The golden rules of writing impressive press releases
Out of doubts, one of the fundamental elements of a media relations strategy is the preparation of the media kit: press kit, press release and photo gallery are the business card of a company or organization. And they are the starting point to open a dialogue with newsrooms. Here they are the golden rules to write a good press release, with the aim of getting noticed by editors.
To begin with, what is meant by a press release? It is a short, compelling news story written by a public relations professional and sent by email to targeted media. The goal of a press release is to catch the interest of a journalist.
How to get noticed by editors?
Must be said that every day journalists receive hundreds, if not thousands, of emails. The risk of going unnoticed, or worse to end up in the trash is very high. A good press release must first of all contain useful informations: journalists are often favorably disposed to realy them to their readers!
How must be written a useful press release?
Give useful informations for the readers, first of all. This the main reason why the text of our press release must not be a set of advertising slogans or a self-celebration of the client. It must tell clearly who the company is and what it does, but it must do so with a view to offering useful information to those who will subsequently read the article.
So the first rule for a good press release is to contain a news item. Simply saying that the Pinco Pallino company is the best of all and is market leader is not news. But saying that it launches for the first time a new public utility service, for example a new App or a patent, can be the starting point to be taken into consideration by the journalist who will receive the message.
Discovering news
So even before you are about to write a press release, it is essential to evaluate together with the client if there is a news and what scope it can have. The goal is to be able to connect to current events and provide a useful cue for the target we want to talk to. Hiring policies, the opening of new branches, the entry into a foreign market, the launch of a new product, participation in a research project, can all be interesting starting points from which to tell the story and values of a company.
The six rules of writing an impressive press release
Once the news has been designed, there are simple and basic rules to write a good press release and manage to get “noticed” by journalists. Let’s see together the six golden tips:
1. Insert the “news” in the first three lines of the text. The old rule of the 5 W, What, Who, Where, When, Why, which must be in the first opening sentence. Journalists have the time counted, let’s not force them to read the entire press release before they understand what the real news is.
2. Clarity of language: avoid repetition, use the correct technical terms and at the same time explain them, avoid borrowing from other languages, especially English, if there is an equivalent in our mother tongue.
3. Enter numbers and data that can corroborate the statement. It is not enough to write that the Pinco Pallino company has grown a lot in the last year: at least indicate the trends in percentage or even better the turnover.
4. Enter at least one quote from a company representative. It makes the statement less aseptic and allows you to have a clear message if there is no time for an interview.
5. Always indicate the roles and positions of the people named in the press release.
6. Add a brief description of the company at the bottom of the release: date of birth, founders, location, number of employees, core business, revenues.
Following these few rules, you will not write a simple press release but a you will create a story, the story of your client. And you will have more opportunity to “sell it”.
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