How to Write Really Good Press Releases

Press releases are the most commonly used tool in public relations and the crucial link between information providers and users. A proper press release thus offers genuine informational value, is written appropriately for the target audience, clearly and precisely formulated, and contains neither advertising nor political statements. Given these conditions, a press release reaches many media outlets, serves as a basis for further journalistic reporting, and achieves a certain level of reception. The effort is manageable—provided you know how to approach a press release correctly.

How does the trained eye recognize a "bad" press release? Mostly by the adjectives. Anyone who wants to write press releases should use them sparingly—essentially only when the descriptive attribute has actual informational value. Because whether a novel product is "beautiful to look at," a new service is "groundbreaking," or an event is "super fun"—all of this, with all due respect, doesn't interest the recipient of the message in the slightest.

If a journalist is interested in evaluations and opinions about the news at all, they would form their own opinion. Editors expect a press release to inform them of all the essentials in the briefest possible manner. If the news value is deemed "worthy of publication," the press release can be adopted as is—or serve as a foundation for further research.

But the path to publishing a press release is a long one, always beginning with the same question: Do I have a current and interesting news value to offer? By definition, a news value must provide entertainment value or a small gain in insight. Then you can consider who might be interested in the news, and the basics for writing a press release are established:

1. a topic, with the rule of thumb being: a maximum of two news items per press release

2. a distribution list of potential interested parties

Structure, Layout, and Presentation

Once these two "essentials" are clarified, you should take a moment to design a sensible structure. It is helpful to jot down all important terms and phrases that should appear in the press release in bullet points and organize them in a logical hierarchy. This order is based on the following questions:

1. What is the most important information in my message?
2. Which are less important or background information?

In the first paragraph—also known in professional jargon as the lead—all the W-questions are answered. Less important information only plays a role later in the text. Once this is done, further news related to the lead and background information that elaborates on what has already been said and provides a deeper understanding of the subject follow.

However, only information that supports the news value is meant. Writing too much secondary information in a press release risks flooding and thereby diluting the value of the news with information. Thus, the rule of thumb: a maximum of two pages. Press releases are short and concise—no matter how complex the topic may be. Of course, if necessary, in-depth information can be prepared in advance and provided upon a journalist's request, but that's just a side note.

Headline, Style, and Sentence Structure

Much more crucial is the headline: Journalists typically read this first. This is the basis of the so-called "lighthouse function" of the headline. Although the headline comes first, ideally, it should always be written last.

Regardless of one's stance on this topic: The headline should always be written with care, with particular attention to making the headlines appropriate, catchy, and journalist-friendly. In plain language: No wordplay or metaphors. The reader should immediately understand what to expect. Therefore, a factual language is essential. Ideally, the company name should appear as often as possible. Important: Brevity is the top priority for the headline. Articles or explanatory phrases should be avoided.

Negative Example: The retail giant Amazon buys the premium food retailer Whole Foods

Positive Example: Amazon acquires Whole Foods

"In brevity lies the spice"—this also applies to the style and sentence structure of press releases. The author should use short, active main clauses that are fact-oriented and maintained in a factual style. Adjectives are generally allowed, but only if they actually describe the product or service more closely. Adjectives, just to make the text sound nice, definitely do not belong in a press release. If you want to spice up the "dry" message a bit, you can certainly use quotes. These enliven the text and support the core statements of the actual news. However, the following is important: In the first quote from an "expert," the academic degree, first name, last name, and function in the company are mentioned. From the second quote onwards, the last name suffices.

Scope, Length, and "Trimmable from the End"

Yet again, it is crucial to avoid redundancies and always keep an eye on the scope of the press release. The rule of thumb, as mentioned, is: it ends after two pages. The reason for this has much to do with the daily business of journalism. Long texts are unfortunately often an indication that too much superfluous information has been included. Journalists would need more time for editing and shortening, which they generally do not have.

On the contrary, authors of press releases do journalists a favor when they write the press release so that it can be "trimmed from the end." Often, editors have little space available and naturally appreciate it when shortening is made easy for them. Conversely, this means for the author: The entire text must still be coherent even after shortening.

Tip: If the first sentence of each paragraph summarizes the most important points briefly, then shortening becomes all the easier—without distorting the meaning.

Here is an overview of the formalities:

• Publication date
• Headline
• Text
• Boilerplate and contact information at the end

What belongs in the boilerplate?

• Brief info about the company
• Concise details about the business field and company size
• Goal: The journalist should gain an impression of the company

What belongs in the contact information?

• The journalist's contact details of their contact person
• Complete data with direct phone line, email, etc.
• Possibly a note on a special website/newsroom, etc.
• Goal: The journalist should never have to research their contact person