Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a press release for everything. A press release is a vital asset when publicising something newsy such as a collaboration, event, announcement of a new senior team member or award etc. In these circumstances a press release can convey all the background detail needed to support your pitch including relevant comments.

More important than a press release is a tailored pitch to each journalist that succinctly sums up your story and how it could be relevant to the title and its readers.

A few key tips when writing a press release:

• Don’t always include your business name in the press release headline and email subject, unless you are a well known brand it is more important to use a headline that conveys the crux of the story
• Write a concise press release which clearly and quickly gets across the facts and your USPs – avoid too much jargon, as tempting as it might be to include lots of puns, fluffy language or over-used statements, such as “The world’s best…”
• Include general background information about the business in your Editor’s Notes at the end of a press release
• Try to keep the press release to one or two pages – be as succinct as possible
• The style of writing should be similar to a news article
• Convey the actual news at the start of the press release and supporting information follows on
• Check your spelling and grammar before sending

If you need our help identifying stories to pitch to press, discussing target media titles or honing press releases and pitches, please do get in touch and we’d love to help.