How to Write a Press Release in 2023: 10 Simple Steps
Press Releases play a big role when it comes to building brand awareness and it is important for any organization to know how to frame press releases. Here’s a detailed guide on how to write a press release in 2023.
A press release can be defined as an official short, riveting story that is disseminated to journalists and media professionals in the media circuit to make a specific announcement about your business and its product and/or services.
The main aim of a press release should be to make it compelling enough for journalists and media personnel to cover it in their publication. It is written to distribute significant news regarding your brand to the audiences.
If you are one of those who want to know how to write a press release this article is for you. A press release is a very effective tool at your disposal for your promotion purposes.
It is an abiding process of getting people to know what’s happening with your company and how successful you have been doing in a specific period of time. It has been around for a long time and is still one of the most effective ways to get your brand visibility.
Why a Press Release?
A lot of us might have some doubts regarding why the press release is needed when all your information is available on your website and social media platforms. The reason is simple, media publications have a huge reach and exposure.
And the more people come to know about your business it is more beneficial for your success. Offline platforms are still relevant in the Indian context. Moreover, a press release can be published in online publications as well making it a very potent tool. We write press releases for several reasons.
Some of them are as follows
Build Awareness of a new Business, Product or Service
Whether it is a new startup, a new product, and service that you want to promulgate to your target consumers a press release is a great way to get your message across.
Media outlets, newspapers, and publishing houses can publish that press release helping you to build awareness about your brand and start the process of creating trust among your existing and potential consumers.
You can get backlinks
A press release is a great way to optimize your website for search engine rankings. As you know backlinks play a major role in your becoming an authority leader in your niche market.
When a renowned publication or website provides backlinks back to your website the credibility of your website business product and brand increases manifold. The key here is to incorporate keywords when writing your press release. A journalist will incorporate those keywords when writing an article taking a cue from the press release. That will help to get backlinks.
Consolidate your position in the market
With competition being a perennial part of doing business. a press release can be a great way to consolidate your position in your specific market. You can create a positive perception of your brand among consumers. It also helps you to ensure that your brand is on The consumer’s mind when deciding on a purchasing decision for related products or services.
Apprising about new developments, achievements.
A press release is an important tool to inform your customers about any new development or achievements that are of consequence to your consumers.
You can write a press release to educate them about a new product launch to inform people. Also, for new branches and in case of a new merger or restructuring of your organization.
You can also help you to inform consumers about awards and accreditation, your contribution to corporate social responsibility.
There are a host of other reasons that can propel you to create a press release that can be both beneficial to you, your company, your consumers as well as a news publication you send your press release to.
Eliminating negative perception
Press releases help you to expunge any negative perception of your brand that might affect your brand equity in the market. Negative PR can be a great cause of concern for your business since any negative information tends to go viral in a record amount of time.
One negative issue can be greatly detrimental to the interest of your company in the long run. It can damage your reputation beyond control if proper steps are not taken in the right direction at the right time.
Thankfully press releases give you that opportunity to eliminate any e negative perception that might tarnish your accomplishments.
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You might be wondering how a press release can help you salvage situations that can quickly escalate into something harmful for your company. Your alacrity in issuing a press release can help in the following ways.
- Do not try to suppress or withhold any true information from your customers. If there has been a mistake admit it, explain it along with the steps you have taken to rectify the situation.
- Do not be ambiguous about the problem. Explain with complete clarity what steps you are taking to mitigate the problems.
- Ask for feedback and advice on how to tackle the problem from your consumers. That can greatly to build the camaraderie and get the faith going in your consumers.
- Do not stop at just communicating the problem. As and when you make the changes required, make sure to disseminate that information to your customers so that they remain updated with whatever is happening with your company.
- Help your consumers to understand the changes you made. This will help consumers respect your commitment to providing great service. It will invariably increase your brand reputation.
Information a press release should contain
Company Name and Logo
Your press release should have your company name and logo that could help people, whether journalists or buyers recognize your brand at first glance.
Contact
You should always include the contact of your media personnel or communication executive who will be able to provide any additional details to the journalist.
You should make sure that the number is active and authentic because quite a lot of times reporters may follow up with you to get additional information.
