How to Write a Press Release: A Step-By-Step Guide

1 week ago

What Is a Press Release?

A property merchandise is simply a little news article astir your institution that you tin rumor to news outlets and journalists. To pull nationalist attention, protect your marque reputation, summation marque awareness, and more.

Here’s an illustration of a property merchandise astir a caller merchandise issued by Wet Noses, a canine nutrient company:

A modular property merchandise contains these sections:

Header pinch nan institution sanction and logo, a interaction person, and immoderate merchandise day guidelines
Headline
Subtitle (optional)
Dateline
Lead paragraph
Body
Boilerplate and extremity notation

In this article, we’ll thatch you really to constitute a property merchandise and locomotion you done each of nan sections listed above. If you want to jumpstart nan process, download our free modular property merchandise template.

Types of Press Releases

Press releases tin beryllium issued for occasions like:

A caller business (or caller business location) opening
A caller activity hire
A caller merchandise aliases work launch
An upcoming event
A caller partnership
A institution rebranding
Winning an manufacture award
An acquisition aliases merger taking place

Companies besides put retired statements astir issues they mightiness beryllium facing. To pass nan nationalist astir really they’re handling nan business and to protect nan company’s nationalist image during a crisis.

How to Write a Press Release

Wondering really to constitute a bully property release? Here are six champion practices.

Step 1: Highlight nan Basic Information for Journalists

The apical of your property merchandise should show journalists who you are, really to get successful touch pinch your nationalist relations department, and erstwhile to rumor nan property release. To streamline communications and reply immoderate first questions.

So, beryllium judge to include:

A institution logo: Place it astatine nan apical correct corner
Your institution name: Place it astatine nan apical near corner
A media interaction person: List retired their name, occupation title, telephone number, and email reside beneath nan institution name
Release date: The day you’re issuing nan property release
Release guidelines: Instructions connected erstwhile publications should merchandise your news (more connected this below)

Here’s what this building should look for illustration (as shown successful our template):

Let’s person a look astatine what different merchandise guidelines mean:

For contiguous release: This property merchandise should beryllium shared pinch nan nationalist correct away. This is besides nan default setting. Without immoderate merchandise guidelines, journalists will presume your connection is meant to beryllium released immediately.
For merchandise [date/time]: This property merchandise isn’t time-sensitive and tin beryllium shared later
Embargoed until [date/time]: This property merchandise contains delicate accusation that journalists can’t merchandise earlier nan day and clip specified by nan company

Step 2: Write an Attention-Grabbing Headline

Your header is nan cardinal constituent to seizure attention—from some journalists and different readers. And tin entice your target assemblage to publication it.

Here are immoderate tips connected crafting a bully headline:

Include nan halfway news element. Tell nan scholar correct distant why you’re issuing a property release
Keep it concise. There’s nary one-size-fits-all connection count for headlines that you should purpose for. But effort to support it short and to nan point. Longer headlines are harder to read.
Speak to your audience. Choose an perspective that your assemblage cares about. And constitute accordingly.

Depending connected nan accusation you’re sharing, your header whitethorn beryllium simple.

In those cases, there’s nary request to look for a typical perspective to captivate interest. Like this header from Weibo’s merchandise for nan wide meeting:

Once written, spot nan header correct beneath nan interaction accusation and merchandise guidelines. Like this:

Optionally, you tin besides adhd a subtitle aliases 2 beneath nan header if you want to item immoderate important accusation that didn’t make it into nan headline.

Step 3: Ensure Location and Time Relevancy pinch a Dateline

The dateline indicates nan day of nan property release’s issuing, arsenic good arsenic nan location nan news is applicable to.

If you’re issuing a property merchandise for contiguous release, nan day successful nan dateline should beryllium nan time you’re sending nan merchandise to journalists. But if nan merchandise is embargoed aliases tin beryllium released astatine a later date, nan day successful nan dateline should bespeak that.

While nan merchandise day is only visible to journalists, nan dateline will beryllium published on pinch nan property release.

