Today, we consume more news than ever before. Throughout the day, we turn to news apps and social channels to discover and learn the latest updates. This provides an excellent opportunity for organizations to connect with their target audiences by sharing their announcements.
There are fewer reporters today to fill this massive need for content. This means newsrooms are working harder and faster. Reporters need news content to fill their pipelines. Reporters actively look for relevant, useful news and information they can share with their audiences.
How do you catch a reporter’s eye with your press release? It’s simple.
Create and distribute a complete news package – a news release with a strong, relevant headline, useful data points, and multimedia imagery designed to appeal to news media readers, not your company’s marketing audiences.
Drafting a press release today requires a bold headline, quick hits, and easily scanned text. Here's what to include in your press release.
Begin your news release with a bold and blunt headline.
Your headline is the gatekeeper to your news content. To write an attention-grabbing headline, use these four steps from award-winning writing coach, Ann Wylie, CEO of Wylie Communications:
- Be concise – try to keep your PR article headline to 5-8 words
- Focus on your audience, not your company or product
- Use an exciting verb
- Skip adjectives and adverbs
If you’re focusing on online audiences, consider using Google Trends to identify if your chosen words match user search terms.
Next, draft a press release subheadline.
Subheadlines are not seen until the news release is opened, so don’t hide key information here. Instead, use this space to continue the story your headline tells. Be brief, ideally a single sentence in length.
Preparing a press release with multimedia is a must.
The entire world speaks in images. Reporters use imagery to draw in viewers. To increase media coverage opportunities of your news, include a visual element in your news release. Reporters cannot publish an article without one. Do not reuse your organization’s marketing content – instead, add an image or video specifically created for reporter use. Take the time to create a new multimedia asset – a photo, image card, GIF, or video – that shows how your news impacts your audience (but without the sales pitch!).
Write a press release with scannable body text.
When it comes to writing the body of your press release, we follow Ann Wylie’s formatting best practices to help tell your story. Use bolded headers, bullets, and italics to emphasize your key points so busy journalists and readers can quickly scan your copy and understand your news at a glance.
- 1st paragraph: The first paragraph of your news release is a short (30-word) summary of your news. This should contain the description and impact of your news. It should be self-contained and able to tell your story in full, on the off-chance people choose not to read further. A portion of this paragraph often appears in search engine results snippets, so use this space to entice readers to open, not to reiterate who you are. Include a link to your company and key landing pages here.
- 2nd paragraph: The second paragraph of the press release should contain your supporting quotes from someone within your organization. This could be your CEO or product manager and usually is presented as the company expert or leader. This quote outlines the why of your product and service.
- 3rd paragraph: The third paragraph of your release should feature your supporting data in list format. Use this section to provide product specs, usage data, or outside feedback on your product and service. This can be expert data, customer quotes, or both. When providing the data support for your news, use bullets to make it easy for reporters to use.
- 4th paragraph: The last paragraph of your release serves as a summary, outlining key rationales and impact. Don't forget to include hyperlinks back to any additional key data.
- 5th paragraph: This paragraph is your boilerplate. This is the summary of your company and includes links to your key landing pages.
Be sure to include your contact information.
Make it easy to get in touch. Every useful news release includes contact information so the reporter can easily obtain additional content or details directly from someone at your organization. Include a number or email address that is monitored frequently to ensure you see and respond to these queries in real time.
Now, test your work.
Now that you’ve written your news release, it's time to test your work. Ask a co-worker or friend to read your release and reiterate the key points. This will tell you if your audience connected with your message, or if revisions are needed.
There is a real opportunity to secure the kind of editorial coverage that moves prospects in and through your sales funnel. All you have to do is provide reporters with highly relevant textual and visual news content that impacts their readers. Follow our steps for writing a powerful news release to maximize this chance.
Learn more
- View sample press releases
- Download the guide: Instructions on Writing a Reporter-Friendly News Release Featuring Best Practices from Ann Wylie
- How to use Google Trends to write a headline
- Boost your PR results with multimedia
- 32 media relations tips to maximize your coverage opportunities
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