Media Relations: How to Write Press Releases that Get Results

By Scot Kersgaard, JVA

A well-written press release is a thing of beauty. There, I said it.

To approach the writing of a press release in any other way is to shoot yourself and your organization in the foot.

When you send a press release to the media, one of three things can happen. 1) They ignore it with or without even looking at it; 2) they use it verbatim and publish it as is, or they make a few changes and publish it; or 3) they pick up the phone and call you (or email you) for more information or an interview. Two of those things are good, which sadly does not give you a two out of three chance of good things happening. Most press releases are ignored, as they well should be. Most press releases should never have been sent.

Your control over the press release ends when you hit send. At that point, it is out of your hands. Until you hit send, you have every opportunity to make it perfect. Do it.

Make them want to read it

As with any other kind of writing, a press release must begin with a sentence that makes the reader want to read more. Believe me, if a reporter or editor reads your release all the way to the end, it is because they are interested. I used to receive more than 50 press releases every day. I maybe opened 15 and maybe used one or two.

How do you make sure yours is one of the 15? First, get to know the reporters you send releases to. As a reporter, I am much more likely to open a release sent from someone I know. If you aren’t to that point yet, there are a few things you can do to get noticed. 1) Send your release only to reporters who have proven through the stories they have written that they are interested in subjects like yours; 2) Write a very strong subject line; and 3) Follow up with a phone call immediately.

Make it newsworthy

Those things may get your release looked at. The only thing that will get it used, though, is if it is newsworthy by the standards of the people you send it to. Make it so, or don’t send it. Study the news, study especially the stories written by the reporters you want covering your stories. When you get them on the phone, ask them what it would take for them to write about something you pitch.

A few things that can make your press release stand out:

Make the basics impossible to miss: Who, what, where, when, why, and most important, how to reach you for more information.
Include a strong quotation, from someone well-known if possible. If the person, your ED perhaps, is not well known, give the reporter enough information about them to establish credibility.
Tie your story into something bigger, a national trend, or a known local problem that you are addressing.
Include photos, links to video, links to other articles or other organizations that help establish context and newsworthiness.
Send a joint release with one or more other organizations, again to establish the credibility and importance of the story.

Follow-up steps

Getting your press releases noticed can be hard work. News organizations get too many releases, and most news does not begin as a press release. For a reporter looking for a story to write, press releases are a last resort. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write them and send them, but it does mean that while a good press release may be your introduction to a reporter, it is often a more personal approach that actually turns into a story.

In other words, your press release leads to your phone call, which leads to an invitation to stay in touch, which leads to your sending an email about something else that finally leads to a story.

Finally, post the press release on your website, making sure it is very SEO friendly so that when a reporter searches for information on your issues, they are directed by Google to your press release.