Today’s marketing world is purely web-driven. It has made companies both large and small scale, create and publish their own press releases online. That is why many organizations do their own press releases now. Thus the internet is now filled with press releases that are not up to the mark. A poorly-written press release will not get you ahead in the industry. You need to take press release writing very seriously and present journalistic content that attracts both the journalists and target audience with just one glance.
Press releases have a specific format that helps keep the news catchy and powerful. You need to know what the right PR structure is and craft your press release following it. Media outlets also have some requirements regarding press releases. You also have to think about the perspective of the target audience. Keeping all these things in mind, you have to craft your content. Here is what you need to know to write an online press release:
1. The topic
The topic of the press release plays a significant role in its success. It may feel like it is a trivial thing but the right topic helps you gain the interest of the readers. If the readers do not feel relevant to the topic of the PR, they will be least interested in your story.
- Chose a topic that is relevant to the readers.
- Find out what is trending right now and craft your content around it.
- Research the media outlets where you want to publish your PR and find out what kind of news they cover. Keep their perspective in mind while writing the PR.
2. Title
The title is the first thing that a journalist or customer notices while going through your story. Journalists go through hundreds of press releases every day and they don’t have time to read the entire text of every PR. They only read the ones with interesting enough headlines. Common readers also decide whether they will read the entire thing or not by going through the headline.
- Keep the title brief yet compact.
- Explain what the PR is about as much as possible in the headline.
- Add keywords to boost SEO.
3. Points to address
A press release should be informative so it must be written following the pyramid structure. You must put all the most important details in the opening paragraph. Address the 5ws (Who, What, When, Where, why) in the press release. These tell the audience what the PR is about briefly. If you manage to keep the readers hooked with the first paragraph, the chances of them reading the rest get higher. Add the less important information and explain the 5Ws in detail in the rest of the paragraphs.
4. Quotes
Quotes add more integrity to a press release. The quotes offer an approved statement from the company itself to the journalists. They give the content a human component, forming a better connection with the audience.
- The quotes should always come from the most important figures in your company, preferably the founder or CEO.
- Don’t include too many quotes. One or two quotes are enough for a PR.
- Make sure the quotes are relevant to the topic of the PR.
- Make a separate paragraph for the quotes.
5. Boilerplate
The last part of the press release is called a boilerplate copy. It generally contains a short summary of your organization. It gives the readers an overall knowledge about what your company is and what it does. The contact information about your organization should also be added to the boilerplate. Add your company phone number, email address, website address, social media links, and more in this section. The best thing about it is that it can be used multiple times with different press releases.
6. Multimedia
Press releases tend to get boring to readers due to the long texts. You need to offer them some distraction to keep your PR from getting tedious. Include photos, videos, gifs, infographics, and more in between paragraphs to increase its attractiveness. Don’t include more than 5 images in a press release or else it will look crowded.
