Press releases are a great business tool that can benefit your company when done right. They can increase your company’s credibility, stature, and strengthen your company’s image and help you communicate with customers. Press releases are a good marketing tool to use for important business events such as product launches and company recruitments.

Things to keep in mind when writing a press release

When you are preparing a press release for your business it is important to remember that:

• Journalists only publish what they think will interest their readers, so matching the press release to the magazine or newspaper is key.

• Journalists strive to publish impartial information, which means your information might be published alongside one of your competitors.
• Publication schedules often run in advance, so plan your press releases accordingly.

Pre-release…

Before you write your press release, identify the media that would be interested in discussing your products and who can reach your customer base. Once you have a list of media outlets, you will need to find the right point of contact to direct your press releases to. Creating a list of media contacts over time will help with future communications. Using social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter to build connections is a good way to build your contact list.

Drafting the press release:

Once you have a list of journalists to deliver your press release to, it’s time to draft your press release. Your release should be brief (1-2 pages) and should answer the standard journalistic questions: Who – What – When – Where and Why.

For example some questions to answer would be: Who are you, what are you releasing information about, when will the product be available, where can they find more information  about this product, and why do they need this product.

A press release has 5 parts.
1. Date of publication & company name
2. A title – This summarizes your release in 1 sentence.
3. The press release – This a short 1-2 line summary of the entire press release.
4. The body of the release – This is written in an objective point of view that highlights the key elements.

5. The end of the release – This lists the practical details of the product, (availability, budget, etc), and finishes with a call to action.

Some more tips about writing your release are:

• Add illustrations or images of the product  whenever possible.
• Consider using a short interview or quote from a specialist outside your company.
• Use titles to summarize each paragraph. This will help people absorb the main information even if they do not read the entire release.  
• Keep the message direct – if you have more than one message to deliver, then make more than one press release.
• If your product or service is used in a variety of industries, make a press release specific to each industry.
• Before you send your press release to journalists, have someone who knows nothing about your product or service read it over. The common reader should be able to understand every part of your press release.

Publishing your release

Once you have prepared your press release, it is time to send it out to the list of journalists you have prepared. Remember to think about your target audience when you are sending out your press release.  Apart from journalist, you can also publish your press release on websites to improve visibility. However, it is important to be careful to use quality sites.

Reaching out to journalists

Creating a press release is the first step, but you will still need to capture journalists’ interest. Journalists receive several press releases and news event information every week, so finding ways to stand out once you get in contact is important. One option you may consider is to go through a press agency. Press agencies have connections and relationships with journalists, and are more likely to get responses from journalists and to know who is the right journals to get in touch with based on your product or service.