Sending a press release to a media outlet is a great way to announce some news or pique their interest in developing an editorial feature. Here are our tips for how to go about writing a press release.
Format
- Try to get the release onto one page; two is OK, three is too long.
- Use a short, factual headline – get your point across instantly.
- Insert and embolden the date and location clearly at the start of your body copy. For example,
“Ripon, 22 October 2021 – A man has bitten a dog…” - Your first paragraph should be a short summary of the news.
- Order your paragraphs logically: most important first, cascading down to least important.
- Use 1.5 or double spacing between lines, for ease of reading
- Write about your organisation or people in the third person only – never the first person (never ‘we’ or ‘I’).
After the main bit of your text, add in a short section entitled ‘Information for editors’. This won’t be published but it’s intended to help the journalist. You might include:
- the name, phone number and email address you’d like the journalist to follow up with (probably you)
- useful background information, such as a 50-word summary of your organisation
- a 50-word biography of any significant people mentioned in the release
- links to relevant webpages
- the names of people you can make available for the journalist to interview
- the filenames of, and captions for, any images you’re attaching.
Content
- Ensure you answer these questions in your text: Who, what, when, where, why, how? It’s too easy to write a release and leave a key element out by mistake!
- Your press release needs to sound expert and objective, not partisan or emotional. Any opinions need to be in an attributed quote.
- If you can do it without being tortuous, make a link to local, topical or cultural issues, for an additional angle.
- Don’t assume the journalist knows anything at all about the issue – they cover a huge range of topics and can’t be an expert in everything. Be their expert, and provide essential contextual information.
- Include at least one quote from at least one person. Quotes are very likely to increase your coverage. If the quote/s aren’t your own, and the other person is busy or struggling to compose something, write it for them and get them to approve it. Make sure the quote is in a conversational style, as if it’s speech written down: don’t fall into the trap of trying to sound extra-smart or corporate.
- Keep your sentences simple, and stick to one main idea in a sentence. People who skim hundreds of releases a day need to be able to pick up your story from a quick scan.
DOs
- DO insert your press release into the email body rather than making it an attachment. Journalists don’t have time to fanny about clicking on things.
- DO act professionally. If you have a genuine need to call the journalist, get straight to the point rather than wasting time with chit-chat. Plan the conversation carefully, with points in order of importance. Journalists are busy, so steel yourself for getting cut off quickly, and don’t feel bad if you do.
- DO ask if they’d like to send a photographer for your event. If you do this close to their print deadline, by now they’ll have a good idea of whether they have space to fill, and you may hit lucky. But very few local titles have photographers these days.
- DO send your own digital photos – but make sure the quality is good enough. Think about composition and lighting, and make sure the file size is as big as you can get (don’t send a file that’s 62Kb, for example!).
DON’Ts
- DON’T hype it up – stay objective! Stick to the facts.
- DON’T go mad with adjectives and exclamation points: you’re just telling a story. Leave the writing style to the journalist.
- DON’T send your release to people to whom it is irrelevant. Find out in advance who covers this kind of story: no one will appreciate wasting time on a piece of work that’s being duplicated by several colleagues.
- DON’T forget to send photos or offer photo/video opportunities: you’re far more likely to get coverage if there are visuals.
- DON’T pester the journalist with a phone call to say ‘Did you get my press release?’ If everyone did that, the journalist’s workload would be intolerable.
- DON’T forget to have someone proofread your press release before you send it. Journalists are professional writers and will spot your typos and other errors.
- DON’T label attachments ‘doc1’ or ‘pict12’. If they go on file for even a few days, they will be very difficult to find again.