Press releases How many of you have ever heard of Press Releases? I can already hear a background noise sending me to hell... ☺ Ok, but for those who do not know them (and I bet you are many) we can say, with reasonable certainty, that this is a tool to communicate something official (about someone or something, about a product or a company, etc.) to the Press. Those who will receive a press release are then (usually) journalists, or at least somebody who can use it in order to produce an opinion text, informing readers or listeners. Sure, sure... of course we all know what a press release is, however, not everyone knows how to write it. Today, seized by an uncontrollable desire to share, I want to tell you how you must write a Press Release. I do not want to sound like the "#know-it-all" but I can assure you (and many journalists/friends can confirm this) that often real horrors arrive in editorial offices. So, maybe it’s time to clarify this a little bit. We said that the press release is the first tool that the PR has available to "communicate" something to someone. Therefore it should be written not only in a perfect language, punctuation included (like my Professor at High School used to say: "Our language is a PRECISE language", and somehow she was right...), but it will have to include not only the messages we want to convey, and will have to be written in the most appropriate language for the target audience and with the communication strategies that will be at the basis of the entire PR campaign agreed with the customer. Everything, “dressed” with some creative imagination as well, that never hurts. Think about the fact that a journalist receives, every day, an average of 100/150 press releases. How, in your opinion, are we going to immediately attract his attention? Here are some basic rules. I remind you that a press release must include INTERESTING information and, possibly, non-repetitive, using again concepts already pointed out in previous press releases. Title – It must be attractive, not too long, and announce the news. Do not write titles where nothing is said (eg. "This Christmas give yourself something special" does not provide the subject of the Press release, and the journalist does not become curious, gets nervous and trashes it). Subtitle – It summarizes the whole press release, condensing in a few lines the content of the announcement. A good title and subtitle attract the attention of the journalist, and ensure the creation of a news or a more in-depth analysis. News - In these few opening lines, up to 10 lines at the maximum, you have to write the news with all the details and the main concepts to be transmitted, of course, starting with the place of origin of the news and the date. A journalist does not want to waste time reading the entire press release to find out the news you want to communicate. Do not let him waste time, tell him immediately what you mean, he will appreciate it. The deepening of the news must be made of some relevant sections, more or less titled, that deepen the concepts and explode it to make it complete and exhaustive. Generally, in the second paragraph of the news, some quotes by the managers presenting the news to the market are reported, adding something about a business strategy, a partnership, or an implemented technology to provide a better service to end users. The news ALWAYS (where possible, of course) ends with the price of the advertised product, or at least the price of the service, and the information where it is possible to learn more. Generally the Internet address of the company's website or product is highlighted, the Social page, possibly a link to the trailer or to the assets if available. Boilerplate – It’s the OFFICIAL boilerplate of the company, that is to say the official presentation of the company, that the market needs to know. It is important that it is approved by the Company itself, as it might include some sensitive data. There are companies listed in the Stock market, and if you were to enter wrong information that then was published, this could influence the stock price, causing serious damage to the company itself. So, it must ALWAYS be approved or provided by the company. If you are an employee of the company, have it checked by your legal advisor, or otherwise by your CEO. I am attaching a picture of a typical press release, highlighting the different parts I mentioned in this explanation. Previous Article Which is the objective of PR? Next Article Sending an email Print 6458 Rate this article: 4.5 Tags: Luca Monticelli BlogPublic RelationsStar2ComPress Release Please login or register to post comments.