3 Tips for Writing a Press Release for Beginners

A press release is an official statement from a company or organization addressed to the media and the public. As a Public Relations professional, writing press releases is an essential skill to master. Typically, PR professionals distribute these releases to journalists as news material. However, journalists are known to have tight deadlines, so you need to ensure you keep their workload to a minimum when sending a press release. 

There are several factors journalists consider when turning a press release into a news story. In this article, we’ll discuss some tips for writing press releases that will catch a journalist’s attention. Check out the tips below!

3 Tips for Writing a Press Release

Inverted Pyramid Writing Structure

In writing, we’re familiar with the inverted pyramid structure. According to Newswire, the inverted pyramid structure involves placing the most important information at the beginning of the paragraph, with additional details in the middle and at the end. This is important because 100% of readers will read the headline, but only 70% will read the first paragraph, 50% the second, 30% the third, and 10% the fourth. 

In the opening paragraph, we need to include the 5W1H: What, when, where, who, why, and how. Therefore, when you write a press release, it’s best to keep it to no more than 3 or 4 paragraphs, but make sure the main message you want to convey is included in the first paragraph. 

Press Releases Must Have News Value

It’s not uncommon for press releases distributed by PR professionals to be ignored by journalists. Why is that? Perhaps your release is seen as lacking the news value journalists expect. How can you ensure your press release has greater news value when read by journalists? 

According to digitalthirdcoast, the factors that determine news value are impact, timeliness, uniqueness, proximity, strangeness, conflict, currency, and human interest. To increase news value, we at Media Buffet also include relevant data and quotes from key figures. 

Use SEO-Friendly Keywords

In today’s digital age, journalists also write for online media. In addition to news value, journalists also pay attention to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) when writing articles for online publication. Why is that? This is done so that the article’s performance can attract as many readers as possible.

Read also: Strategies for Writing a Press Release in the Style of Digital PR 

Now you have a better understanding of how to write a press release. Hopefully, this article can help you in creating your own press release! Stay tuned to the Media Buffet PR blog and social media for even deeper insights into Public Relations in the future!

Written by Sinka Sutandang, Public Relations Consultant at Media Buffet PR