Simply: There are some tools that are too useful to ever become obsolete, regardless of how old they are. This holds true for the press release.
For decades, press releases have been the source of clear and concise information for journalists. They provide news in one-sheet (never longer than two) without flowery rhetoric or sales pitches. (At least, that’s the way it is supposed to be.) They also help authors create content that is consistent and true to the story being told. For this reason, they are used when wanting to provide more detailed verbiage than a news advisory format allows.
Twelve Tips on Writing a Press Release
- True to Journalism 101, try to include the most important information first.
Answer the who, what, when, where, and why questions as quickly as possible. - Prioritize the content in its order of importance.
- The content should be news or announcement related.
- Be certain that a call to action and contact information are included.
- If doing an email distribution, do not make the file size too large and do not send the press release as an attachment.
- Write in a third person tense, as if you are not part of the story.
- Write in active tense.
- Do not use superlatives.
- Editorial content can only be included as a quote and even then, sparingly.
- Keep the length to one to two single spaced pages at the most.
- Create a headline for the story as well as a sub-head if it supports readability.
- End the story with four hash tags indicating that the article is complete.
Both the press release and the news advisory formats are options for distributing your communiqué on InfluencerNewswire.com. In completing the form, your information will be automatically properly formatted for distribution.
