How to Write a Press Release

How to Write a Press Release – Introduction

One of the most important things to know when developing a press release to send to the media is proper formatting. Several accepted formats are used in the public relations (PR) field. Some of them will be discussed here, and a sample press release is provided in one of the most common formats. Other important elements to a good news release are covered step-by-step.

The Right Length

The common optimum length for a press release is 400-800 words, with 400-600 words being a good target length. In many cases a 500 word release is “just right” because it ensures you get to the point in what you’re announcing. Length will vary, and run longer, when there is mandatory “boiler plate” information typically found in releases for publicly traded companies.

The sample release below, this page, is just under 400 words, and is a good length for a new product announcement.

Write for brevity when possible and make every word count, but you don’t need to be obsessive about it — it’s important to remember you’re writing a news announcement and not the “great American novel.” Be matter-of-fact but also attempt to engage the reader with a story that draws the interest of the person who might read it. Be aware that some major media outlets like the Los Angeles Times receive thousands of press releases per week from around the world, so your “hook” is very important.

With product announcements your headline can be more general, as simple as “BigBear Publishing Announces Latest Version of BearMarket, the Leading Bear Tracking Application.” With general editorial — sometimes called feature stories — you need to be more creative.

The release should be written to reflect the actual news announcement in specifics, which are clearly stated. Avoid hyperbole like “the greatest application ever written,” and similar statements. Vague or projected content will not interest the receiving media targets (editors, assistant editors, etc.). Use good grammar, and strong action words like “will” versus “may” and “does” versus “might.”

Getting Started

The first line of a press release should be all capital letters, and will sometimes be “PRESS RELEASE” but more commonly should be “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.” We recommend the latter. (Neither version is included in word count limits for the majority of wire services like Send2Press®, PR Newswire®, etc.). Commonly, “PRESS RELEASE” is used for news announcements which are not being distributed on a specific day, such as those which might be included in a media kit.

There are two accepted locations for the placement of contact information: either at the top of the release, or at the bottom. If you choose to place the information at top, it should be below “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” and before the body of the release. If you choose to place the contact information at bottom, it should be after the body of the release. The contact information should be the name of the contact person by name, PR firm (if any) or company where contact person works; then phone number, and e-mail address. Each item should be on a separate line by itself.

Although it has become common practice to put contact information at top, a brief survey of 100 journalists conducted by Mindset/Neotrope in 1999 discovered that working writers preferred to see the “meat” of the release (the headline announcement) first, with contact info at bottom, when receiving news by e-mail. Most wire services such as Send2Press Newswire put the contact information at the bottom. An exception would be a formatted release printed in a media kit, and sent by mail; or a faxed release, where it is preferable to have the contact information at the top.

Next, the market segment identifier is used to identify to who your press release will be of interest. This can be in the form of listing a specific market such as “Business/E-Commerce/Fashion” or it can be directed at editors in the form of “Business Editors/High-Tech Writers.” Each method is correct, with one stating a market and the other identifying which editor at a general interest publication the release should be directed to. Generally, only one of the forms is used, however you can mix the approaches as necessary. Although not every PR firm uses an identifier line, we’ve found that it helps identify the relevance of the announcement to the receiving party, and may help it be read/used. It is recommended. Most wire services will use their own market identifiers, such as “Attention Travel Editors” and you can include them for guidance on your target audience, but they will be changed by the specific wire service to their methodology.

Below the “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” and the contact information (if you choose to place contact information at top) you must put your headline information.

This should be one of the two most carefully crafted aspects of your release (along with the first paragraph), and must be both attention getting and describe a genuine newsworthy event. It doesn’t need to be a cure for cancer, but must clearly state what you intend to announce in the body of your release. Did your company merge with another? Did your company launch a new product line? Report record earnings? Spell it out.

It needs to be compelling enough for the editor reading it to not dismiss the entire release and then immediately “round file” it in the trash. The better your headline, the better your chance of an editor reading the rest of your announcement — but, again, it doesn’t have to be ground breaking, merely succinct and spell out clearly what it is you’re announcing. As a rule, your headline should be 30 words or less (or two lines on an 80-character width page). Long headlines may be chopped into a headline plus a sub-headline. Note that some online news outlets that pick up feeds from wire services may not always capture the sub-head, so be certain the sub-head is not critical to your announcement (media receiving your news announcement by e-mail will still see the sub-head).

So, for example, the top of your release might look like this:

Also note that the headline and sub-headline should be title-case (first letter of words capitalized). Wire services used to do headline ALL CAPS, particularly during the days when faxes were still relevant. The sub-head should never be ALL CAPS. Some folks prefer sentence case on sub-headline over title case, but neither is technically right or wrong. Using only one sub-head is suggested as most newswire services only support one as unique element in a CMS. Really, multiple sub-headlines really should just be presented as paragraphs in the main body text.

What about headline length? Well, remember a headline and sub-head are short to the point “what the heck is my news and why you should care,” they are not intended to be pull quotes or paragraph text. Google News for many years had requirement of 20 words maximum for the headline, and so this is still a good target. Overlong headlines can also be chopped off in social and search results. If it looks too long, it probably is.

