10 Tips on Writing News Releases

10 Tips on Writing News Releases

Steven Pope

Weber State University

“Press releases are a tricky thing to get right. One simple mistake -- like a poor headline or a mere typo -- can make you lose readers, and once they're gone, they're not coming back. Good press releases, however, can catch the attention of reporters, resulting in news stories and more,” said Joe Pompeo.

As a reporter I’ve read hundreds of news releases. Some of them were straight to the point; others were so verbose I threw them away before finishing the first paragraph. Media representatives can get bogged down sifting through news releases and as a result it’s in a businesses’ best interest to spend time and resources before requesting attention. Obviously an on-the-fly news conference will need very little beyond the reason, time and place, but predictable events and achievements should yield much more forethought.

For purpose of my interview I contacted Gene Kennedy, a veteran reporter who has spent the last six years in Salt Lake City working for three of the four stations. “I think you have to write your news release toward your audience. If you are releasing to newspaper, television, and internet, you probably ought to write three different ones. It’s analogous to writing a cover letter. You’d write it different it for a public relations job than you would a television job.”

While much of my paper will focus on tips writing news releases from my own perspective as a television news reporter, most of my analysis is applicable to all three mediums. In general, when sending to television you need to think visuals and possibly sound as the most important. Newspapers and the Internet can rely less on emotional stories and are often times each a different demographic altogether. Keeping this in mind may make your own business’s news release more pertinent to a particular form of coverage. And as Kennedy says, you may just want to write a different news release for all three. Here are ten tips to keep in mind when sending a news release out in general.

10 Tips for Writing News Releases

1. Be newsworthy

2. Timing

3. Get straight to the point

4. Include address and directions

5. Include contact details, including cell phone number and email

6. Outline the timeframe, whether it’s a news conference, event, or availability for interview

7. Be informative and deal with the facts

8. Write the news, then who announced it, not the other way around

9. Make it as easy for reporters to do their jobs

10. Run it by someone outside of your business, if they aren’t interested, chances are news agencies won’t be either

1. Be Newsworthy

Perhaps the most important factor in determining whether a business should release information to the media is whether it is newsworthy.

“A revised website is marketing, not real news. With all the shortness of breath and hyperbole, you’d think they had just invented the first round wheel. It should have been handled differently. Never mix marketing with news,” (Bad News Releases: Yokohama Tire Gets a Flat)

News directors would always tell me if a business wanted advertisement, they can buy a spot. If they wanted a news segment, and we were on the same page, only then would it make sense for a reporter to get involved.

Zion’s Bank would frequently send out notices that they awarded $100 scholarships to a student that week, something they did frequently. I’m not talking three or four times a year either. First off, it was ridiculous they would even think a $100 scholarship was worth a story, but the fact they sent it so often was even more laughable. Whereas, Western Governor’s University just reached 25,000 students enrolled. That is a tremendous feat considering they were at 9,000 only two years ago. The newsworthiness between the two examples is staggering. And yet, the same amount of forethought was taken to write each of the two types of releases.

“Press releases written about things that are out of the ordinary tend to capture the attention of consumers, as well as that of journalists and bloggers looking for stories to cover. While it does take some time and effort to examine a product or service closely enough to identify a unique perspective, doing so can have remarkable marketing benefits. Publishing a press release with an interesting angle is one of the best ways to break through the clutter and capture the attention of your target audience.” (Blogging PRWeb)

2. Timing

Depending on the type of entity, its size and prominence in the community, will determine how often a news release can be sent out. Universities affect thousands of students, and hundreds of faculty, and have large impacts on a community. The sheer size of a university could make it impossible to send out every tidbit of positive public relations. So being picky is important, with the realization that the more news releases sent out, the less likely each will get its deserved attention. With that said, if a slow news day hits, even the least of all newsworthy stories could get covered. So timing can make a huge impact on coverage. If you hired a new CEO for your company, but decide to release that information on the same day as a twister wrecking down town Salt Lake City, there’s no way you’d get any coverage. But on a slow news day maybe your CEO becomes a soundbite for the 5pm news, or a column in the business section of the newspaper.

