headline that immediately tells a journalist what the release is about.
Type a dateline at the beginning of the lead paragraph. A dateline includes the location from which the news is being generated (city in all caps) and the date. For example, the first text line in your release might look this:
KAMUELA, Hawaii (June 1, 2004 -- Small Business Notes introduced industry ...
Try to determine and use the date you expect the release to arrive on the journalist's desk. The news may be hot off the press, but if it carries last week's date, a journalist may assume it's yesterday's news and throw it away without reading it.
Information courtesy of the Small Business Administration.
