You’ll potentially be competing against hundreds or even thousands of other people, all trying to get their press releases noticed and published.
That may help you focus on some key elements in your writing:
- Newsworthiness
- Quality
- Impact
- Relevance
- Verification / objectivity
- Audience
- Message
- Differentiation.
Newsworthiness
Press releases don’t necessarily have to contain hot news that will change the world but they do have to contain elements that potential readers will not have known previously. This, by definition, makes it ‘news’.
A release that simply announces things that are already common knowledge is just not likely to win much attention.
Equally, announcements that are not likely to be of interest to anyone tend to be hard to sell outside of the immediate environment. Examples here may include minor corporate internal reorganizations and job title changes, very localized news or your own personal pet hobbyhorse or soapbox subjects.
Quality
We’ve discussed in other articles, the channels and techniques available for getting your releases spotted and to first base in the publication chain.
That won’t count for anything if your release is littered with poor grammar and inelegant language. One glance from many recipients and it’ll immediately hit the bin.
Press releases are generally best written in a factual, neutral and moderately terse style – though don’t overdo the macho word-reduction objectives or your text may end up becoming ambiguous and starchy.
Unlike in articles and blog writing, you should avoid the familiar voice apart from rare situations – i.e. no “We’d like to tell you” as this is often interpreted as patronizing in press releases.
There is no excuse for spelling errors and there are courses available to help with the use of journalistic-style language if you don’t already know how to write well.
Impact
Realistically, you probably have, at most, only 2-3 sentences to hook a reader’s attention irrespective of the headline.
Therefore, make sure your text contains a ‘hook’ right up front that will persuade people to read on.
Long pre-ambles, apologies in advance, drifting into precursor-type explanations, starting to cite history and precedent – they’re all big turn-offs in the opening paragraph. Get the hit of your message out fast.
Relevance
Try to make sure that everything in the release is pertinent to the subject matter and the key message. Avoid digression like the plague as little irritates readers (and the press) more.
So, for example, if your press release relates to present day fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico, be extremely cautious about discussing points of dubious relevance relating to (e.g.) the fishing practices of pre-Colombian peoples.
Remember at all times that a press release is not an essay.
Verification / Objectivity
It’s often said, with some justification perhaps, that every press release is seeking to achieve something – so objectivity is impossible.
Nevertheless, the convention used is that press releases do not try to make overt points (political, racial, financial etc) but instead are a neutral announcement.
Of course, few PR departments can resist the temptation to sneak in some positive spin for their particular cause. Be cautious – many media channels won’t touch releases of that type. An example is the use of language, in an otherwise ostensibly objective piece, along the lines of “this shows their ongoing commitment to environment issues”.
More objectively, this should be written, “they claim this shows their ongoing….” And even so, it should only be used if it is directly relevant to the release.
Remember also that any facts or sources you quote may well be subject to verification. Errors will be interpreted as being (at best) highly unprofessional and evidence of sloppy research.
You may even end up being sued for defamation of character or causing serious commercial damage if you get it wrong. So, double-check everything and get quotes, sources and facts 100% right!
Finally, don’t share your own views. Your personal opinion has no place in a press release so avoid side-swipes, rebukes, praise, sarcastic remarks or personal axe-grinding – however subtle you may think you’re being.
Audience
Comparatively few press releases are aimed at mass-market audiences. Many are based upon some form of target demographic such as over-55 professional males approaching retirement or stakeholders etc.
It is always advisable to try and get clarification of the target audiences and craft your press release accordingly.
This is often just commonsense, such as avoiding highly technical or complicated word and sentence structures unless your target population is professional people with a higher education.
Remember also that just as complicated language may discourage some from reading on, others may interpret overly simplistic language as being patronizing or just plain ‘dumb’.
The message
Many press releases have two communication objectives.
The declared;
The sotto-voce.
A large corporate may have a press release where the theoretical declared message is to say that a new CEO has been appointed. However that sotto-voce intention may be to communicate to readers that there is a new broom in the closet and things are going to change.
When writing a press release, it’s important to understand what exactly IS the key message and to define a strategy of communicating that under the flag of convenience of the “NEW CEO APPOINTED” headline.
This is one of the major challenges of writing an effective press release.
Differentiation
Finally, keep in mind again that your release may be one of a large number.
Many of these will never get published anywhere other than in-house magazines or low traffic syndicated websites etc.
Your challenge is always to think what exactly you’re going to have to do to make yours stand out from the others. Certainly having something newsworthy helps to start with, but after that it becomes something of intuition and the application of at least some of the above techniques.
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