Guideines for Writing a News Release

Writing a news release might seem like a daunting task at first to the new marketer, but with some know-how and experience you can write an effective story. To start, just follow the guidelines shown here for writing and distributing your media release.

1. Identify Yourself Clearly – Your business or organization should be prominently displayed. We recommend displaying the source of the news at the top of the press release.

2. Be Newsworthy – The entire point of a news release is to distribute news related to your business. So if your news release doesn’t contain news, you shouldn’t even bother sending it.  If you submit news that isn’t truly newsworthy, the editors will just learn to ignore you.

3. Clear Headlines – Keep in mind that the reader should be able to catch the idea of your story from the headline alone. Focusing on the angle and idea of the story is more important than developing a ‘catchy’ slogan.

4. Personalize Your Distribution – Get the name of the person you are sending your press release to and place it in a prominent position. Be sure to double-check the spelling.

5.  Stay Relevant – Journalists want news that is relevant to their audience. Writing to meet the needs of the publication your submitting to greatly improves your odds of inclusion.

6. Remain Objective – Press releases are not the place for being biased. Journalists are seeking news. It may be ok to use later paragraphs for dispelling or confirming rumors, but it’s best to cover your bases with a little objectivity.

7. Communicate Pertinent Information – An old rule in journalism says that you should include the 5 W’s and H. This holds true for press releases. Be sure to answer the questions What, Who, When, Where, Why, and How.

8. Demonstrate Positive Intentions  – If space permits, allow an executive of your organization to inject some human interest to the story. These types of quotes can be used to demonstrate compassion, show good intentions, or simply transition a negative story back to a positive tone.

9. Avoid Hype – Press releases are not an appropriate place for marketing copy. You should avoid excessive use of adjectives and other promotional language.

10. Appropriate Demographics – If you have an executive that better matches the demographics of your target audience, it is a good idea to use their quotes in the story. For example, a magazine on women’s business is much more likely to run a story, with a female spokesperson.

11. Utilize Proper Attribution – If your press release includes information or quotes from other sources, it’s a good idea to attribute that information to the original source. This allows the journalist to verify the information, plus it provides credibility.

12. Be Prepared – Just because your press release has been sent, doesn’t mean you’re done crafting your message. Be ready to answer calls from journalists and prepare statements for them. Keep a log of the questions they ask, because there’s a good chance that another reporter is going to ask the same thing.

13. Use Controversy – A great way to generate publicity with your press release could be to create controversy (even where there is none). If you run a computer store, for example, you might consider a headline that says “Is your software stolen?” It doesn’t offend anyone, but instantly places you in a position to be the trustworthy whistle blower.

14. Clean Layout – For press releases submitted by mail, you should always double space them, number your pages, type “News Release” at the top, and include a release date.

15. Avoid Jargon – Industry jargon isn’t appropriate for all publications. You need to keep your readers in mind when writing your release. Using common language makes your release easier to understand.

If you apply these tips for writing better news releases, you greatly increase the likelihood of your news release being picked up. To discover additional ways to improve your media release writing you should read the large list of ways to improve your press release writing.

About the author

This article was written by Wes Upchurch of PressDr.com, a leading public relations firm specializing in press release distribution and online reputation management.

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