Press releases have been around in the business world for decades simply because of their usefulness and effectiveness. A press release is an informative story written by a PR professional especially to gain the attention of the major media outlets in the particular industry.
It can be an extremely powerful tool in the current business scene if it is constructed the right way. It not only helps you to spread awareness about your brand among the target audience but recover your brand’s lost reputation by putting your side of the story to the public as well. Here are five effective tips for writing a press release to make sure it receives maximum media coverage and engagement from the target audience:
1. Choose A Relevant Topic
Several things might happen within your organization throughout the year. But you need to understand that not all of them are worth writing a PR about. So, you need to find a topic that the journalists will find good enough to cover. The story should not only be relevant to your target customers but also the investors. So, the first step to writing a press release is to select a newsworthy topic that will attract the top news and media outlets in your specific field.
2. Prioritize The Headline
A press release needs a compelling headline to grab the attention of both the journalists and readers. It is the first thing anyone notices about your PR. The journalists get flooded with hundreds of press releases every single day. They do not have time to go through all of them in detail. So they just read the headline and if it succeeds in grabbing their attention they read the rest. So, make sure to give special attention to the PR title. When you write a press release make sure it is short and compact and conveys the real message of the press release in brief.
3. Answer The 5 Ws In The First Paragraph
Press releases are long and journalists can spend a lot of time reading the whole press releases. They decide whether they want to publish one by just going through the opening paragraph. So, make sure you give them all the important information that they need to know about your story by reading just the first portion of the PR. The best and easiest way to do so is to answer the ‘5 Ws’ in this paragraph. The 5 Ws are What, Who, When, Where, and Why. If you managed to keep them hooked with the opening paragraph of your press release, there is a high chance that it will get published in the media outlets of your choice.
4. Be Concise And Add Multi-Media
Press releases used to be extremely long in the early days. But now, people have lower attention spans and nobody will read your PR if it is longer than one page. So make sure your content consists of 4 to 5 paragraphs and has a word count of a maximum of 400 to 500 words. You should also add multi-media like photos, gifs, and infographics to keep the readers interested. But, the multi-media you use must be relevant to the content you have written.
5. Include Quotes
Press releases are mostly informative so they can seem a little mechanical and emotionless at times. You need to add some specific elements to it to give it a human touch. Some quotes from the CEO or other important figures from your company can make your brand more trustworthy and credible in the eyes of the readers. The press release quotes must be relevant to the story of your press release.
6. Boilerplate copy
At the end of a press release, you need to write a boilerplate that offers all the contact information about your company. A boilerplate is the last paragraph of a press release that provides contact information, website address, and social media details. That way, the journalists and readers will be able to contact you whenever they want by reading your PR.
You need to follow a certain pattern while writing a press release. If you are not well-versed with the PR writing structure, you can hire a reliable PR agency that offers high-quality PR writing and distribution service.
