Press Release

Checklist: a step-by-
step guide

Introduction

Amidst the turmoil of an interconnected digital world, businesses

scramble to get the exposure they need to rise above the noise.
Despite the rise of new communication technologies, press releases
are more important than ever. They are a powerful tool that will help
you communicate what’s happening at your company with those that
matter most to you - that is journalists, bloggers and influencers, and
ultimately the audiences they’re reaching.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to harness the power of media

through a well-organised and effective press release. 


What’s pr.co?
pr.co is an Amsterdam-based Software as a Service company that equips communications
teams at global brands to get exposure. Our activities are two-fold:

1. We design, develop and maintain websites for communications teams


pr.co designs, develops and implements tailor-made websites for communications teams,
such as newsrooms, corporate blogs, thought-leadership platforms and investor relations
websites.

2. We equip communications teams with the platform to get the job done

We’ve built an all-in-one platform that helps communications teams write and publish
beautiful stories, schedule and send out news announcements, manage relationships with
media contacts in accordance with GDPR, simplify editorial workflows between internal
teams and external parties, and easily track what teams are working on.

We work with 300+ companies, all over the world. Our customers include global brands
like Heineken, Taylormade Golf, Dolby, Shimano, WeTransfer, Viacom, Gofundme, and Bell
Flight.

Press Release Checklist: pr.co's step-by-step guide

Checklist:
1. Grab ‘em by the headline: Summarise your main point in about 10-20 words. Be
strategic in choosing your headline by doing keyword research. There are tons of
tools out there that can help you win the SEO game. We are big fans of AHRefs,
but you can also use free tools like Ubersuggest).

2. Have a structured format:

• Add a dateline: Include the date and location where the news takes place.

• Bullet points at the beginning of your press release are a great way to summarise
key findings.

• Think of your first paragraph as your 30 second elevator pitch. Remember you
have a limited attention span and word count to make your message come across
properly. Save a journalist valuable time by including the answers to the famous 5
W's: who, what, where, when and why.

• The following paragraphs provide more details and context. Try to keep your
press release between 400-500 words.

• Mark the end of your press release with “###” to indicate there is no further copy.

3. Writing style: keep it clean - Show, don’t tell. Keep your information factual and
concise. For more tips on style check out the AP Style Guide.

• It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of breaking news inside your
company. Before you get your creative juices flowing, ask yourself: How is this
important to people outside of my organisation? Is this information newsworthy?
To ensure that your news will get picked up by the right people, provide a
captivating and unique angle through your press release. 

4. Boilerplate: add your about info - Provide a short summary with background
information on what your organisation does. For more information, you could link
to your company’s about page.

5. Include a media kit: You don’t have much control over what’s going to be written
about you, but you do have control over the images journalists use. Simply by
providing them. Include a media kit to make it easy for journalists to search and
download high resolution photos, videos, data visualisations and technical
specifications. What makes a good media kit? Here are some examples. 

Press Release Checklist: pr.co's step-by-step guide

 6. Add quotes: Journalists tend to use quotes from spokespeople to enrich their
story. By providing these in advance in your press release, PR teams can save
journalists valuable time and for that they will be grateful. On both sides it’s a win-
win situation.

7. Share other coverage: Adding other news links to your press release grants you
more credibility in the eyes of a journalist. Plus, they tend to rely on extra coverage
for more quotes and facts in order to write their stories. Again, saving a journalist
time and effort becomes an advantage when it comes to sending out press
releases.

8. Include your contact information: In case a journalist needs to follow up with

more questions, include contact details such as name, role, phone number, email
and social media links.

9. SEO and backlinks: Make the most of the spotlight you will receive by providing
journalists links that will take users back to your website. Incentivise them by
providing essential information on your website such as data sources, manifestos,
an online version of a report, among others. The more enriching this information is
for their story, the more likely it is to get a backlink. This is great for SEO and
findability!

• Want to know how users are reaching your information? A good hack is to add
UTM codes to your URLs so that you can track and measure the performance of
your sources. We have built a Google Sheet to create UTM-tagged URLs; to use
it, click on this link and select file —> make a copy.

10. Click send: Once you’re all set up, get ready to send out your press release to
your network of media contacts. Don’t know where to start? Check out our
interview with three PR experts on how to build a network of media contacts.

Press Release Checklist: pr.co's step-by-step guide