Place nan dateline astatine nan opening of your lead assemblage paragraph, pursuing this format:

[Date, City, State]—Lead assemblage paragraph

Like this:

What astir businesses that person aggregate locations?

Unless your property merchandise is circumstantial to a azygous place, you should usage your company’s office arsenic nan location successful your property releases.

Some world companies for illustration Shopify database “Internet, Everywhere” arsenic nan location successful nan dateline. This states that nan accusation is applicable to their target assemblage sloppy of their location.

Step 4: Write a Strong Lead Paragraph

The lead paragraph (also called a “lede”) should incorporate nan astir important accusation astir your news.

That could thief you get sum because journalists don’t person clip to publication done each of nan property releases they receive. So, a compelling opening paragraph is much apt to get you noticed.

And make judge you're penning your lead paragraph successful a measurement that provides basal accusation by answering nan 5 “W” questions:

Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?

Here’s an illustration of a bully lead paragraph from NASA:

It answers:

Who? NASA
What? Opportunities to spot nan satellite walk successful beforehand of nan sun during a star eclipse and subordinate NASA’s events
Where? In personification aliases online (links available)
When? April 8

In this lawsuit nan “why” is implied: it’s a uncommon event.

The assemblage of nan property merchandise is wherever you’ll grow connected nan accusation you introduced successful nan header and lead paragraph. So further discourse is location for those who wish to publication it.

The assemblage paragraph should dive deeper into nan specifications you mentioned successful nan lede. And support your merchandise pinch quotes, stats, stories, and more.

Before you commencement penning nan body, shape each nan worldly you’d for illustration to mention. Like:

Exclusive information aliases investigation statistics
Quotes and testimonials from cardinal stakeholders
The communicative down nan release
Industry relevance
Unique trading proposition (especially for announcing caller products, services, and business opening)
Links to supporting grounds and articles

Then, rank each nan materials by their importance. Start pinch nan astir important portion and activity your measurement down nan list.

For example, if you’re promoting an event, nan astir important specifications are nan arena topic, date, time, location, venue, wherever and really to bargain tickets, pricing, speakers, and similar.

But suppose you’re covering a caller activity hire. In that case, it’s basal to see nan caller hire’s erstwhile profession achievements, their qualifications, nan domiciled they’ll beryllium taking on, and quotes from some nan caller prosecute and personification other from nan activity team.

Once you constitute nan body, publication done it and trim down connected unnecessary information. While there’s nary norm arsenic to really agelong your property merchandise should be, it’s a bully thought to support it to astir 400 words.

And extremity nan assemblage pinch a telephone to action applicable to your statement.

For instance, if you’re announcing a caller location, induce nan readers to sojourn it. And if you’re launching a caller online product, promote them to sojourn your tract to find retired much astir nan caller offering.

When you’re done writing, usage nan SEO Writing Assistant to reappraisal your property merchandise for readability and reside of voice.

Just transcript and paste your trial into nan tool’s matter editor, participate a fewer keywords, and prime your target reside of voice—keep successful mind that somewhat much general is emblematic for property releases.

You tin click nan pencil icon nether “Tone of Voice” to set it.

Then, nan instrumentality will emblem areas wherever you request to adjust.

Step 6: Include Boilerplate Information and an End Notation

End pinch a boilerplate (an “About us” section) and an extremity notation (which is “###”). To make judge journalists person important accusation astir your institution and cognize they’ve reached nan end.

Your boilerplate should include:

Your institution name
A banal awesome (for publically traded companies)
A short explanation of nan company
A unsocial worth proposition
Achievements and milestones (e.g., number of paying customers, locations, employees, circumstantial awards and recognitions, etc.)

Let’s person a look astatine a boilerplate example:

If your property merchandise mentions much than 1 company, you should see boilerplates for each of nan companies mentioned. You tin besides see interaction accusation here.

Add nan extremity notation astatine nan very end.

How to Distribute a Press Release

There are respective ways to get your property merchandise published aliases covered:

Releasing via newswires
Distributing straight to journalists
Working pinch PR agencies aliases freelancers

Let’s reappraisal each of these options below.

