Are you looking for a short, concise and easy-to-understand guide on writing effective press releases? Well, here it is. This 10-minute guide contains several tips from Craig Martin, an experienced journalist & freelance writer.

1. How to write
effective press
releases
Courtesy of
experienced journalist & freelance writer,
Craig Martin
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You
are free to share, distribute, adapt and/or make commercial use of
the work, BUT ONLY when you attribute the work AND share any
altered work under the same (or a similar) type of license.

2. Press Release. **For Immediate Release**
Press Announcement. **Media Alert**
For the most part, these are all pretty much the same thing – you
want to get your message out to the general public, the media
and/or a specific corner of the marketplace.
These announcements can provide a much larger return in your
investment compared to other advertising methods. Promoting
your products (or services) in a cost-effective manner can be the
catalyst that pushes your organization to a new level of success.
A concise, efficient and newsworthy press release can begin to
spark that momentum, so here are several tips that can turn
your current press release into a successful one:

3. Define your target audience before writing
or revising the press release.
Are you writing to the general public or to a specific customer
base? Some press releases are a muddled combination of generic
information with technical jargon that doesn't have any specific
reason for why there's an announcement. But, worse off, they don't
indicate who it's for.
Think of it this way – would you use crayons and stuffed animals
to explain the recent earnings report to the Board of Directors
at a Fortune 500 company? Except for a toy store company, it's
very doubtful. So why would you make a generic announcement if
you're aiming for doctors or lawyers or construction workers? Being
specific will help you target the right readers.

4. Make sure your press release has a real,
significant newsworthy element to it.
If you look at a free PR distribution website, I can guarantee you
that there's some sort of health pill or vitality medication within the
first 20 releases. But there's no newsworthy element to it.
No special sale, no approval by the government, nothing even
close to being newsworthy.. just another generic release for
Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex and/or Baidu to eventually discover.
If all you want to do is flood the marketplace with garbage, then:
•
your company will be recognized as a spammer, and
•
potential customers might believe the hype more than the
actual product or service – meaning that they could buy it
only one time before moving on to your competition.

5. If you're unveiling a new product or announcing a new service,
then your press release is definitely newsworthy.
Did your company just launch a new website or open a new
building? Ehhh.. your announcement could have some significance
to the media, especially if it impacts the local community or your
website is a major player in a particular industry.
But don't struggle with creating some newsworthy hook to
write a press release that's blatantly an advertisement.
I've personally rejected potential clients who were only looking to
“announce” health pills or get-rich-quick schemes when there
wasn't a single legitimate reason to have a press release. Believe
me.. no one will read these type of “press releases” and newspapers
hate getting them. Just let it go for now.

6. Use between 400 and 700 words in your
press release.
Many legitimate press release distribution sites – such as PRWeb –
will only accept announcements longer than 300 words to avoid
short, non-informative blurbs that can spam their networks.
But don't ask a writer to create tremendously long announcements
that are over 1,000 or 2,000 words. You're better off spending your
money to put an advertorial in a magazine or a newspaper.
Press releases are to inform readers in a concise manner, as well
as create interest in your product, service or company. They are
intended to tempt a potential customer or a member of the media
to learn more about a newsworthy event – a 2,000-word “press
release” only pleases search engines, not readers.

7. Use the WWWW summary for the first
paragraph.
The who, what, where, why and (sometimes) how – the basic
elements in a newspaper reporter's arsenal. In fact, anyone wants
to see those details in the first section of most reading materials.
Tell who (in your target audience) why they should care about
what you're offering. Try to do that within the first sentence or two.
Quick, concise and informative are three key characteristics of
an effective press release. You can provide some history, an
anecdote and/or detailed information, but this should be done in
the body of the text. If a particular reader decides to continue past
the first paragraph, then it's likely that the reader is interested in
your product or service – and could be a future customer.

8. Use informative quotes to personalize the
release and break up the text.
A continuous flow of detailed information can seem more like a
technical document or a company's annual report, not an
announcement for your customers. A quote interrupts the flow, but
also connects with new customers who like learning more details
about your products or services from a member of the company.
Plus, quotes allow you to restate a key point without sounding
too repetitive. Don't use fluffy statements either.
“Oh, it's a great product,” said CEO Boring McBoredom.
Please.. just describe it to your audience in everyday terms and try
to connect with people who don't know what you do.

9. Give a strong, solid ending that repeats
the key details (and/or a call to action).
Similar to a cliffhanger episode on television, you don't want to
end a press release with a question or “to be continued”.
An awkward, confusing ending to the announcement just makes it
like you wasted the reader's time.. and good luck getting them to
pay attention to another press release from you again.
Provide a website link, a phone number, a date, contact information
and so on. You can just state “for more information, please...” with
the pertinent details.
Simple, basic and concrete information – that's pretty much all
people want to get from a press release.

10. Here are three common questions that I've heard as a freelance
business writer.. perhaps they will shed light on similar thoughts.
What's the story with these “free” PR websites?
Well, posting a release with the basic, no-frills format is free.
But adding links to various website pages might cost extra. Same
thing if you want the release sent to actual media organizations.
Often, the “free distribution” means that your news release will be
placed on one massive website, which should list your release (and
others) if someone searches for certain keywords.
Your competition could be using this method or have been using it
for quite some time. However, remember that one press release

11. among millions of others reduces the chances that your press
release will be read by anyone but a few search engines.
It's your choice to pay for a legitimate press release service, such as
eReleases. But the most important factor is making sure that your
release is concise, meaningful and newsworthy – otherwise, it's just
an advertisement that everyone will ignore within five seconds.
What sort of quotes are good to use in a press release?
Basically, it should be anything that supports your key reason for
making this press release, but with everyday words.
If you're having a tricky time with this, then you might need to
question if your press release is newsworthy or an advertisement.

12. “Our blah blah blah is the best in the market and you can rely on it
for blah blah blah” – now that's just a weak quote.
Again, don't use generic, fluffy statements. If your quote is aimed
toward a newsworthy purpose, then you can tweak it to read better.
“Our blah blah has just been awarded as the top blah blah in the
market today, so we are proud to announce the development of
our latest blah blah blah” – now there we go!
By adding the recent award and mentioning the new development
in the works, you've made a significant improvement with the
previous quote and made it relevant to the overall message.
In addition, this type of quote also adds some credibility to the
organization, especially if it's a significant achievement or award.

13. Should I hire a professional to write my press release?
Small business owners and large marketing departments don't
always have the time to create a well-written press release. Hiring a
professional freelancer is a sensible way to promote your business
or organization in a cost-effective and timely manner.
Delegating the task to a co-worker may be more trouble than it's
worth – not necessarily due to poor writing, but to avoid other
issues. You could use too much in-house jargon, there may be
added pressure to make it perfect for the boss or this task ends up
getting completed later than intended (if it gets finished at all).
A professional writer, especially an experienced journalist who has
worked under tight deadlines, is comfortable with this type of
situation. With time to research and gain some background

14. information that conforms nicely to the client's message, a
freelance writer (like myself) can deliver a press release within a few
days – and, if you're in a rush, it could be done within 48 hours!
Hiring a freelancer will allow you – and your staff – to focus on
critical items that are needed to prepare for a particular
announcement. And the return on your smart investment can be
substantial when that press release is written for a reasonable fee.
But please keep in mind that writing is a skill that can take years of
development, similar to carpenters, artists, electricians and actors.
Professional writers deserve a fair wage for creating high-quality
material. Remember the old phrase: you'll get what you pay for.
Thanks for reading this guide, courtesy of Craig Martin.
And best wishes with your business or organization!