How to Write a Successful Press Release

Press releases first came about over 100 years ago when Ivy Lee, the father of modern PR, invented it for Pennsylvania Railroad, a client of his at the time.

In the Internet Age, this form of PR has taken a whole new twist, as it's not just professional journalists who need this information, but also the multitude of bloggers and web writers.

Hell, if you can catch a few of the Joe Public on the way too, then all the better: Over one billion internet users are not to be sniffed at.

As editor of Press Release 001 I read dozens of submissions every day, but unfortunately most people who write these items are not familiar with the press release format.

Hopefully, I'll be able to give you some tips so as to make sure you maximise the return for your time and labour.

Firstly, make sure you have something to announce. This may be a new website, a customer survey or an unusual and striking new product line.

You need to have some meat in your press release. Don't just write fluff as it will only read as spam.

When you write a press release do the following. Put yourself in the shoes of a blogger or journalist: would you write a story based on the information that is in your press release? What is in your story that you, if you were a journalist or blogger, would be able to write about? Are you announcing anything? Are you announcing something of interest? If the answer is no - and I tell you now that is the case with the majority of items submitted here - then re-write it, or write a new one.

This is the main point to remember before you write anything: The point of the communique has to be based on a juicy subject. Don't give journalists or bloggers a bone, given them a nice juicy PR steak!

Use your title well. The great majority of recipients will only ever look at the title in their RSS reader. You need to catch their attention and get them to read the rest. You don't want anything too abstract like "Success Story Of Louise & Steve" (a real example of a press release title submitted to Press Release 001).

What type of success? Who are Louise and Steve? This titles tells the reader nothing about the content.

Make your announcement in the title. For instance, if you are publishing the results of a customer survey about your industry, then explicitly declare that in the title. If you are launching a new website, state it clearly first and especially what industry it Is part of.

As for the body itself, always write in the third person. Keep the language formal and concise. Don't waffle or the reader will soon lose interest. Start with an introduction that states again the information presented in the title but this time with more details.

So if you are publicising a customer survey results then provide more flesh such as who was surveyed, when it happened and a very brief clue to the conclusion of the results pooled.

Always write in short paragraphs and make sure you include a quote from either yourself or the employer or another relevant employee.

Finish it off with clear contact information.

Your press release is intended for a journalist or blogger, but it will go out across the internet after you have submitted it to a free press release distribution service.

With this in mind, it doesn't do any harm to work some keywords into the item, but don't over do it and always, always remember you are writing for human beings and not search engine bots.