Earlier I discussed how you need to focus on your readers and have news if you’re to have the killer news release. Here are more tips.
Be complete.
News releases need to include these elements in the first paragraph
- Who (the company)
- What (the news)
- When (the release date)
- Where (the geographical origin of the release)
- Why (the benefit)
- And how (the process).
The “how” and the “why” may be inferred, not directly stated.
Use the inverted pyramid style because “time is of the essence.”
Begin with the most important material and add your supporting material afterwards. In short, follow the “inverted pyramid” style:
This style puts the most important information up front to grab the reporter’s attention. Here is a more detailed outline.
Lead: first paragraph
The main point of the announcement (one or two sentences)
Expanded lead: second paragraph
More details and benefits (one to two sentences)
Quote: third paragraph
Expression of an opinion
Body of the release
An expansion of the announcement (possibly one to four paragraphs. The length depends on the complexity of the announcement.)
Last paragraph: boilerplate
A description of the organization and contact information (two sentences)
That covers the basic structure of the release. In future posts I’ll give tips on how to write the release.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you and learn whether you found the tips helpful, or if you have others you’d like to share. And you can see examples of news releases on my website at https://communicationsplus.net/WritingExamples.html.
This information is a wonderful refresher on the art of creating a relevant, readable release. I’ll come back and read it frequently. And, as I noted in a comment on your earlier post, if I were teaching PR, I’d print this out and give it to students.