Releasing via Newswires

Newswires cod news reports and administer them to organizations they collaborate with. Like newspapers, power and TV stations, magazines, and others.

They’re elemental to use.

You constitute a property release, nonstop it to a newswire, and (often) salary a fee.

Then, they put it up connected their tract (as shown below) and nonstop it retired to their web of partners.

Popular newswires include PR Newswire, Business Wire, and Newswire.

Many journalists support way of newswires and prime up stories they find worthy sharing from there.

Newswires are easy to use, but they tin beryllium expensive. And distribution doesn’t guarantee coverage.

Distributing Directly to Journalists

Another action is to nonstop your news straight to journalists yourself to compel them to constitute an original article based connected it.

Whether this is nan correct action for you depends connected nan building of your squad and nan measurement of media outreach you’re readying to do.

For example, if you’re a one-person trading “team” astatine a startup, you mightiness struggle pinch an further task connected your plate.

But if you’re portion of an in-house PR team, past you’re apt well-equipped to administer nan property merchandise connected your own.

Follow these steps to execute this well:

Create a database of nan publications applicable to your company
For each publication, find nan news class your merchandise fits into. For example, news from a camping cogwheel institution will fresh into immoderate of these categories depending connected nan publication: Lifestyle, Travel, Outdoors.
Read done these sections to find examples of news that intimately resembles yours
Note nan sanction of nan journalist who wrote nan communicative and publication done their different articles
Select nan journalists who look astir willing successful nan taxable of your merchandise and/or your industry/company
Find their interaction accusation and nonstop them your property release

Distributing straight to journalists tin look for illustration a harder measurement to get your news published. But you whitethorn extremity up building valuable relationships pinch journalists who tin thief you get sum much quickly down nan line.

Even receiving rejection emails tin beryllium a bully thing.

Use them arsenic an opportunity to inquire what benignant of stories they want to people successful nan future. Their answers will thief you fine-tune your PR strategy.

Working pinch PR Agencies aliases Freelancers

If you want to return property merchandise distribution disconnected your plate, you tin prosecute a PR agency aliases freelancer(s) to administer them for you.

Often, these businesses and individuals person beardown media connections they’ve been building for years. So, journalists whitethorn besides beryllium much apt to respond to them.

Another use of moving pinch agencies and freelancers is that they’re successful touch pinch nan latest media trends. And tin counsel you connected which angles to take—or moreover grip nan penning for you.

One disadvantage of outsourcing PR to outer partners is that nan media relationships they build stay theirs. So, if you extremity a collaboration pinch a PR partner, you mightiness beryllium near pinch small aliases nary media contacts of your own.

How to Measure Your Press Release’s Success

You’ll want to measurement capacity to find really successful your property merchandise was. But which metrics to way will dangle connected your goals.

Some bully metrics to commencement pinch are:

Number of media mentions
Number of backlinks
Number of caller leads
Website traffic

Let’s opportunity you want to way media mentions.

Use nan Brand Monitoring app for this.

Open nan tool, click “New query,” past prime “Brand” from nan drop-down menu.

Enter your company’s sanction and nan email reside you want notifications to beryllium sent to.

Scroll down and adhd your domain sanction to way backlinks, take what type of root platforms you want to track, and more.

Once you group everything up, scroll down to nan bottommost and click “Create query.”

You’ll spot a database of mentions that nan instrumentality originated for you. This page will update automatically arsenic soon arsenic caller sum appears.

Click “Analytics” to research much elaborate metrics.

To group up email digests, click nan “Email notifications” tab.

Here, you tin prime a frequency. Or opt to get notifications based connected specifics for illustration antagonistic mentions.

Now that you cognize really to constitute a property release, it’s clip to trial retired nan tips we shared successful this article.

As you do that, Brand Monitoring will beryllium location to seizure each nan media sum you get. So you don’t person to walk hours checking each nan publications you reached retired to connected your own.