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One of the most important lessons to learn
is that writing media releases is all about developing a
persuasive communication within the framework of a traditional
news story format.
Editors will quickly trash media releases that make outlandish
promotional promises - "the best ever," "everyone
wins," "one-of-a-kind," "changing humankind
forever."
Press release
writers must:
- think like a reporter
- releases must follow journalistic style and format.
How do you accomplish this task? Here's a
guideline to follow.
- The Headline: In about ten words -- or less --
you need to grab the attention of the reader. The
headline should summarize the information in the press
release, but in a way that is exciting and dynamic. You
have just a few words to make your release stand out among the
many others on any given day.
- Opening Paragraph: Sometimes called a summary
lead, your first paragraph is critical. This paragraph
must explain "the five Ws and one H" of the story --
the who, what, when, where, why, and how. This
paragraph must summarize the press release, with the following
paragraphs providing the detail.
The opening paragraph must also contain the hook
that gets the reader interested in reading more. The
hook has to be relevant to your audience as well as to the
news media. A hook is not a hard sell or a devious
promotion; it's just a factual statement.
-
Finding The Best Words: We
recommend Merriam-Webster
-
The Body: Using a strategy called the inverted
pyramid, the body of the press release should be written with
the most important information and quotes first. This
inverted pyramid technique is used so that if editors need to
cut the story to fit space constraints, they can cut from the
end without losing critical information.
- The Closing Paragraph: Repeat the critical contact
information, including the name of the person, his or
her phone number, email address and optionally
mailing address information for Information Request. The
format of this is usually left justified with identifiers
before each key contact information; such as:
Phone: 555-555-1212
Visit http://www.primezone.com/pages/news.shtml
for examples.
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