Writing a quality news release that the media picks up and the public engages with is a specialized and acquired skill. SEAPRWire can help people acquire with our best tips for writing a press release.
1. Start with a Relevant, Newsworthy Topic
For anyone to pay attention to their press release, it needs to have a news angle. Before people start writing, ask yourself:
Why will the audience care about this story?
Is this story relevant to my target audience?
It's important to remember that a news release is an official statement provided to the media as well as current and potential customers. Therefore, people need to focus on writing about a relevant and newsworthy topic.
Even in the digital age, the media still counts on news releases for pulling story ideas. But, now more than ever, they're short on time and need content that is clear and concise. Always give the why in the first sentence. Then, follow closely behind with the who, what, when, and where.
Making sure to draw attention to why the news is essential increases their chance of media pick-up. Most of the time, the media ignores their news release because people buried the lede.
As people consider the news release topics, also consider unique approaches to them that will make them more relevant and newsworthy to their audience.
2. Grab Them with a Good Headline
Their news release starts with the headline. Think of it as people would the first impression with a client or their first date. To stand out, it needs to be catchy as well as informative. Be clear about why their news release is important and relevant to their audience.
Headline writing tips:
Include numbers: People respond to numbers in headlines. Several studies show headlines with numbers generate 73% more social shares and engagement.
Action Words: Using verbs in their headline gives a sense of urgency and grabs the attention of readers.
Use interesting adjectives: Adjectives provide descriptors that give their headline a boost to make them attractive to their audience.
Keep it accurate: Including numbers and attention-grabbing language only works if the headline accurately describes their press release. Writing a misleading headline will ensure readers lose trust and avoid their content in the future.
3. Keep it short
With an ever-intensifying news cycle that runs 24/7 across media platforms, audiences want short, clear, and concise content.
A news release should give just enough information to pique the reader's attention and make them want to find out more. Keep it to one page, two max. Get to the point and stay on point throughout the release. People need to provide all the relevant information a journalist needs to write their story, without wasting time repeating yourself.
Including links is an excellent way to direct journalists and readers to further information. This will also increase search page rankings for their website when a reader visits a link people included in their press release. Just don't overdo it, and don't repeat links. Try to keep it to one to three unique links, or one link per 100 words.
4. Call to Action
What is the purpose of their press release? What action do people want the reader to take? A strong call-to-action lets their audience know what they need to do next.
The majority of readers will not read their whole press release, so keep their CTA high in the text. Think somewhere between the first and third paragraphs. Don't make the mistake of throwing a for more information line at the end and think that will get anyone to visit their website or click-to-buy.
For a CTA to be effective, it needs to:
Stand out: The CTA should standalone, to draw attention from the rest of their text.
Formatting: Use bold and italics to draw attention to the CTA.
Include a link: Use the full URL, so their audience knows where they're going. Keep the hyperlinks for the rest of the text.
And remember, a hyperlink in the middle of a sentence is not a CTA.
5. Include Quotes
A quote can provide an added sense of authority to their press release. Including a quote from a senior executive or industry expert shows their audience and search engines that people are a reliable and knowledgeable source for a given topic.
Additionally, journalists continue to go to news releases for quotes. Most will pull the quote directly from their release to use in their article. People want to make sure to use natural language. Read it out loud to ensure it sounds like something a real person would say. And keep it short. Again, people want it to sound natural, so something four or more sentences is too long.
Writing a news release can seem deceptively simple. It's short and can come off as formulaic, but that's what can make it challenging to write. So, be patient. Focus on their audience's wants and needs, and make sure to write how humans speak. It may take a few tries, but practice can bring great results.
About SEAPRWire
SEAPRWire is the top-up newswire in Southeast Asia. It offers PR distribution service to all Southeast Asia regions, including: Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan. SEAPRWire has a network of media editors, journalists, magazines, newspapers and PR agencies. It also cooperates with top wire services like JCN Newswire, Factiva, Eiko Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo, MarketWatch, BusinessInsider. SEAPRWire can distribute press releases in multi-linguages, such as: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Indonesian ...
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