A press release is simply a document announcing a particular event, sent to one or many journalists/news media.
There are standard mediums and formats used. Press releases can be sent directly to editors, and/or submitted to paid or free distribution sites.
Recently, given that press releases are accessible directly by the target customer, they can (should?) be written more like blog posts: more frequently, and more colloquially.
Focus on being or doing newsworthy things first. Focus on creating good content.
A press release is just another channel to distribute your news, not an end goal. Never set out to “write a press release” for its own sake.
When writing a release, (or anything else), focus on the content first. The format & style is secondary and distracting.
That said, formatting according to convention can help you get noticed and read.
Press releases on their own will not be enough to rise above the noise, and land major press.
In most cases they are more like directory submissions: it should be done a few times early on, and may result in some SEO benefits (though these are said to be decreasing in relevance), but isn’t worth relying on.
If you are itching to get featured on a particular site, approaching the editors directly with something that helps them is often a better tactic.
Before anything else, answer honestly:
The more concretely you can answer this, the easier it will be to find appropriate outlets for this news, and the more likely those sites are to actually use it.
Commercial sites are not free, but worth considering given the potential cost/traffic ratio for a well written release. The simple fact that your release will appear on Google & Yahoo News, etc is worth it.
I’ve learned one important thing about press releases. A great press release is not something that prompts a journalist to write an article; rather, a great press release is published as an article.
- Copyblogger
Short, direct, attention-grabbing. Aim to replicate those blog post titles that you just can’t help clicking on.
Get to the point, quickly.
Don’t just include the contact info and disappear… be contactable.
Include several relevant links. Primarily for your readers (be they end users or journalists), and second for search engines.
PRlog requires you to create an account, and a Business profile. The format is as follows:
30 - 100 characters
(optional - Do not repeat headline or body)