Ten Tips for Writing Killer News Releases

One of a journalist’s most useful tools these days is his delete button. Swarms of news releases ping their way through cyberspace every day, but only a handful will ever see the light of day. 

Bear in mind that a journalist’s inbox is probably amongst the busiest in the country.  Greg Wright, deputy business editor of the Yorkshire Post, said at a recent presentation that he had to contend with over 250 emails a day, 60% of which were useless to him! Faced with this daily onslaught, only the fittest releases will survive. 

Essentially, a press release is there to ‘sell’ a story to the press. If it’s poorly written, badly targeted or, well, dull and non-newsworthy, then don’t waste your keystrokes. It will almost certainly find itself banished to the cyberbin.  Greg also commented that he was often faced with copy full of waffle and technical jargon which he was simply too busy to trawl through to find the story.

A good PR consultancy will adopt a no-nonsense approach, delivering commercially astute media relations that achieve coverage week in and week out with the audiences that matter. As media experts, your PR team should be able to consistently hit press targets because they understand what journalists want. 

Here are a few of our tried and tested tips.

First, say these words to yourself: ‘Is it newsworthy?’ Okay, it is to you, but is it really something that people will want to read about and, equally as important, is it something that they don’t already know about? Does it have a useful message behind it? If you can’t look at the story objectively then ask somebody who can.  Second, is it timely? If it’s old news, it’s no news. The plethora of on-line news pages, social media and e-newsletters means that news is now simply too fast for anything that’s even slightly past its sell by date.

1. Answer the following questions in your opening paragraph: Who? What? When? Where? How? This is THE most important part of the press release and will determine whether a journalist hits delete or reads on. Keep the news release short and to the point. A side of A4 will suffice – if the journalist is caught by your exciting, newsworthy story and wants more, they will ask for it. Save the techie information for an appendix at the end – but don’t be tempted to add boiler plates giving the entire history of your company which are longer than your news release.
2. Think of a short but informative headline. Do use this to catch a journalist’s eye but don’t try to be too clever – they are rarely used.
3. Keep to the facts and don’t over-embellish or dress up stats to mean something they don’t. It will be seen through, it will be deleted and journalists will find it an irritating waste of their time. Remember, the purpose of a news release is to give the journalist the facts – don’t use subjective statements and avoid clichés such as ‘market leading’.
4. Don’t capitalise job titles. Whilst some people like the feeling of importance Managing Director bestows on them over the rather lowlier managing director, it annoys journalists. Very few job titles warrant such status, so until you’re promoted to Queen, Lord Chancellor or Prime Minister, resign yourself to a lower case description, it’s just one of those media conventions that you need to adhere to.
5. Use quotes. This is an opportunity to embed opinion into what should otherwise be a factual piece of writing. Say something interesting. Don’t use the word ‘solutions’. And don’t say ‘we are delighted…’
6. Keep it simple and don’t use jargon. You’ll confuse the message and switch the reader off. Communicating something clearly and concisely will be much more impressive to a journalist than your ability to build in lots of big words.
7. Know your target media and know what they are likely to want to talk about. Use a scattergun approach at your peril; you’ll be added to the spam bin if you persistently send irrelevant stories to publications and that’s not a very useful place to be.   Only send information that is relevant to that particular title and to that specific journalist – targeting is key.
8. Include clear and accurate contact details so the journalist knows exactly who to call for more detail – and make sure they are going to be available should the journalist call.
9. A picture really does say a thousand words. Support with strong, creative photography if the story warrants it (two suited businesspeople shaking hands and smiling at the camera lens does not count as creative) and always include a relevant caption.   Don’t send huge files by email – if you’ve got that cracking photo, sending it as an inbox-blocking, journalist-maddening 4MB file is a wasted opportunity. Compress, then click.

Effective media relations isn’t rocket science, but it does require good ‘news sense’, excellent writing skills and a genuine understanding of the media.   Remember, your business’ reputation is at stake, so make sure your organisation’s PR is handled in a professional manner.