A Good Body

Next, we get to the body of the release. This is the story you want to tell and should be everything a potential editor/writer at a media outlet needs to know to decide to consider your story for possible use. Some smaller newspapers (and most online news outlets) print elements from it as-is so it should be direct and to the point.

Remember that your news is not being read by your audience/customer in most cases, so you must avoid phrases like “come on down to Bob’s house of pancakes for the best deal you’ll ever get…” because it’s not an advertisement, and you must be careful to avoid the appearance of an “advertorial” as those of us in the publishing business call them. So-called “advertorials” will be dismissed immediately, unread. A press release is a news announcement, and must actually announce something considered “newsworthy.” It’s not a classified advertisement or a flier announcing your services.

The first sentence of the first paragraph of the release must contain the city in all caps and then the state abbreviation (i.e., Calif. in AP Style), unless it is a major market like “NEW YORK” or “LOS ANGELES” which are unique. This method is per Associated Press (AP) formatting and is followed by wire services like Send2Press Newswire. The wire service will modify this as needed, but you should always include the city and state, as this indicates where you’re located regionally. If you are in a suburb or outlying area in a major city/county, you may wish to skew this to the major city. For example, if you were located in Redondo Beach, California, you would likely put “LOS ANGELES” instead, unless there was some compelling reason to include your small city (in this example, perhaps beach-related news).

Although it was traditionally common to leave out the state when using a unique locale like LOS ANGELES, it’s advisable to always include the state for best SEO for online search, and those who create alerts or searches based on the state and not the city. For example, using HOLLYWOOD, Calif. and HOLLYWOOD, Fla. are two different things and including AP format state adds clarity at a glance.

You also need to include the date of the news announcement, which will always be the date the news is being distributed. You can abbreviate the month (i.e., “Jan.” in place of January). Some wire services will remove the year (since with a wire service it is self-evident which year it is), but others will include it, so you should as well.

So, for example, the first part of the first paragraph of the body of your release might read:

You don’t need to include the wire service identifier, sometimes placed as /WireName/ or (WIRENAME), as the specific wire service or news distribution company will add their identifier to match their system formatting. If distributing the news yourself, you need not put any identifier.

The first paragraph is also where you can include your website URL or stock symbol (as appropriate), although some prefer to not put the URL in first paragraph and only place toward end of release (for SEO, it’s best to have the first 130 characters or so after dateline contain your most targeted phrases, so a URL eats into that valuable space). In the example first paragraph above, you can see the web URL follows the company name. This can be important because many online news sites that take wire service feeds will automatically convert that URL into a hyperlink when used as ( www.send2press.com ). If you work for a publicly traded company, your stock symbol will automatically attach to stock price look-ups that pick-up news feeds from major wires.

What is the “attribution rule”? An important element required by all legitimate newswire services is called the “attribution rule” and is basically the name of the company or person announcing the news in the release. For instance, if an ad agency was issuing a release for their client Ford Motor Co., about a new model of Mustang, then someplace in the first paragraph “Ford Motor Co.” would need to be part of the text to clearly identify WHO is announcing the news. This is also referred to as the “news source” for the release. The source would not be the agency, or the product, but Ford Motor Co., in this example.

An important caveat about using publicly traded company stock symbols is that their usage must be “material” to the news announcement. You cannot use another company stock symbol without permission, or unless it’s material to your news (such as winning a lawsuit against that company, direct partnership, etc.). The news distribution company and/or wire service may delay your news release for verification if you use another firm’s stock symbol in your release. In legal matters, you may need to include a copy of a court document (required for both PR Newswire® and Send2press ).

Other paragraphs within the release should describe what your new product actually does (as in the case of a software product). At least one paragraph must describe the general feature/benefit of what you are announcing beyond the headline and first paragraph. The next paragraph(s) should be quotations from a company representative or visionary who describes what he/she feels the product/service adds to the target market. This brings a human feel to the announcement, and puts a face on the story. It also provides a quotation from someone at the company that can be used in a news item.

If the announcement is a partnership or merger, it is important to get quotes from someone at each company. A quote from an industry professional, or opinion-leader is also valuable. The main rule of thumb is that you must always attribute the quote to an actual person. You cannot state “A valued customer called our product the best thing since sliced bread.” A non-assigned quote is worthless in a press release. A journalist can state “An unnamed source called it the best thing since sliced bread.” You can’t.

Other ways to bolster the value of a news announcement is by using supporting research. For example, if you are announcing the launch of a new product, there is likely a reason you believe there is a need in the marketplace for your product. If you’ve done market research, this may include data and statistics related to growth in your product segment, or industry trends. You can find this kind of information online, if you don’t have it. (Be careful to use easily attributed information, but nothing taken from a competitor.)

For example, for a release I wrote for a client launching a new regional real estate website, I found the following supporting data on the use of web-based resources by home buyers:

As you can see, this can be of great benefit in illustrating there is actually a need in the marketplace, or a value to the readers of a particular news outlet, for the news being announced in the release. Note the [1], which is where you are noting there is a citation, and at bottom of the release you would have the [1] again along with link to the study quoted.

