Preparing Press Releases

WHAT IS A PRESS RELEASE?

The bare bones answer to this is: A press release is a brief written summary or update, alerting the
media about your company’s news and activities. However, press releases are much more exciting
than that!

Press releases are similar to news articles in that they inform the public, but they’re usually
prepared by people like you who are working in specialized fields.

Like a news story, press releases are:

 Created either to preview an upcoming event or to inform the public about something that
has already occurred
 Written in a clear, concise manner that easily and quickly conveys its message to the reader
 Written with the most current and pertinent information in the first two paragraphs
 Subject to editing for content and space or time requirements, depending on the media
 Subject to the screening and final judgment by the media producers based on the scope,
relevance and the impact of the article.

Unlike a news story, press releases are:

 Not always a high priority for media producers to cover.

WHEN SHOULD YOU PREPARE A PRESS RELEASE?

Eight primary factors that determine the newsworthiness of a press release:

Impact: The significance, importance, or consequence of an event or trend; the greater the
consequence, and the larger the number of people for whom an event is important the greater the
newsworthiness.

Timeliness: The more recent, the more newsworthy. In some cases, timeliness is relative. An event
may have occurred in the past but only have been learned about recently.

Prominence: Occurrences featuring well-know individuals or institutions are newsworthy. Well-

knowness may spring either from the power the person or institution possess

Proximity: Closeness of the occurrence to the audience may be gauged either geographically – close
by events, all other things being equal, are more important than distant ones – or in terms of the
assumed values, interest and expectations of the news audience.
The Bizarre: The unusual, unorthodox, or unexpected attracts attention.

Conflict: Controversy and open clashes are newsworthy, inviting attention on their own, almost
regardless of what the conflict is over. Conflict reveals underlying causes of disagreement between
individuals and institutions in a society.

Currency: Occasionally something becomes an idea whose time has come. The matter assumes a life
of its own, and for a time assumes momentum in news reportage.

Human Interest: Those stories that have more of an entertainment factor versus any of the above -
not that some of the other news values cannot have an entertainment value.

HOW DO YOU PREPARE A PRESS RELEASE?

general guidelines for preparing press releases:

It’s not a sales pitch – Remember that your press release is not an advertisement. Moreover, a press
release written and distributed to manipulate the targeted audience, which sounds pretty much like
a paid advertisement, can negatively impact the brand behind it, compromising its credibility and
affecting its popularity.

Make them read like news article – Study news articles in the news papers. News articles will have
the five Ws and the H in their beginning paragraph. This is called the lead. These basic elements are:

 What happened
 Who did it
 Why it happened
 Where it happened
 When it happened
 How it happened

It's important to think about the big picture.

The content should reflect how and why your news is important, and should always link to strategic,
long-term company goals. A good rule of thumb is to think the way your audience does. If it doesn't
seem appealing from their point of view, it's probably a sign to rework the release or hold off until
you have a stronger story.

If you do think your release will capture your audience's attention, make sure your content is
interesting enough to hold it.

Emphasize what makes your release important – What in your release is going to grab people’s
attention? Why is it important to the community? Why should they care? Emphasize one or two of
the basic elements above.
Be as provocative as you can – Most media, get tons of releases every week, so you want to make
yours stand out. Find an eye-opening aspect to your release, or at least make sure your points are
strongly emphasized.

Make the headline and lead as clear as possible – They need to hook the reader quickly or the
release will be skimmed over and forgotten.

Make your release look professional – Credibility is very important in an editor’s decision as to read
or pass over your release. Letterhead and formatting should look professional, and no typos!

The release should also have short, easily readable sentences and paragraphs, as news articles do.