Small business owners who can write their own professional-quality press releases can achieve success at free placement in local or national publications or websites. Reporters may contact you not only for the current news item you are promoting but might save your release to reach out to you as an expert in your field for future broader stories.
Use the tips below to create a press release sent via email that will garner results.
Step 1: Logo and Contact Information
The top of a release should have your company logo. Under the logo should be the media contact information or the contact information can be placed at the very end of the release; both locations allow for quick access to spot who to reach out to for more information. It should be written this way, flush left:
Media Contact: (in bold)
Name
Email
phone number
Step 2: News Hook, Headline, and Sub-Headline
Only send press releases when you have legitime relevant news in order to instill credibility with reporters. Examples of news can include adding a new product, expanding or moving locations, adding a significant staff person, and sales or promotions. Your headline should focus on the news and the name of your company in a few words. It should be centered and be in bold larger font type. The sub-headline is the line under the headline, also centered. It can be longer expanding more on the news, but stick to a single line and put it in italics.
Step 3: Photo
Insert a photo or multiple small photos centered directly under the sub-headline. If the photos are not interesting or do not relate in any way to the news, do not include them in the release. However, a news release with photos usually adds interest for the reporter who is already thinking of artwork for their article.
Step 4: Dateline
The body of the release should start with the dateline in bold and flush left. It should include the city and state of your main headquarters in all capital letters followed by the full date, including month, day and year that you send out the release inside parenthesis and then followed by a dash.
CITY, STATE (Month day, year) – Start story
Step 5: Lead Paragraph
Your first sentence and lead paragraph (which starts on the same line as the dateline) need to pack in all the news with the assumption that most readers will not read past the first paragraph. This follows the traditional “who, what, where, when, how” news style. Include the name of your company in the first line and be sure it has a hyper-link to your website so reporters can quickly find out more about your company if they want to do so.
Step 6: Supporting Quote
Back up the news with an interesting quote that also provides additional information from the president or key executive of your company. Include that person’s full name and title and the company name again.
Step 7: More Details
The rest of the release can offer more details to enrich the news item. The release should be limited to one to two pages in total. Include an ending paragraph that invites reporters to reach out for more information by providing the company website with a hyperlink again.
Step 8: Boiler Plate
All press releases from your company should end with the same paragraph describing your company and once again providing the website, as well as Facebook page or other social media links. It should include an About “Name of Company” in bold and underlined as a subhead and the descriptive paragraph under it. Under the boilerplate, center three number signs (###) to signify the end of the press release.