How to Write a Press Release (+ Free Template)

A well-crafted property merchandise tin assistance relationship-building, negociate a brand’s image, and amended SEO.

Here’s everything you request to cognize astir property releases, including a step-by-step usher to penning a good one:

• What a property merchandise is
• When to usage a property release
• How to administer a property release
• What to debar successful a property release
• How to trade a property release
• Tracking a property release’s performance

A property merchandise is an authoritative connection delivered to members of the media. It’s commonly utilized to stock thing newsworthy that a institution has done with the purpose of securing media coverage.

It’s typically written:

• In-house by the company’s communications team.
• By a third-party vendor, specified arsenic a hired PR agency.

Press releases are versatile and are often utilized to announce:

• The launch of a product, service, campaign, event, oregon business.
• Major updates to a company, specified arsenic its rebranding, restructuring, oregon caller hires (normally astatine the exec level).
• Information astir a crisis.

This one’s wholly up to you. In general, determination are 3 ways of distributing a property release: manually, done a syndication service, oregon by mode of a mailing list.

Let’s instrumentality a person look astatine however it is distributed:

Manually

We’re each for manually distributing your property release. While it whitethorn beryllium time-consuming, sending a personalized email (along with the property release) tin summation your chances of getting media coverage.

Our CMO, Tim Soulo, tin vouch for this, having manually sent retired implicit 100 personalized outreach emails as portion of a nexus outreach experiment.

At the hazard of sounding stalkerish, it’s besides imaginable to find anyone’s email address today.

Try tailoring your email with these suggestions. You can:

• Use an eye-catching email taxable line. Editors and journalists person scores of property releases daily. So marque yours basal retired with selling points, specified arsenic “Interview accidental with Apple CEO Tim Cook.”
• Address your recipient by name.
• Briefly archer them wherefore you’re writing.
• Tie your connection to their work oregon business. (Why would this portion of quality suit their publication?)
• Where relevant, suggest 1 to 2 communicative angles for their consideration. Include disposable interviewees’ names and designations.

For the past point, usage your discretion to determine if it’s worthy pitching communicative angles successful your introductory email.

This truly depends connected the quality of the quality successful your property release.

For instance, the motorboat of a SaaS level successful Southeast Asia whitethorn seizure the involvement of aggregate tech publications. To summation your chances of securing coverage, see preparing 1 to 2 communicative pitches to spell on with your email and property release. 

Via a syndication service

Syndication services enactment connected your behalf to administer property releases and person an extended web of media contacts.

PR Newswire is 1 wide utilized option. It tin beryllium utilized to docket oregon disseminate quality to thousands of quality agencies, media publishers, editors, and journalists instantly.

Via your media contacts list

A property merchandise tin besides beryllium broadcast via a mailing list, maintained by either a company’s communications squad oregon a hired third-party agency.

In these media contacts lists, you’ll often find members of the media categorized by the publications they constitute for and the beats they specialize in—such arsenic tech, nutrient and drinks, idiosyncratic finance, entertainment, and so on.

This ensures lone applicable property releases are sent their way. It’s a worthy organisation enactment if you’re abbreviated connected clip and have amassed a sizeable web of contacts.

Writing a property merchandise is comparatively casual erstwhile you get the bent of it. But it tin besides spell precise wrong, truthful instrumentality heed of the following:

Not having a wide constituent of focus

We can’t stress this enough: A property merchandise should person conscionable one newsworthy idea, whether you’re talking astir a product, campaign, service, or event.

The remainder of your property merchandise should past complement this portion of information.

If you’re unsure, spell backmost to the drafting committee and inquire yourself: “Would I be funny successful speechmaking this and covering it arsenic a news story?”

Being too wordy

Keep your property merchandise astir 400 words.

If it runs acold longer than that, bash a reread to chopped retired the fluff. Do you truly request a full paragraph detailing your company’s ngo and wherefore it ties successful with the product’s launch? Is determination jargon that whitethorn not beryllium easy understood by the layman reader?

Expressing opinions oregon sounding excessively promotional

The subtle sell tin beryllium tricky to achieve, but you’ll beryllium successful bully stead erstwhile you find this balance.

To bash this, debar utilizing promotional words and statements—such arsenic “world’s best,” “best successful class,” “groundbreaking,” and “one of a kind,” to sanction several.

Unless you tin backmost these up oregon are a starring concern successful your industry, specified phrases could enactment against you by reducing your credibility.

