Press Releases

The purpose of a Press Release is to give journalists and media outlets information that is useful, accurate and interesting. Most press releases are one page in length. If you go beyond one page, type the word "more" at the bottom of the page to show it's not the end. Remember, news stories are usually written with the most important information first. So be sure your press release is written that way as well.

It's possible, and even suggested, to create a boilerplate or cookie cutter approach to press releases. Just create a template with the information that won't change, and fill in the blanks as needed.

Basic Elements of a Press Release

Press Releases are structured in a way that includes seven basic elements. Here are those elements in the order in which they appear on the press release.

1. The words "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" should appear at the top (centered or left margin)
2. Your contact information
3. A Headline (think news-type headlines)
4. The Dateline includes the city your Press Release is issued from and the date issued
5. The Lead Paragraph gets the reader's attention with the key information (who, what, when, where and why)
6. The main Body of your Press Release expands on your message
7. The Recap includes biographical information about you or your company along with repeated contact information

Every Press Release ends with a unique ###. This tells the media contact that your message has truly ended and they haven't missed any pages in the transmission.

If you make your Press Release newsworthy and slant it toward the media outlet's audience, you have a great chance to make the news. And all you have to invest in this marketing and communications tool is a bit of time to pull the information together and get it into the hands of the media.