Address
Your company location and address should be mentioned along with your email address. Again proper steps to be taken to ensure that the emails are replied to as quickly as possible.
Definitive lead
This is where you communicate the most important part of your press release in a few words. This lead summarises your press release and gives the journalist an idea about the content of your statement.
Boilerplate
A boilerplate is a short, compact, and relevant paragraph about your company. Your audiences want to know about your company when they read the press release. So, boilerplates delineate information on the nature of your business to your audiences. It can also provide some other information of importance like website links, newsletter links, case study links, and others.
Body
This is where you describe the purpose of writing this newsletter. Remember press release is concise. Therefore, the information should be easily scannable and the most important points should be easily picked up from the press release. Add relevant quotes to bolster your claims that you make in your press release for any new developments and performance.
How to write a Press Release?
Find Something worthwhile to write about in the first place
A press release has to possess something unique to grab the attention of a journalist who is to publish it in the publication. Now, what would make your press release different from the vast number of other such press releases from your competition?
It depends on the way you pitch it to the concerned party. But exactly how?
The answer lies in the way you look at the news. Channelize your inner creativity, use data, and information available to you put relevant quotes that give fodder for thought.
You have to be innovative and incorporate the quality of exclusivity to be able to impress the journalist with your press release.
Current events, a surge in the demand of a product, service can give you ideas to brainstorm and incorporate a press release into that news article. This is called newsjacking. An example of newsjacking can be Dunkin doughnuts and the golden white gold/blue dress.
Once you leverage the properties of that news channel aligning it with your brand, and mission statement you have a winner press release at hand.
Thorough Research on the matter
Any press release requires you to invest a lot of time researching the content. It is important to determine the voice and positioning of your product is well.
You should make every effort to connect with your audience in the least time possible. Humane, a slice of life stories resonates with the public. Therefore, make sure you research on that aspect and create a press release that will have the proper connection with your potential and existing consumers
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Write a proper headline that will reel your reader in
The headline is the most important part of a press release. It is the sole element that draws the reader into the statement. Moreover, it is the deciding factor whether you have been able to create that first impression on the journalist who will ultimately publish your press release.
Next, write a winning lead
The lead is the first paragraph of your press release that depicts the most fundamental parts of the information you disseminate to your audiences. It should have all the relevant details about the announcement and the key advantages arising out of it.
Write the Body in an inverted pyramid style writing
The inverted style of the pyramid is the most popular form of journalistic writing that is adopted all across the world. The inverted pyramid style of writing emphasizes that you mention the most important points in the beginning and slowly move on to the less consequential parts of your main news.
. Be succinct, crisp, and direct
All things said and done a press release will only be impactful if it is succinct, direct, and to the point. It should not beat around the bush and should be very crisp.
Avoid using passive verbs as it tends to have less of an impact in terms of engaging with audiences. A press release should make the readers believe that you are proactive. To achieve that use as many active verbs as possible.
Use quotes from people of relevance like your clients, testimonials from people who have interacted with you and your stakeholders. That builds authenticity.
Add media where necessary
After you have finished writing the press release goes over it a few times to gauge how it is sounding to yourself. If it doesn’t sound right or you discern something lacking identify what it is.
Maybe you need high-resolution images, screenshots that help to get your message across more efficiently. Incorporate any digital media that is necessary to make your press release more effective.
It should have value to the publication
Your press release should be sent to publications that cater to the audience of your brand and product. Make sure that it is of use to the publication your sending it to.
For example, sports brands might want to send their press release to a sports magazine on the sports supplementary of a newspaper. Have clarity on whom you want to send the press release to. That will invariably help you to get published.
Do away with fluff, grammatical errors
This is a corollary of the 6th point. Your press release should be gripping and should keep the emotional aspect of your audience in mind. No one wants to read a long convoluted piece of writing especially press release.
So, eliminate any fluff and grammatical errors. Use a digital tool like Grammarly, Hemingway app to ensure that there are no grammatical errors in your writing. A statement with errors exposes your lackadaisical approach. it doesn’t bode well for your brand reputation.
