5 Things to Know Before Writing Your Press Release

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Press releases are very important to get right, and there are a fair number of things that you should know about them. 

In this guide, we’ll be covering the top five most important elements all press releases should include. Whether you’re about to begin your first press release, or need a refresher on how to best type them, then keep reading.

Is it actually news?

Before you begin your press release, you have to consider whether or not what you are putting out there is actually worthy of a press release. We all know that the real purpose of press releases are to promote your business, but they can’t be obvious advertisements.

If a big event has just happened or will happen soon with your company, then a press release is warranted. However, if you are putting out press releases for things that happened a year ago, you will lose credibility. 

A good example of newsworthy press releases are high-level position changes. When a company appoints a new president or vice president, it is definitely something that should be announced with a press release. For example, this press release here announces the appointment of a new market president. 

Focus on the facts

A big aspect of getting press releases right is to not include any trace of an opinion or bias in them. If your press releases are partial to one view, then they will be discredited by many, and you will have a harder time finding news sites to publish it.

You don’t need to cite every fact you present, but you should absolutely double check everything you state. A good tip is to follow this guide by Ereleases on how to ensure your press release is accurate and factual. 

Picking your keywords

Search engine optimization is key for press releases. While press releases should always have a front appearance of solely stating the facts and news, it is crucial that you correctly optimize your keyword usage so that your press release can boost website traffic for you.

We recommend using keywordtool.io to test out keywords you are considering. Make sure to include your keyword throughout the press release, but do not force the usage of it. 

Formatting

Correctly structuring your press release is key to getting it published on news sites. If you send your local news sites a dense paragraph, they’re not going to be putting it up on their site without requesting revisions.

Generally, you should format your press release to be structured in this order:

  • Headline and Subtitle
  • Release date
  • Body paragraphs
  • Contact information
  • Bio about company

Including these elements in the order above is a good way to ensure your press release is properly formatted. 

Revise and cut

After you’re all done with writing your press release, there’s a good chance you can take out some unnecessary fluff to shorten the content up and help readers get to the point. If you include too much information, it won’t trigger a lot of interaction with your company. Keep your readers informed, but don’t include every single detail.

We hope that after following this guide you have the know-how to write an informative and successful press release!