Three Essentials for Writing a Killer Press Release

by Iris Hunter

Writing an effective press release can be a daunting task. It requires you to create a captivating headline, immediately grab (and keep) the reader’s attention, condense relevant content to a minimal page length, and many other elements. Gaining media attention is hard, but not impossible if you are willing to put forth the effort or hire someone else to do it. So, it is in your best interest to find innovative ways to leverage everything, including your business, network, money, time, and resources to tackle this task.

Those who seek media coverage generally want to inform others of specific information regarding either themselves or their company. Individuals may want to be recognized as an expert in their field. Having a news outlet write an article about them is beneficial to their career. A business owner may want to gain publicity to promote products or services to continue company growth. No matter your reason for wanting media coverage, there are three key essentials to writing a killer press release.

The following fundamentals will improve your chances of gaining media coverage, whether it be locally, nationally, or globally.

1. Identify the purpose of your press release

Asking yourself what you want to accomplish will be the deciding factor in determining the subject and allow you to maximize your desired conversion from the press release. When you decide the best subject for your press release, you are doing yourself a favor by narrowing down your target audience. This action ensures that you are reaching those who are interested in the subject, which will increase your chances of achieving your envisioned purpose for the document.

2. Identify a newsworthy angle

It is exhilarating when goals are accomplished, but not everything is newsworthy. Knowing the difference can save you (and journalists) a lot of time and energy. Media representatives receive a mountain of press releases every day and end up discarding most of them because they lack newsworthiness. If you want a journalist to consider contacting you for an interview or feature article, make sure your press release contains newsworthy information that is relevant to the ultimate target audience. How will it help them? What problem will your news solve? Make sure your pitch has a relevant and fascinating news angle.

3. Create enticing content

The average attention span of a human is less than 15 seconds, so it is imperative that your headline and first paragraph draws in the reader and prompts them to continue reading. The document should have the most important information listed first and the least important information at the end. Sometimes writing content within limited space can be a struggle. Consider first creating an outline to determine what information should be highlighted at the beginning of the press release.

After you have written the press release, you should focus on distributing it to various media outlets. You also need to ensure that you conduct research to avoid submitting it to publications or other media outlets that have no interest in your topic. Again, this saves time and energy for you and the recipient.

If you need help creating a killer press release, contact us today!