When should you write a press release? (2023)

When should you write a press release?

It is a tool made to announce something that is newsworthy in the most objective way possible. The whole purpose of a press release is to get coverage and get noticed by a target audience.

Importance Of A Press Release

It helps a business get its story in front of the people who are most likely to write about it. Without a press release, a company would have to rely on its own network of contacts to get its story into the media.

How many words should a press release be? The average press release should be no more than 500 words, and ideally closer to 300-400 for optimal press release length.

A press release contains your business logo, a headline, a lead paragraph summarizing the announcement, and a newsworthy angle. Your press release will have three to four paragraphs of text within the body, hyperlinks, social media links, quotes, and multimedia.

What makes a good press release is several key ingredients, from an eye-catching headline and a compelling and shareable story that resonates with readers, to a call-to-action (CTA), high-quality media, and a top-notch distribution strategy. Follow along for the full breakdown to ensure yours is a success.

Remember the golden rule is KISS - Keep It Short and Simple. You will overload your sentence and make instant understanding difficult if you include unnecessary details which can be explained more fully later in the story. Your intro is like a canoe being paddled against a fast flowing current.

One theory is that the journalistic employment of -30- originated from the number's use during the American Civil War era in the 92 Code of telegraphic shorthand, where it signified the end of a transmission and that it found further favor when it was included in the Phillips Code of abbreviations and short markings ...

Can a press release be two pages?

The press release should be as concise as possible and ideally no longer than one page. If it exceeds one page, do not split paragraphs. Instead, put the word “more” at the bottom center of the first page to indicate to the reader that there is more content on a second page.

Failure to include contact information for the organization. Verbosity. (Try to keep the release to one or two pages, but balance brevity against failure to include necessary information.) Lack of timeliness—the editor's deadline has passed or the news is released too long after the event.

Use “you,” “we” or “I” – except in the quote. Just like a news story, a press release should be written in the third person. Use words like “customers,” “consumers,” “users” and/or plain old “people.” The only place where a first, or second person narrative is OK is in a quote from a company representative.

One of the most common mistakes businesses and organisations make when writing a press release is to make it very promotional, like a product description. But a press release is not an advert. Journalists are looking for stories, not products.

Despite how distracted modern society has become due to the omnipresence of social media, press releases are still remarkably effective in terms of their ability to promote a brand or message. The central role of the classic press release among the duties of a public relations (PR) executive has changed very little.

Event Press Release. An event press release is used to promote a newsworthy event that your company is hosting, attending, or sponsoring. These press releases aim to raise awareness among the general public and encourage members of the media to attend or cover your event. Because of that, timing is vital.

That's where press releases come in. Concisely written and targeted, press releases draw media attention to newsworthy events. Mainly used by public relations specialists, press releases are written to gain free publicity and contain enough information required to write a compelling news story.

Bottom line: Press releases remain one of the best ways to get in front of your target audience. The key to standing out is making sure your press release is well written and clearly demonstrates what you're promoting and why it matters to your audience.

A press release should have somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 words. That's roughly one printed page. There's no crime in falling a little short or going over by a bit but if you have significantly fewer or more than that amount of words, something is wrong.

Press releases should be at least three paragraphs long, including the opening paragraph, supporting paragraph(s), and a closing paragraph that restates or summarizes your main points.

How long should a press release take to write?

With that in mind, you can write a quality press release that contains all the important details of your announcement in 300-500 words, which would ideally take a reporter about a minute to get through.

The best time of day to deliver a newsworthy press release is between 10 am and 2 pm. Editors have opened and read most of the emails they've received. Early mornings and late afternoons are less effective as open rates drop by as much as 20.5% during those times.

It is standard practice to send press releases early in the morning, usually between 8.30am and 10am local time. Journalists tend to expect to receive press releases at this time, so may plan their day around this, meaning if you send a press release in the afternoon, you could miss your chance.

While email is the preferred method to send and receive press releases, you may also mail or fax press releases. Publicists usually send press releases to assignment editors and journalists who work for newspapers, magazines, television networks, radio stations or online media outlets.