15 Tips To Writing A Great Press Release For Your New Job

Blogs, social media content, and emails are some ways to expand a company’s reach online. This will help them become more visible and get more traffic and visitors to a company’s website. But there’s one other type of content that can still impact their online presence: press releases. Writing a press release remains relevant until today. It’s another promotional tool that will further reach and showcase authority. 

But with different types of content available online, how do you get people to read press releases? Find out the top 15 tips in writing a great press release.

Types of Press Releases

Before we tackle the 15 tips, let’s explore the press releases you may need to write for your clients.

• News/Updates
• Events
• Awards
• New Employee or Promotion
• New Business
• Product Launch
• Rebranding
• Partnership

15 Actionable Tips To Writing a Press Release

1. Find An Angle

When writing a press release, you have to assess if this information is relevant to readers. Before you decide on publishing a press release, you have to find the purpose of writing this piece of information. NewsWire provides these questions to get you started:

• Is it newsworthy?
• What impact would your news have on society?
• Is there something educational about this information?
• Is it related to current events?
• What’s your story about?

2. Research on Your Target Media or Publication

Another thing before writing a press release is to know where you should distribute your press release. Journalists, reporters, and bloggers are your target audience when you write a press release. But here’s the thing, everybody won’t be interested in reading a press release.

Seth Arenstain of PR News provided his insight in a Prowly roundup article. He mentioned that if a press release doesn’t interest him, it might end up in the trash. That’s why you should think ahead when writing a press release. Since you need to distribute your press release, you have to make sure the right people read it.

3. Use AP Style

The Associated Press (AP) style is a guide that journalists follow when writing their articles. Your press release should also follow the same standard. According to Sarah Elson of PR Daily, if you don’t write a press release that doesn’t follow AP style, they wouldn’t consider writing a story about your client.

Your company might have to purchase the AP Stylebook, which is regularly updated. However, you can find cheat sheets online or follow the AP on Twitter or Instagram. Sometimes, they would post formatting styles on particular events or relevant topics.

4. Integrate Brand Voice

Even if you’re using AP Style, brand voice also plays a huge part in writing a press release. After all, your client follows branding guidelines, and your PR company should keep that in mind. You may have to follow AP style to play by journalists’ rules, but your client’s voice should take center stage as well. This will promote consistent branding across different content types and digital and offline channels.

5. Write a Front-Page Worthy Headline

You’re not the only company or agency publishing a press release about your clients in one day. To grab the attention of media outlets, you need a headline that stands out among the crowd.

CISION, one of the known PR distributors online, provided these tips in writing a headline that will attract media attention:

• Use Active Voice
• Alliterate
• Punctuate
• Include Data

Here’s one example of an attention-grabbing headline. Apple broke the news regarding the launch of the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.

The title indicates the products and claims their smartphones are the most advanced ones in the market.

The headline makes sense because it will entice Apple’s current user base to consider getting the new iPhone 11 in the palm of their hands.

6. Don’t Forget the Upside-Down Triangle

When writing a press release for your client, you should follow the inverted pyramid applied in journalism. After all, you want the press release to get picked up by journalists. And to them, the most important information should be at the top of the pyramid, which includes the 5Ws. 

Who, what, when, where, and why. These Ws will guide you in creating a narrative that would make a newsworthy press release.

If you follow the upside-down triangle, you can get ahead of journalists by answering questions they might ask you when they contact you. This way, they can only get other pertinent information they would need to complete the article.

7. Be Straightforward

Never dilly-dally in a press release. You’d want to capture your audience in 1000 words or less. You should include the important details that the company or your client provides.

One type of press release is to announce new hires or promotions for executive positions. Intel wrote a short press release on appointing a new corporate treasurer on their board.

It’s clear and straightforward because it gives a brief background of whom the corporate treasurer replaced and on the new appointee. It’s a great way for investors to know who the new appointee is.

8. Keep in Mind Formatting

Your press release should be readable. Not just content-readable, but formatted for reading as well. Since your client might post this on their website, formatting can make it easier for readers to digest information.

You’ll want to avoid chunks of sentences in one paragraph, which can lead to confusion.

