What are Press Releases?
You may have heard that press releases are dead – I can confirm that they are definitely not dead and still very widely used in the industry!
A press release is a standard way of companies contacting journalists with news, essentially so the journalist can pretty much lift the content and run it as it is (if they choose).
It covers:
WHO
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
WHY
HOW
It is an easy to use format, 2 page document (although you tend to send it in the body of an email) that will present your news story in a very succinct and formulaic way.
You need to make sure you get as much of the 5 W’s into the first paragraph as you can, as journalists usually cut from the bottom up, meaning you need to get your main points over in the first part of the copy.
They are written in the third person, (which can be unusual when writing them yourself!), except when you include quotes, which are typically in first person.
Apart from the quotes you include, the content of the press release should be factual.
When do you use press releases?
Simple answer – when you have news!
That could be:
- you have published a book
- launched a new business
- you are taking on new staff
- won a prestigious client
- won an award
In specialist sectors, such as food & drink or interiors, you may issue a press release to share a new range or collection.
Basically, it is anything that is new, is timely, or has a specific hook about why they are relevant NOW.
Why would you use a Press Releases?
Not only is it an easy way to get the information to a journalist – the process that you go through to create a press release is incredibly useful.
You ask yourself:
“why is this newsworthy?”
“why is this relevant now?”
and that is sooooo good for honing your news sense and confirming whether or not this is something you want to send out to the press.
When you have news, you tend to want to send it to more than one place so a press release gives you a way to contact multiple journalists with the same story with ease. Often I say it is individual, tailored pitches that get cut-through – and yes for features/introductions that is absolutely true – but with a press release, the journalists know that you have not just sent it to one place (unless it is an exclusive) and that is absolutely accepted.
Where to send your press release?
Where is that news relevant? Is it relevant in your region, your industry, your nation? Establish how big the news is and send it to the relevant publications.
Who to send your press release to?
Press releases will often be sent to news editors, reporters or business news editors (the people who deal with the daily/weekly news).
But the great thing is because you have put everything together, you can use them for multiple things as they allow you to summarise a story and get really clear on the salient points. So, once you’ve given the media chance to use the news story, you can use them for your website, your blog etc – I love a bit of repurposing don’t you?? Just to emphasise that you would to add it to your website/social media AFTER you have sent it out to the media.
When to send your press release?
Timing is everything!
Most news journalists have a conference every morning at around 10am to decide what they are going to feature, so ideally you want your press release to be with them around 9am.
This can vary from publication to publication, but your traditional news outlets every day, then you need to pitch that day for the next day’s news.
If it is something that is weekly/biweekly, then you will need to work out when is the best time to send it. As an example, I’m based in Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Post has a business section every Tuesday and Thursday. So I will send a press release to them either on a Monday morning for the Tuesday release, or on Wednesday morning for the Thursday release.
How to use your press release?
Use them to put your news out there and use the use the press release structure to really bring that story to life.
Resulting in a nice succinct, neat story that you can share to the media!
You then take this copy, include it into the body of your email, attach a relevant image (no bigger than 1-2Mb in size) and send it to the relevant journalists (the ones that you know cover stories like yours).
As you can imagine, in a 20 year career in PR, I have written and sent out hundreds of press releases!
There is something so soothing and calming about the structure of a press release – which makes me super happy!
📣 And if you want to work with me 1:1 on this, sign up for my 2-hour Cheerleader PR Strategy Sessions 📣.
Book now here.
Here’s where you can catch the replay of my Facebook live session covering all of the above!