Finally, it’s important to use good formatting. Clearly separate paragraphs of information to make it easy to “scan” quickly. Large overlong paragraphs should be broken into two or more chunks, where each chunk contains your information.

The Final Touches

The final paragraph(s) should describe the company. This is the “about the company” paragraph (sometimes called the “boilerplate”), and if there is more than one company mentioned in the release, each should have its own paragraph. Explain the history, year founded, market approach, and the like. Repeat the public stock symbol if applicable (don’t litter your release with stock symbols, however).

The reason this short paragraph can be valuable is in demonstrating an expertise in the area of the news you’re announcing, a history of past accomplishments in your market segment, industry awards, or the like. This can help to establish your bona fides — the fact your company is a legitimate professional entity.

For modern internet-enabled companies, a last line either by itself (or last sentence of “about the company”) should state: “For more information visit: www.yourdomain.xyz” in the event the writer/editor chooses to pursue more information about your company without contacting you directly.

Below this, you may also want to state that a product photo is available online and provide the URL directly to a sample image or your company logo (where appropriate). Some wire services like Send2Press Newswire may also allow you to attach a photo, logo and/or video to your announcement.

With the body of the release done, you would now place your contact information at the bottom (unless you place it up top). You must include a contact person by name, their company (e.g., your PR firm) if they don’t work at the same company mentioned in the release, a phone number, and e-mail address. All wire services will indicate the contact person as being from the company submitting the release (the company in the release), unless indicated otherwise.

Finally, you need to close the release with three hash marks, like so “# # #”. This indicates the end of the release.

Contact info visibility? another benefit of the use of the ### at bottom allows you to specify dual contact information; where contact info above the ### is intended for the public and publication online (such as a contact to sell trade show booths for an event), and the contact info below the ### would be intended “for media only.”

Check and Review

If you’ve used a word processor, you should definitely use any spell-checking utilities on your release to find common spelling mistakes and/or typos. You should print your release out on a printer and read it in paper form to see how it reads, to ensure that it’s clear and to the point. You may also wish to read it out loud to yourself and listen for the flow and whether it sounds interesting.

Are you actually announcing something? If it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense, go back and edit it until it sounds like you’re telling somebody an interesting story for general news, and be matter of fact for product announcements.

Sample Press Release

You should review the sample press release provided below to see a visual example of a standard release. This is a shorter release (400 words), for a company product launch announcement.

What About SEO?

To learn more about my recommendations for optimizing a press release for better SEO, please see updated simple guidelines here: https://www.send2press.com/prguru/press-release-seo-tips-and-guidelines-for-best-placement-in-search-results.shtml.

What About AI?

Since the first version of this article posted 25 years ago, and more recently to 2024, there has been an explosion of AI (artificial intelligence) tools designed to help folks write, edit and review content. Results can vary with many such tools. However, it cannot hurt to try using AI to write your release, using prompts that outline what you do and then adjust the output when/if it goes off the rails. AI tools can also be good option to proof-read and double check a release you have composed the old fashion way (using your brain and fingers). Just watch out for non-sensical facts, made-up information, mis-spellings, and the like. AI is still a baby when it comes to this, while you are an adult.

One interesting development has been the subject of AI content checkers reviewing and flagging content as not being authentic, perhaps identifying it as not reliable. This may result in some kind of trigger in search results, or adverse labeling at some point, which would not be good for so-called long tail marketing with your content. Some tools now allow you to pre-flight and adjust content to make AI generated text “undetectable” to address this concern.

Other Things to Remember

Some of the things I’ve seen companies forget are product pricing, ISBN for books, and whether the product is available through a major distributor, nationally, regionally, or only through a website. One of the most common errors is forgetting to put the company, product, or individual’s website in the text at all!

Remember that an editor/journalist needs to see the facts about your product or service, to understand the value of an event or other news announcement, and why they should consider writing about you.

If you are able, it’s wise to research some common elements for press releases which are different from copy writing, which follow AP Style. For example, following AP style you would use the word “percent” in place of the % mark, and all state abbreviations do not use post office versions. See my separate article on basic AP guidelines for writing press releases.

Obviously if you wish to bypass the learning curve and concentrate on your own business, you can hire a press release writing service like Send2Press Newswire.

It’s also important to not be too obsessive about your press release, as a single release will neither make nor break your company. In addition to press releases, you should be exploring other promotion methods such as advertising, direct mail, and word of mouth.

By following the guidelines in this article, you should be able to compose and submit a proper release, which fits the criteria, which editors look for. This will ensure your best chance of getting the free publicity (also called “earned media”), which only the print and electronic media services can provide.

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ORIGINAL URLS FOR THIS ARTICLE:
The following are the original locations for this article. Since this website has been online for 25 years, content has moved from time to time. Links to Archive.org (Wayback machine) open in new browser tab/window.

1. send2press.com/guru/how-to-write-a-press-release/
2. send2press.com/articles/cs-howto.shtml
3. send2press.com/mindset-netwire/articles/cs_howtowrite.shtml