“Traditional PR professionals will typically tell you Tuesday or Wednesday are the best days because it gets you out of the shadow of the weekend where readers are spending more time catching up or planning their week.” (Blogging PRWeb 2)

Big news events or certain times of the year can also be a factor in timing. For instance, Western Governor’s University receives tax dollars and incentives from the Utah Legislature. So if WGU wants to release a story about how they are helping impoverished Eskimos in Alaska, they would want to avoid releasing this information when the legislature is in session. Not only would that be determined bad press for WGU, it could cause a huge uproar, lead to loss of funding, and put WGU in the spotlight in a way that is far from positive. So it’s not only important to be timely in relationship to other events to get media attention, it’s also important to be timely to avoid negative press.

3. Get straight to the point

Staying true to this tip, I’ll get straight to the point. A news release only needs to fit on one page, with a basic pitch at the very top followed by contact information. Since releases are being sent out to multiple types of platforms, you may consider adding a short quote in the release. While TV will usually need to pickup an on-camera soundbite, newspapers could run an article without even contacting you if there’s enough basic information and a quote.

4. Include address and directions

I can tell you right now the biggest frustration I’ve had when attempting to attend a news conference is not being able to locate it. Because reporters come and go to markets so frequently a business must assume that they are dealing with someone who has no knowledge of the local area. Going out of the way to make it easy to locate the event can go a long way, especially if you want a reporter to show up on time. Giving a basic description of “it’s at the (insert iconic building/location)” is not sufficient. Saying it’s at the northwest corner of Smith Park is far better than just saying it’s at Smith Park.

It’s also important to suggest a place to park, and a route to get to the location.

5. Include contact details, including cell phone number and email

“I also hated when PR people give me office numbers and then a weekend story rolls around where they’d get better coverage but I don’t have a cell phone number to get a hold of them,” explained Kennedy.

If you want to get in the news, you have to allow for some sort of follow up. And if you don’t answer the phone the first time a media representative calls you, they’re already going to be thinking of a backup story in case yours doesn’t pan out. So be sure to be available for a phone call, and definitely give your best contact number. I highly recommend a cell phone number because you’re always attached to it. But email is also important because a news organization may not want to commit to the story quite yet, but have a question or two that a quick email could suffice.

6. Outline the timeframe, whether it’s a news conference, event, or availability for interview

Timing is everything in the news release world. And whether you’re available when the press is available is going to make all the difference in the world. Having a scheduled event with lots of notice ahead of time is key. Newsrooms can typically schedule a photographer or reporter in advance and tell you days before they are coming. The bigger the event the more notice is advisable. If it’s an on the fly press conference notice, then picking up the phone, emailing, and giving as much heads up as possible is always a good idea.

If you are pitching a story without an event, try to come up with some visuals, and give an outlined timeframe for the ability to run the story. Typically media do not like to redo a story a day after another agency has picked it up. So be smart in terms of planning out a full media day and scheduling either all of them at one time, or all individually at separate times as seen fit. Both have advantageous. But make that sort of choice before sending out the news release, you want to be able to give specific responses.

7. Be informative and deal with the facts

While suggesting a news angle is handy, staying to the facts is often the simpler and better approach. “We are hiring 100 new workers, small economic boost to our local city,” is not farfetched. While, “We are hiring 100 new workers, the depression is over!” Is beyond and exaggeration and headlines like those will deter reporters from contacting you. They want to know they are going to have a reliable source when they interview you and they deal with exaggerating businesses trying to get free advertising all the time.

“In terms of television, you have to sell them on the pictures, and on the who, what, where, when, and why. I think that happens in two ways. Bullet pointing those in simple form is sometime the best way to do it. Paragraphs as background on page two is second to that. 1. If you have some great visuals that happen in conjunction with the event. 2. A DVD with some great B-roll to go along with. I often see the General Attorney handing us some great drug bust video and that makes great TV!” Kennedy said.

Other sources agree, and yet still firmly believe that address the 5-W’s can make a solid attention getting device and lead. “A press release with a strong start is more likely to entice readers to keep reading. Make sure you answer the questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how.” (Blogging PRWeb)

8. Write the news, then who announced it, not the other way around

Most of the time the announcer of the news is NOT the reason why the news would be covered. There are exceptions. Like the Prophet of the LDS Church giving a news release. Otherwise stick to the body of the news with attribution afterward. While a header of your company is always good advertising, that’s not what I’m referring to.

