Ah yes, the PR machine… most companies at some point will have a need to create and distribute a press (or PR) release. The body of the press release expands on the “Who, What, When, Where, How and Why” of the announcement or news and you’ll need a killer title. There’s also a number of other things to keep in mind. Here’s 10 important considerations that will help:
- Press releases should always be written in third person. Press releases must be written with the “journalist” or “media outlet” as the audience.
- Never write a press release as if you are trying to sell to the reader. Press releases that resemble a sales letter are considered to be “press release spam” and will create more harm than good. Remember that the purpose of your press release is to announce your news, not sell.
- Always include plenty of contact info. A contact name, email address, phone and at least three links to your web site should be included in every press release.
- Company background info is very valuable. This is usually done by including a section at the bottom of the press release just before the contact info titled “About XYZ Company or Organization”
- Send a new press release at least once a month. With the huge amount of information on the internet, news is forgotten quickly. Some organizations even send a new press release every day (that’s overkill in my mind!)
- It is important to constantly come up with new and interesting news to announce to the public. If you don’t have anything important to share then maybe save it and make sure you have real news
- It is important for a press release to be new, interesting, unique and exciting. Only the most interesting press releases get noticed.
- Keep your press release short and simple. 250 to 500 words is best.
- Add ### at the bottom of each press release to signify the end.
- Consider including a nicely worded paragraph in your email to editors – this can be useful for them in creating a blog post – finish the press release by including a suggested tweet and if you have a photo, screencap, video or image that’s related to your news upload it to your website and provide a link to it
