A press release is a concise and interesting news item that has been written by a PR or Corporate Communications professional so that they can send to the targeted audience by circulating in the media outlets. The aim of writing a press release is to get attention from the journalists or publications to carry the story of the company or product or service or initiative or brand.
Essentially, the press release must have the following information such as who? what? where? when? how? and why? for the media professionals or journalists to create their own story to publish on their media platforms.
Press releases are also called news releases and they are short, printed statements that reveal the important facts of a news item in a journalistic manner. A press release should be like a news story only and written in the third-person format, mentioning the quotes and sources and including information that a standard press release has.
The standard press release includes the contact information of the person who has written the press release, name, phone number, and email address. Then the press release has a headline, which highlights the essential four or five words of the entire press release. The headline has to be unique, newsworthy, and interesting as it is what the journalist will read first.
Below the headline of the press release has a brief or a one-line summary of the press release, which should grab the attention of the reader and encourage him or her to read further. In the first paragraph, there has to be a location and date stamp mentioned in the press release because it is a story that can get circulated in a newspaper or news website. The first sentence should provide a summary of the main news of the press release is less than 25 words.
The remaining parts of the press release should provide answers to all the queries a journalist may have about the product, service, company, event that one is about to launch or make the announcement of. A press release should not look like a promotional material and hence, one should know how to tone it down so that it doesn’t look like a sales pitch to a reader.
