5 Tips for Press Release Product Debuts

Unveiling your company’s latest product is more multifaceted than it was even a few years ago. Whether you’re selling IT management services or consumer packaged goods, an ever-increasing shift to online purchasing habits (both B2B and B2C) and the resulting competition for audience attention are changing the game for industries of all types and sizes.

Luckily, the press release is a durable medium, evolving with the times to penetrate the myriad channels consumers inhabit. Read on for tips on utilizing this tried-and-true concept to launch your brand-new product.

Keep it newsworthy.

By definition, a press release should contain a novel message. And unlike a feature article, with a “destination” audience devoted to a specific publication (or, conversely, the clickbait ad at the bottom of that same page), a press release, like any news story, needs to establish both credibility and interest in the same swoop.

Remember the magic 5 Ws:

What is the product?
Who is it for?
Where can it be obtained?
When will it be available?
Why is it worth knowing about?

Don't let your headline be your last line.

While clever teaser statements have their place, you risk losing potential readers not hooked enough to stay tuned for the main idea. Not only can they influence search rankings, but headlines in a press release are the biggest chance to catch the eye of a journalist or content contributor—live bodies who sift through hundreds of stories a day. Use this space to concisely announce:

the product
the company
the wow factor (yes, this can be tricky to pull off in under a sentence—keep it digestible by summarizing the end user benefit at an average reading level)

Illustrate your point.

Some products are easy to visualize. But what about LED display technology, semiconductors, or medical devices? Multimedia can convey a complicated concept in a fraction of the time required to explain it in writing. And it has sticking power too: many studies show a picture is more likely to be remembered than information encoded as words. Supplement your release with a photo or graphic (or two!) to increase audience comprehension—and be sure to include a brief caption so they know what they’re looking at.

Get your news to travel in the right circles.

Press release distribution typically includes both syndicated sites, which publish verbatim, but also a wide swath of journalists and contributors who use releases to create new pieces. Depending on the product, the scope of the release, and buyer demographics, you may have different goals for who spreads your news, for example:

YouTube product announcement/celebrity endorsement ⇒ social media influencers
market-disrupting product exiting stealth mode ⇒ industry reporters
recent franchise openings ⇒ local/community press
product as a function of ESG goals ⇒ nationwide news outlets

If you issue press releases through Business Wire, be sure to use your insider expertise and select from the wide range of available trade categories—specifying these ensures your news goes to entire lists of vetted points, all of whom subscribe to news from Business Wire in those respective verticals. Not sure if we reach a particular outlet? Just ask!

Speak your buyer persona's language.

A press release reaches audiences differently than views driven purely by SEO traffic: you're casting a much wider net, less limited by algorithms. But you can still incorporate keywords just as you would to get viewers to your website: whether the reader is a search engine or a human, you will gain more awareness by describing the product’s features and benefits in the same vocabulary as a prospective consumer. (Just remember to keep a "news" tone vs an "advertising" tone. More announcement, less infomercial.)

To sum up, successful product introduction is a collaborative feat, accomplished by combined sales, marketing, and PR efforts. But with its broad reach and accessible format, a press release can work the room to make record impressions—with respect to both quantity and quality.