<\/p>\n
How do you write a good press release? We as a PR agency know all too well that a poor press release can bury a news item that’s actually interesting, while a well formulated text can lead to favourable exposure.<\/p>\n
There are, of course, a number of basic principles to follow in writing good press releases: examples are not writing unnecessarily lengthy texts and not forgetting to have a contact person the reader can get in touch with for further information.<\/p>\n
These relate to the form of the press release, but it should also attract interest and make it clear why the newspaper or magazine needs to publish the news item. Here are seven useful tips, based on the collective experience of our PR agency:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1. The most important information first<\/strong><\/p>\n Surprisingly often, we see press releases that don\u2019t mention the news item at the start but wait until a long way down the text. This makes it less likely that the news media will carry on reading until the interesting bit starts.<\/p>\n It should already be clear in the heading what\u2019s new. In addition, it should preferably not be more than seven or eight words long.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Be neutral and focus on facts<\/strong><\/p>\n Ideally, it should be possible for a press release to be lifted into a newspaper or magazine without too many changes being made. So the tone is completely different and more neutral than in an advertising text, for example. Value judgements such as \u2018world-leading\u2019 or \u2018innovative\u2019 should only appear if it is clear even to an outsider that they are valid. Journalists usually write only what they believe to be true, and a credible press release is therefore better than a text full of boasting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Make the news item bigger<\/strong><\/p>\n It may perhaps be interesting that you are taking on a new member of staff, but it becomes even more interesting if the recruitment is just an example of how you are investing in a completely new area. It’s suddenly a matter of you \u2018starting to compete in X\u2019, where there are already known active competitors. The news item has become much bigger than it was at the start, as it\u2019s no longer just about a person or a company but about a whole industry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. Well-written texts get read<\/strong><\/p>\n Even the best can make the odd mistake. Not everyone has a perfect mastery of their own language. But there are limits (and many people think a limit has been passed when a sentence begins with \u2018but\u2019). So let several people who are good with language read through a text before it’s sent off somewhere.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5. By all means latch onto a trend, but don\u2019t be desperate<\/strong><\/p>\n These days, lots of companies want to talk about artificial intelligence, which is entirely natural as it’s a topic the news media are currently writing about. At the same time, it often means that companies want to tell people how their particular product is making use of artificial intelligence, which is not always quite so interesting. It\u2019s quite simply not enough to have some kind of link to a trend, there\u2019s still a need for something new to make a press release interesting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n