Essentials for Newsworthy Press Releases

By Mark Nelson

As companies and government agencies embrace social media outlets to inform their audiences about what they are doing, we’ve seen a plethora of articles offering advice on how to maximize the impact of a press release. The popular thinking is that a company or any other organization can never put out too many news releases in an effort to keep their name in front of the public. If that’s all you want to accomplish, then by all means, crank out those releases several times a week and send them to the world. However, if you are trying to get media coverage — which I believe should be the number one goal of a press release — you need to rethink that strategy.

As the recipient of thousands of press releases during the 14-plus years I spent as a journalist for a national wire service and large daily newspapers, I’ve seen too many press releases that did not contain any real news and were so poorly written that I gave them only minimal consideration before deleting them from my e-mail inbox. If your organization sends out those kinds of press releases by the score then you will quickly develop a reputation for trumpeting phony news, and you will decrease your chances of being taken seriously when you have real news to report.

Here are some tips for writing press releases that will increase your chances of generating media coverage.

1. Make sure the news you have to share is in fact news. The number one question to ask yourself when writing a press release is, “What is the news?” A new product, a new hire, promotions, sales and profit figures, results of studies are all newsworthy. Avoid the “we are still here” press releases. Winning an award is newsworthy, being nominated for an award less so. An executive giving a speech is less newsworthy than what he or she said in the speech.

1. Write your press release like it’s a news story — who, what, when, where, why — are important elements in a news story and should be the key elements of your press release. If you can’t answer the “So what?” question, you probably can’t justify issuing a press release.

1. Avoid filling your release with hyperbole, jargon, marketing and sales talk. Get rid of the insider techno babble and use language that a general audience can understand. If you must use technical terms make sure you explain them. Avoid acronyms unless they are universally recognizable. If in doubt, don’t use it.

1. Write a headline that will interest the reader. The best headlines are short, punchy and to the point. Try to keep headlines to one line of type and use a subhead only when necessary. Leave the puns to the tabloids. Include key words that will be picked up by the search engines.

1. Pay extra attention to any executive quotes you include in the release. In other words, don’t get carried away with long-winded quotes that sound like they are straight out of a sales brochure. Most reporters are interested in obtaining quotes first hand and will be turned off by a sales pitch in quotation marks.

1. Include contact information for a person who will actually respond to an inquiry from a reporter and be sure that phone numbers and e-mail addresses listed work. Nothing irritates a reporter more than not being able to reach a contact or not having a call returned or an e-mail answered.

1. Include a hyperlink to your website. Your website should be the number one source of information about your organization and including a hyperlink makes it easy for a reporter (or anyone else) to instantly access it.

Our team holds firm in the belief that a successful client-agency relationship is conducted as a partnership. As always, LeapFrog Solutions is here to help at any point in your marketing communications and planning process. We understand the challenges, time restrictions and budget constraints you may be facing. Through our integrated approach we are able to deliver a clear road map based on sound strategy, remaining dedicated to Make Your Message Matter®.

Mark Nelson, LeapFrog Solutions Communications Manager and author of this article, was a reporter for The Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dallas Morning News, as well as a communications executive at IBM Corporation and the Boeing Company.

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