To illustrate that, here’s a press release from Netflix. Instead of putting all of the new content into one paragraph, they used bullet points to enumerate upcoming content viewers can stream from the company. It’s much easier to read and digest information in this manner.

9. Insert Relevant Numbers and Statistics

Your press release should contain numbers that support data. It’s a way to legitimize and ensure whatever press release you’re writing is true and accurate.

Here’s Starbucks’ press release regarding their initiatives for greener stores. They made use of data by disclosing how they make use of energy, water, and sustainable materials.

Another example comes from Sony’s press release on its collaboration with Yamaha in creating a cart. It added a specifications section that’s readable in a table as compared to a paragraph. 

It doesn’t have to be data all the time. You can add the price of the product or the registration fee for the event. You can even disclose the earnings received for a certain quarter or an event.

Disney published a press release on Avengers Endgame’s $1.2 billion earnings on the first five days of release. Disney lists its key numbers such as number one debuts, opening weekend revenues, and its records for setting the fastest to reach a billion.

10. Use Press Releases as a Marketing and Sales Tool

Many journalists would say that press releases shouldn’t aim to advertise. It’s true that you shouldn’t, because you would turn them away. However, you can consider press releases as marketing or sales tools, especially for:

• Product launch
• Rebranding
• Events

Even CBS News makes a point that press releases are sales tools. Since press releases announce events and products, brands should also consider its proposition.

You don’t have to use flowery words to promote your new product to attract journalists in writing the information into an article.

For example, you have a new product coming up. You can write about its features and benefits in a simple manner. Perhaps, you can use a quote from a relevant person from the company to discuss its benefits.

Here’s an example of a press release from Chick-fil-A announcing their chicken no longer has antibiotics. This announcement could have their customers flocking to their store, considering they no longer serve chicken that could be harmful to customers.

11. Add Quotes

Quotes are an integral part of the press release. It makes the company or brand feel human amidst the numbers and detailed information. Other than that, it may increase your authority.

Coming from The Guardian, they mentioned that the quotes should provide insight about your topic. As for the wording, try not to make it flowery too. Make sure that you use simple language and that it adds value to the overall article.

Adidas partnered with Beyoncé that promotes creativity and empowerment. In the press release, both Adidas and Beyoncé provided their statements in support of the partnership.

12. Insert Visuals

Sometimes, it can be boring to read information with text only. Several press releases add photos to help it stand out. Other than photos, you can also use graphs or charts to help visualize data that you enumerated or listed.

In cases of new hires or product launches, you can upload visuals on your website to showcase the new talent or product.

This one by Oaklins is a great example of how you can use an infographic to illustrate your points in your press release. It’s much easier to understand what actions they can take to solve problems.

13. Prepare a Great Boilerplate

A boilerplate is an essential part of the press release. Without it, journalists may not bother knowing who the company is. 

According to NewsWire, here’s what you need to include in a boilerplate:

• Company Name and Products or Services
• Why You Offer What You Offer
• Mission
• Business History
• Contact Details

Some companies would add statistics or awards in their boilerplate as well.

Take a look at how Target writes their boilerplate. It’s short and simple. It provides a brief history and what they do to the community. Plus, they even provided links to relevant pages on their site as well.

14. Add Valuable Links

You can easily seed a press release online through distribution channels. In place of wire  channels, your client may choose to publish the press release on their website.

Without going into too much detail, press releases can also help your client’s SEO efforts. And when you add valuable links on the press release, it may help drive traffic to their site. Plus, it can lead readers to specific web pages that can convert visitors into leads.

Remember, if you’re distributing your press releases, make sure to follow any link guidelines they may have. You don’t want to get into trouble by posting too many spammy links that would get your press release rejected.

You can check out this example from NASA. Since their press release was posted on their site, it was easier to link to relevant pages. It’s great they included the Additional Resource section, which was a clever move to put their links in.

15. Avoid Writing Jargon

Don’t confuse readers when you use jargon they won’t understand in your press release. Keep your press release simple from all the technical details. Remember, journalists are your primary target audience. What matters them is to get the facts, and jargon won’t make your press release interesting.

In this case, you should always stick to keeping your press release simple. It’s the best way to get your audience to understand and connect with you.