Writing Effective Press Releases

Businesses that communicate well, sell well! Writing effective press releases ensures that your business gets its place in the media sun. Press releases are the backbone of your company or product's media campaigns, and you should be very careful while writing and/or distributing your press releases.

Press releases follow a standard format set by journalists. Give the journalists what they want and they will give you what you want. Writing effective press releases is all about adhering to this standard format...

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The press release should be printed on the company letterhead with the words PRESS RELEASE in capital letters at the top of the page. Also, on the top left hand corner, write the release date. This might be any of the following options "For Immediate Release", "For Release Before (date)" or "For Release After (date)".

The all-important contact details, such as contact person, relevant phone numbers, emails, etc., should be included at the top of the page.

Now comes the part that is likely to hold the interest of journalists: This is the headline and the opening paragraph. Most journalists, faced with hundreds of press releases every week, will never bother reading through the whole text. The headline and the opening paragraph are your only chance to grab the journalist's attention.

The headline should be catchy, and it should stand out from the rest of the news. It should be centered and in bold font. The opening paragraph should begin with the date and the city from where the story originates and be a summary of the news itself. Writing effective press releases is about making a good first impression.

The beginning of the story should be interesting enough to urge the journalist to read the entire press release and publish it. The next paragraphs that follow should give further details about the story. Try to include comments from some prominent people related to the story. Journalists love this!

End the press release with the ### sign centered in the middle. This is the standard method to end a press release.

Finally, here are a few more general tips about writing effective press releases. Keep the length of the press release to one page. Include only newsworthy information in the press release. Anything and everything does not make news.

I hope you found these tips useful.

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