Press releases are extremely important for the growth of business as they can give you a chance to get featured on a paper or channel. Whether it is just a simple business document, puff story, or a blog post, writing it requires a great amount of knowledge and creativity. Your press releases should be written in a manner that can easily attract journalists to read and cover them as well.
What are Press Releases?
A press release can be considered as an initial document about a product, service, or any other topic that you want to be announced to the public. Press releases are usually written documents that are sent to journalists or different media personnel so that they can cover them on their channels.
Journalists read and analyze each aspect of the press release to audit whether it is worthy of being covered or not. They will not cover dull press releases. Journalists are in the media department to provide news and make announcements that are important and can allow them to achieve their objectives as well.
Purpose and Importance of Press Releases in a Business:
The main aim of a press release in business is to promote or market a product, service, or any other business-related thing in the best way.
The thing to keep in mind is that press releases require to be written in a perfect format with useful information. The main three promotional and marketing goals of press releases include:
- To notify or request media by giving information about some specific and significant event that needed to be spread in public.
- To promote or market your product or services through various means mainly social media platforms, networks, stories, websites, and blog posts.
- To get an eye of a journalist so that he may get interested in your press release and tend to cover it while publishing the releases as an actual news article.
Some people assume that social media should not be included in the press release category but the fact is that it is one of the most powerful and fast ways of sharing your press releases while making them reach the maximum number of people and journalists.
How to Write Comprehensive Press Releases?
Writing a press release is a bit different and it can become difficult as well if you don’t follow the right procedure as given below:
Do thorough research:
Research is more than important as it will allow you to know about media channels and journalists that like to cover news or stories in your niche. You should also read about journalists to analyze their popularity and readers’ trust in the news previously covered by them.
Know about the current hot news:
Analyze different newspapers and media channels to know about the hottest and most trending topic in the world today, in your press release related section or sector. This will give you an opportunity to format your press release in a manner that can easily attract journalists and get featured in minimum time.
Know your big idea:
Know or decide your big idea because a journalist will only cover your press release if there is something new or development in your business. There should be a big thing that can give their channel a boom and blow to their audience or readers.
Start writing the press release:
Once you have completed all your pre homework, now it’s time to actually start writing your press release. The main thing to decide before writing is “WHAT” you want to say in your press release. Once you have sketched a map about it, decide “HOW” you will say or write this.
Choose the best suitable headline:
The headline is probably one of the most important parts of any press release. It is the part where a journalist, reader, or any other person will decide whether to go further and read your content or just leave it here.
Things to Consider while Writing a Press Release?
- The first and most important thing is to ensure that you have written all the spellings correctly and there aren’t any grammatical mistakes.
- Your press releases should only have useful and necessary information. Adding too many words that are too of no importance or repeating the same thing, again and again, can annoy a journalist. This may even urge them to skip your press release as well.
- Never use hard-to-read or lengthy clauses as short sentences are easier to read. Short sentences have the ability not to let their readers get bored. Also, interpreting short sentences is far easier as compared to long sentences.
- Only use plain English and avoid using jargon at any part of the release.
- Include quotes and pictures as they have the ability to tell a long story in minimum time.
- Don’t try to sell your product or services in the press release, instead only try to tell about it.
Is Writing the Headline Important?
The headline is not only important but the most prominent part of any press release. This is the thing that should be given maximum time and you should also take opinions from some experts and other writers in your circle to pick the best line.
Just keep this fact in mind that headline is the part that will either get journalists to read your press releases or move forward without even opening it. The headline should be small with a comprehensive meaning. It should encompass the whole idea of the press release in a single and short sentence.
Why should you choose the headline in the end?
You should pick a headline after writing the whole press release as it will give you a better idea of what you have said and what is the part that can arrest the reader’s eyes and urge them to read and cover your content.
Apart from this, a huge number of writers claim that they find the best suitable headline for their press releases while they are writing as this is the time when they are totally immersed in their topic.