What makes a good press release?
Press releases are a key tactic used by PR professionals to communicate news with journalists or directly to an audience. They’re a great way to draw attention to company announcements, partnerships, customers, product news and investments. However, in order for a press release to be effective and earn coverage, it needs to stand out. Here are a few tips on what makes a good press release:
1. Newsworthiness
Journalists are constantly bombarded with pitches for news stories and features. So if you’ve got a piece of news you want to share, you first need to ask yourself, is it newsworthy? Is there anything new or unusual about it? Would it be of interest to anyone outside your business? A great press release tells a compelling story that your audience will find interesting.
2. Catchy Title
The next thing to do is think of an eye-catching title. You want to draw the right attention to your story. Most journalists will receive hundreds of press releases every day, so standing out from the crowd is essential. A great press release should have an engaging title that sums up what a piece of news is about in just a few words.
3. Simple Content
The content of a press release should be short (ideally no longer than a page), concise and factual. The information provided needs to be easy to digest and share in order to make it straightforward to read and for press to pick out particular features. A great press release starts with the most important information at the beginning and includes supporting information towards the end.
4. Quotes
Lastly, a great press release includes quotes from important individuals within a company, such as C-Level executives. A quote from someone within your company, that is free from unnecessarily technical language, is a great way to provide readers with extra insight and opinion into a piece news. It can give a press release more personality and provides shareable information that can be used by journalists as a pull point.
Our Jargon Buster aims to answer all of those questions businesses have about PR. From writing the perfect press release to how PR fees work, we aim to address all of these needs. Get in touch at marketing@jargonpr.com if you have any questions you’d like us to address.
