Get it Read One word at a Time: How to Write an Effective Press Release

Contributor: Zendy Labs

A great press release should do one thing: catch a journalist’s eye, and convince them to write about you. However, most journalists receive a huge amount of press releases in their inbox, so they’re forced to adopt strict guidelines as to what they will actually consider good prospects and take the time to read. To give your press release the best chance of reeling in a journalist’s attention, you should focus on two things: understanding what a journalist is looking for (and what will make them instantly delete your email) and writing in a simple, powerful, straightforward way. Like Hemingway. More on that later.

Knowing your audience: Understanding a journalist’s 9-5.

Journalists are busy people. They are bombarded daily with people pitching them story ideas, interview leads, press releases and more. A major part of their job is developing a good intuition of which stories will do well and interest readers, and which will dive. To write an effective press release that actually gets read, you should keep in mind the following do’s and don’ts. Doing so will help you write as attractive a press release as possible (and avoid instant deletion!)

Things you should avoid like the plague.

• Sounding desperate. Nothing will get your press release sent on a one-way ticket to the trash bin faster than this common mistake. You want to convince the reader that your story is interesting enough to publish on its own merits, not beg and plead for press.
• Using caps, bold or hyperbole anywhere in the release. They all scream desperate, and few journalists will take the time to read past them.
• Generic subject lines. Do you know how many emails a journalist gets daily with titles like “press release”, “article idea”, or “interview opportunity?” Too many to count. Do you know how many they read? Few to none.
• Misleading subject lines. Don’t use an outrageous claim or otherwise misleading subject line to gain attention. Not only is it dishonest, it will anger the reader as soon as they discover your press release is not what they expected.
• Bother journalists. After you’ve sent your press release out, don’t send a follow up email the same day, call the journalist, etc. If they are interested, they will let you know.

Avoiding these should allow your press release to pass the journalist’s initial deletion reaction. To get them to fully read your press release however, there are a few more things you can do to boost your chances.