A bad example: “President Joe Smith who has served as the CEO of Random Company for 30 years announces…”

A good example: “Announcement,” said President Joe Smith, who has served as the CEO of Random Company for 30 years.

9. Make it as easy for reporters to do their jobs

If you’re going out of your way to make it easy on a reporter, you’re going to get a better story. This includes feeding them or at least offering a beverage. Reporters aren’t given a lot of time in the day to complete their tasks, if you accomplish a task that they all have to do already, whether that’s offering them some b-roll, free lunch, or some quotes ahead of time on paper, that makes a huge impact on your results.

10. Run it by someone outside of your business, if they aren’t interested, chances are news agencies won’t be either

This is a simple step and most often ignored due to time constraints and/or laziness. “Something that can bolster the story is some sort of hard news angle. Or some character to focus it around if it isn’t hard news,” said Kennedy.

This is especially true to make the story interesting. If there’s a man-eating house cat involved, chances are it makes good news. I ran a story titled, “Woman: My house cat tried to kill me,” that had a character who told a vivid story. As a result CNN picked it up and it got 100,000+ website views. It was interesting. Less interesting is your latest marketing scheme to generate revenue (Or your new website, which as mentioned above, is marketing and NOT news).

News has the precarious job of entertaining across multiple demographics. Your story should have general interest across multiple demographics and not just your own customer base. That’s why following this step best tests that.

Blogging PRWeb has a great summarization of this step, Does it pass the “who cares” test? If it doesn’t, it isn’t news.

Conclusion:

Writing news releases should require forethought, planning, and gut checks. It is valuable for businesses to write to the media. It’s valuable to write news releases just for their own customers too. You can accomplish both tasks by creating your own newsroom section to your website and simultaneously increase traffic from search engines (generating more revenue), reach customer base, and get information out to the media.

“News releases can be a magnet to help improve search engine ranking for your business website. This alone is reason enough to add a newsroom feature to your website, and publish optimized news releases.

Optimized news releases, much like your other valuable content, revolves around your primary keywords and is bait for search engines and interested readers alike. Your goal is to gain more visibility, and provide useful information to your target audience,” said Pete Caputa.

But if written poorly a news release can go unnoticed, if not hurt you.

“My biggest gripe with press releases is that for basically as long as they’ve been around, they’ve contained the same damn words, rendering them completely meaningless in most cases and contexts,” said Robin Wauters.

Wauters goes on to choose 10 words/phrases that would best be left out of a news release altogether; Everything from Leading/leader to best/most/fastest/largest/biggest to cutting/bleeding edge to strategic partnership. Wauters argues that these types of words and phrases are so over used that they lose meaning. That’s why following the straight to the point, the who, what, where, when, and why tips above are so important. It forces you to simplify out that sort of fluff that will hinder your intended target from wanting to read more.

In conclusion it’s imperative to recognize the sheer power a news release can have. When NBC Nightly News aired a story about Western Governor’s University it resulted in so many page views it crashed their website. It also helped result in the doubling of the student base within a very short time period. That of course meant an increase in revenue. For some businesses pitching a news release can mean more revenue, or increasing public image.

Bibliography

Bad News Releases: Yokohama Tire Gets a Flat, 06/09/11 http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s422115662&url=http%3A%2F%2Flnkd.in%2FqDB-9C&urlhash=o_eq&pk=secure-signal-home&pp=&poster=10624828&uid=5485015163008458752&trk=NUS_UNIU_SHARE-title

Blogging PRWeb, 7 timeless press release tips from around the Web, 08/30/2010, http://www.bloggingprweb.com/tips-press-release

Blogging PRWeb, The best day to send a PRWeb press release, 07/29/2010,

http://www.bloggingprweb.com/prweb-press-release-best-day

Caputa, Pete, 4 Ways News Releases Boost SEO, 8/10/10 http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6328/4-Ways-News-Releases-Boost-SEO.aspx#ixzz1P14a3WHy

Kennedy, Gene, Interviewed reporter, 06/11/11

Pompeo, Joe, 5 Tips for Writing a Great Press Release, 09/01/2010, http://www.openforum.com/articles/5-tips-for-writing-a-great-press-release-joe-pompeo

Robin Wauters, 10 Words I Would Love To See Banned From Press Releases, 08/01/2009, http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/01/10-words-i-would-love-to-see-banned-from-press-releases/