I asked some of our followers on twitter what their #1 tips are when writing a press release. What did I find? Here are my favorites:
1) Proofreading: you’d be surprised at the teeny typos that may slip through if you don’t a) take a break and come back to your release and reread it or b) have a second pair of eyes proofread it for you. Typos, grammar and formatting issues are a turn off for anyone reading content, so be careful.
2) Know your reader: write for your audience. If you’re targeting consumers, try not to be sale-sy and answer a question for them, or provide a useful solution to a daily gripe.
3) Make it newsworthy: if you’re targeting the media, ask yourself honestly, “is this news?” If it isn’t, try tying your release into a recent trending topic or giving it an unusual angle not thought of before.
4) Keep it succinct: there’s some argument on what the proper length of press releases are. Keep it as short as you can with the most relevant information possible—summarize your topic within the first few sentences so whoever is reading it can decide that it is interesting enough to read on.
What are your favorite tips for writing a press release?
