PRESS RELEASE

Use the rest of the body to explain the who, what, where, when, and why of the big news you're announcing. Finally, end your press release with an "About Us" section where you briefly describe your company.

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When you're done, read your press release out loud to make sure it's friendly, easy-to-read, and not full of jargon or overly long sentences. Click where you want the koala to move to collect as many leaves as possible. Featured Articles Press Releases. A wikiHow Staff Editor reviewed this article to make sure it's helpful and accurate.

When you see the green checkmark on a wikiHow article, you can trust that the article has been co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers. This article was a collaboration between several members of our editing staff who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Sample Press Release for Concert. Sample Press Release for Fashion Show. Write a genuine headline. It should be brief, clear and to the point: Plenty of PR professionals recommend writing your headline at the end, after the rest of the release is written.

If you follow that instruction, continue on and come back to writing the headline once the rest is done. The headline is known as the eye-catcher and is very important to the whole release. See how that works?

Now you want to know more! News release headlines should have a "grabber" to attract journalists, just as a newspaper headline is meant to grab readers. It may describe the latest achievement of an organization, a recent newsworthy event, a new product or service. Headlines written in bold! A bold headline also typically uses a larger font size than the body copy.

The 3 Best Ways to Write a Press Release (with Example)

Conventional press release headlines use the present tense and exclude "a" and "the", as well as forms of the verb "to be" in certain contexts. As are all proper nouns. Most headline words appear in lower-case letters, although using a stylized "small caps" font style can create a more graphically news-attractive look and feel. Do not capitalize every word. The simplest method to create the press release headline is to extract the most important keywords from your press release. From these keywords, try to frame a logical and attention-getting statement.

If including a summary sentence after the headline, the same rules apply. Using keywords early will give you better visibility in search engines, and it will be simpler for journalists and readers to get the idea of the press release content. Look at the actions in this first step, and notice how every one of them could be a press release headline.

Write the body copy. The press release should be written as you want it to appear in a news story. Whatever you want them to say, this is where you put it.

Start with the date and city in which the press release originates. The city may be omitted if it will be confusing —— for example if the release is written in New York about events in the company's Chicago division. The lead, or first sentence, should grab the reader and say concisely what is happening. The next one to two sentences should then expand upon the lead. The press release body copy should be compact.

Avoid using very long sentences and paragraphs. Avoid repetition and overuse of fancy language and jargon. Strive for simplicity, and no wasted words. The first paragraph two to three sentences should sum up the press release, and the additional content must elaborate it. In a fast-paced world, neither journalists, nor other readers, would read the entire press release if the start of the article didn't generate interest. Deal with actual facts —— events, products, services, people, targets, goals, plans, projects.

Try to provide maximum use of concrete facts. A simple method for writing an effective press release is to make a list of following clarifications: Who, what, when, where, why, and how. Communicate the "5 W's" and the H clearly. Who, what, when, where, why ——and how—— should tell the reader everything they need to know. Consider the checklist in context with the points below, using the example above to generate our press release: Who is this about? What is the actual news? Carpren Publishing is releasing a book. When does this even happen? Where does this even take place?

In all major markets, tomorrow. Why this is news? It was written by renowned author, Arcy Kay. How is this happening? The main event is at a book signing in Chicago, followed by a book tour to all the major metropolitan areas. With the basics defined, fill in the gaps with information about the people, products, items, dates and other things related with the news.

If your company is not the main subject of the news, but is the source of the press release, make it clear in the body. Keep it short and to the point. If you are sending a hard copy, the text should be double-spaced. The more newsworthy you make the press release copy, the better the chances of it being selected by a journalist for reporting. Find out what "newsworthy" means to a given market and use this knowledge to hook the editor or reporter. Make it clean, crisp, and applicable to your audience.

If you want yours to be chosen, it's got to be good. Not only does it have to be good, but it has to be as close to "ready for press" as possible. If your work is full of errors, lacking content, or just needs to be revised, they're not going to waste their time.

So make sure you have good grammar, all the basics, and have something to write about. Why should these people care what you have to say? If you're sending it to the right audience, it'll be obvious. If you're not, well, why are you wasting your time? Give the right people a piece of news news, not advertising and you're on the right track. They'll care more if you send it in the morning. That gives them time to pad your piece into what they're already working on. Provide some extra information links that support your press release.

Does the company you're selling have additional information online that readers may find useful? If you're nervous about what you've got, do some research on what's already out there. Someone probably wrote something on an event just like the one you're covering. Get the basic structure down.

All right, now that you've got the meat of it together, how do you put it onto paper? Well, for starters, cut it to length. It should be a page long at most, if that. Here's what you need some of which we've already covered: A release with no release date is presumed to be for immediate release.

The headline, usually in bold, should be centered below that. If you'd like, put a subhead in italics briefly elaborating the headline. May be quite news-like in that, it starts with a date or where the news is coming from. Second and probable third paragraph: Should include quotes and facts. Who are you, really? What achievements do you have? If you grab someone's interest, they'll want to be able to find out more!

Write a boilerplate underneath the body of your release. That means it's time to include information about your company. When a journalist picks up your press release for a story, he or she would logically have to mention the company in the news article. Journalists can then get the company information from this section. The text must describe your company, its core business and the business policy.

Many businesses already have professionally written brochures, presentations, business plans, etc. That introductory text can be put here. At the end of this section, point to your website. The link should be the exact and complete URL without any embedding so that, even if this page is printed, the link will be printed as it is.

Companies which maintain a separate media page on their websites must point to that URL here. A media page typically has contact information and press kits. Add your contact information. If your press release is really newsworthy, journalists would surely like more information or would like to interview key people associated with it. If you are comfortable with the idea of letting your key people be contacted directly by media, you can provide their contact details on the press release page itself. For example, in the case of an innovation, you can provide the contact information of your engineering or research team for the media.

If you do not have dedicated team for this function, you must appoint somebody who will act as a link between the media and your people. The contact details must be limited and specific only to the current press release. The contact details must include: If possible, include a link to an online copy of the same release.

It's good practice to keep a log of all of your press releases housed on your own website. This can make providing such a link easier to produce, as well as keeping a record for historical purposes. Signal the end of the press release with three hash symbols. Center these directly underneath the last line of the release.

This is a journalistic standard. It may look like you're over-tweeting, but you're not. This is how it's done. To local free and charged newspapers, local radio, community TV, libraries, and your city's events officer. Not Helpful 1 Helpful Go to the website of a large company and find their page for "News" or "Media. Not Helpful 2 Helpful 8.

Do you italicize or under score the name of a painting or a publication? About 25 years ago that was the practice, but no longer.

How Press Releases Work

Most feel that it clutters and distracts. Since a press release is supposed to look and feel like a story in a newspaper, it's important to include a location and date stamp at the beginning of the first paragraph. Concept Marketing Group ]. The rest of the body of the press release should answer all of the questions a journalist might have about the product, service or event that you're announcing. Although a press release is a public relations tool, it should not read as overly promotional [source: If it sounds too much like a sales pitch, it will lose credibility in the eyes of the journalist.

Press releases typically end with a short description of the company or organization that's issuing the release, along with a call to action. The call to action could be to participate in the event being promoted, to take a test drive of the product, or simply to find out more by contacting the author of the press release [source: How to Convert to Mobile Business Communications.

List of press release agencies

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