The press release is at the core of PR professionals skills. It’s been said that close to 80% of stories in the newspapers are generated by a media release or placement. The hope is that the key message will transfer without change; while the core information may be printed the client will always look for additions, their name in caption, brand in picture, and titles in release. Delivery of these has become harder and harder to achieve and no amount of experience, personal contacts or expert release writing will change that. However, the skills for writing a press release to help try and ensure the client’s message appears need to be mastered.

The first question that you should always ask yourself is: “Is it newsworthy?”  Starting with irrelevant or old news is no news!

A number of key factors must be kept in mind at all times:

• The Headline
• Answering key questions
• Wording, active and exciting
• Agree an angle (newsworthiness, relevance and match to your audience)
• Grammatically correct
• Length
• Contact Information
• Spelling!

The headline must be compelling; it should attract attention, and be to the point. Acquire the message you want to deliver and formulate your headline from that. Your headline must tell the story; your release will provide the details.

Avoid teasing headlines; journalists want to know the aim of your release fast! If you’re not a journalist leave the teasing headlines in their department.

Answer the key questions in your first paragraph. Think:

• What are you announcing?
• Why is it a big deal?
• Who?
• When?
• Where?

Be mindful of your wording; don’t overload your release with buzzwords or flowery language. You are working with journalists who are always on a deadline, there is no time to filter through and pull the facts from the fiction. Don’t exaggerate, especially to boost a product, you will lose credibility and miss out on coverage and cut off relationship building with journalists. The use of quotes is good here, to bring objectivity to your release.

Try to make your release relevant, tie it in to current news stories / events / social issues, you need a hook to get noticed.

Keep it short, one page should more then cover what you need to include. Don’t panic if you spill over but be aware people lose interest.

Your contact information should always be included at the bottom of the page. Who is the key contact in relation to your story include landline, mobile, emails, fax. If you get your story through the last thing you want is to be out of touch when a journalist needs a question answered, a comment or has an issue with attachments. Be ready with quotes or comments, do you need a spokesperson for your story and are they on call? The contact information is vital to your success when it is required.

Be smart, ahead of the rest and honest; key components to successful PR.