Clear Boilerplate and Contact information
Your boilerplate is the area where all relevant information about your business should be communicated. Give a brief idea about how your business works what your mission is. Also, how you have gone about achieving your goals.
When you write your boilerplate remember to insert relevant keywords that will help you in optimizing search engine rankings. The text of the boilerplate doesn’t change. It is is the same across all digital platforms and social media sites.
What happens is, it helps to familiarise audiences with your company. Audiences as well as Google start connecting the business with the relevant keywords that you inserted in your boilerplate.
This helps in increasing the visibility to a large extent. Create the content of the boilerplate in consonance with your business objectives and performance.
Small tip
While writing a boilerplate incorporate all the important information but don’t make it too wordy. Also, avoid using technical terms, jargon which is going to be difficult for a layman to comprehend.
Types Of Press Release
Event press release
This is when you inform the media and your consumers that you are conducting an event that might involve the inauguration of a new store, community event, a meeting with stakeholders. If you want your consumers and the public to attend that event you should clearly explain in your press release how to do it.
Book Launch Press release
When you are launching a new book you will want to inform your readers and the book community the how where part of the book release.
A book press release describes the author of the book, where the book launch is going to happen. A very important part is also to apprise the readers and news services as to how they can reach the venue.
Product Launch Press Release
A Product Launch press release should have details on the new product and its unique qualities. You should be able to appeal to the journalist by writing a creative press release on your product and adding a compelling story.
Business Launch Press Release
A business launch Press Release should involve authentic information about the company, nature of its business along with contact details.
Also, the lead and the body should contain a captivating piece of how the business was ideated and what the mission and vision of the business are.
Rebranding Press Release
A rebranding press release should contain comprehensive details on how the brand is given a makeover. What changes are made from the previous versions and what drove the rebranding initiative should all be covered.
Provide short comparison points with the older version of the product or service. This will help the journal is as well as your target consumers to understand better how the rebranding has taken place. The comparison will give more clarity on how rebranding has strengthened the business.
Awards and Achievements Press Release
This is a very common type of press release whereby companies inform their customers about their new accomplishments, achievements, and awards that they have won.
The press release should not come across as one gloating about achievements but about reaffirming a company’s objectives and keeping the trust of the consumers going.
Merger and Acquisition Press Release
When a partnership, merger, and acquisition takes place a press release is sent out to media services to provide the details of such a change.
Details of reshuffling and other financial, leadership, and business changes are described in the press release. An expert media contact is provided in the press release for journalists to follow up for clear confusion if any.
Best Time to send out your press releases
A press release that ticks all the right boxes as mentioned above can do wonders for your business. Sloppy planning can however render the statement useless.
Writing a press release is a major part of the entire process of distributing relevant information to your audience through a media service. However, the date and time of sending a press release also hold importance if you want to make the right kind of noise about your business.
It has been proven that Tuesdays to Thursdays are the best days to send your press releases to the agency. As for the time it is preferable to send it before 10 in the morning after 8 in the evening.
There is a reason for such an analysis as well. People open their emails in the morning before starting with their heavy workload. Similarly, people tend to open emails more after the work gets over in a relaxed environment. Thus these timings can have a great impact.
It is a given that it is always preferable to send a press release when it has the most chances of getting noticed. If you miss out on those days, you should not hold back sending those press releases at all. Friday should be avoided in general, but if you haven’t been able to send it on the days prior you should always send them anyway.
Conclusion
Press releases come with immense disadvantages when done properly. It helps you to get backlinks, fortify your brand presence, and appraise your consumers about any latest developments. Thus they help in the overall visibility of your website.
You can always send your press releases through syndicates but personally sending it to a list of contacts that you have created is preferable.
It assists in building camaraderie with the people important to your business. The other way is to distribute to a new syndication service like business wire, newsvoir, etc. It is less cumbersome but not more advantageous for the following reason.
When you send it through syndication service you send it in bulk to different publications. That eliminates the possibility of a personal connection with reporters and journalists.
A great rapport can help a lot in building your brand reputation. Therefore, it is always better to make that effort to know the people you are sending a Press release to.
So, here you have all the necessary knowledge on creating a great Press release. So go ahead create that awesome statement and win the recognition that your business deserves.