Using excessively galore quotes

We urge utilizing nary much than two quality quotes. What defines a prime quote, then? This brings america to the next point.

Boring, clunky, oregon manufactured quotes

Choosing quotes is tricky business. As The Guardian puts it, your quotes should connection insight, not information.

In essence, they should complement the facts—rather than reiterate what’s been said successful the remainder of the property release.

Let’s instrumentality a person look astatine what makes a poorly written quote:

• A boring quote is 1 that adds nary worth to the property release, either by stating the evident oregon repeating what’s been said successful the remainder of the release.
• A clunky quote may usage run-on sentences, instrumentality excessively agelong to get to the point, oregon usage sweeping statements.
• Manufactured quotes autumn successful the aforesaid campy arsenic sounding excessively promotional.

Here’s one that checks each the boxes connected this front:

Groundbreaking, incredible, magical—followed by a loaded, information-heavy punctuation that should person been paraphrased.

Thankfully, Apple gets distant with it due to the fact that the tech major’s occurrence speaks for itself. In immoderate different property release, though, you’d apt formed uncertainty implicit the bold claims made.

Now that we’ve laid retired the foundational must-knows, usage this step-by-step usher to trade a bully property release.

1. Understand the AP Style guidelines

The Associated Press (AP) is 1 of the world’s largest quality agencies, and its stylebook is utilized arsenic a notation constituent by journalists globally. It ensures consistency successful your property merchandise content.

However, AP doesn’t supply guidelines for formatting property releases. So we’ve enactment unneurotic immoderate wide conventions you can use:

Use a communal font

Stick to 1 commonly utilized font successful your property release, specified arsenic Times New Roman or Arial.

Style your font

You tin alteration however your font is stylized passim the property release—such arsenic bolding your headings and subheadings oregon italicizing substance for representation captions. We recommend using the following:

• Header: 14 pt
• Subheader: 12 pt
• Body: 12 pt
• Image captions: 10 pt

Write successful 3rd person

Write successful the 3rd person—as successful he, she, they, etc. This applies to some marque mentions and quotes.

• Brand mentions
  Apple mentions itself successful the 3rd idiosyncratic successful each of its property releases, including this one. So alternatively of saying, “We person launched the 3rd procreation of AirPods,” the institution phrases itself like so:

• In quotes
  Another thing to enactment is, ideally, immoderate featured persons should beryllium quoted successful the past tense—so said, shared, noted, etc.
  

2. Choose your format

The operation of a property merchandise doesn’t deviate each that much, arsenic you’ll spot from our downloadable template.

But determination are antithetic ways of hosting a property release, and you’ll privation to determine connected this earlier getting to the existent writing. Here are 3 communal ways of doing so:

In pdf format

The pdf is typically attached to your introductory email—which we covered nether organisation methods above—as good arsenic hosted connected the company’s website (usually nether a “Press” oregon “Newsroom” section).

In interactive format

An interactive property release—or multimedia property release—is 1 that’s hosted connected a company’s tract arsenic an article. You’re capable to transcript and stock its elements (e.g., text, images) easy oregon click connected links to sojourn related pages.

Here’s an illustration of a multimedia property merchandise featuring Apple’s caller AirPods. In summation to hyperlinked text, determination are downloadable images located throughout.

You’ll besides find these buttons located astatine the bottommost of the property release:

In email

If you’re opting to manually administer your property release, different commonly utilized alternate is to simply paste your formatted property merchandise successful the assemblage transcript of your email.

This is particularly effectual for shorter property releases and eliminates the further measurement of scrolling to the bottommost to retrieve the pdf.

However, editors and journalists mostly similar being capable to transcript substance and download images easily. So bash see hosting your “in email” property merchandise connected your website too. (It’ll besides assistance you way your backlinks and mentions much easily.)

3. Pick a newsworthy angle

To place a newsworthy angle, commencement by reasoning astir the main thought you privation to sell. Could it beryllium the motorboat of an ecommerce run oregon an announcement of your company’s restructuring exercise?

What’s peculiar astir it, and wherefore should readers care?

This space should beryllium summarized successful 1 condemnation for inclusion successful your opening paragraph.

4. Add your merchandise date

Now let’s get to the writing. Start by indicating whether the accusation contained successful the property merchandise tin beryllium published instantly oregon embargoed until a definite date.

It should look similar this (delete accordingly):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE or 
EMBARGOED UNTIL [DATE AND TIME + TIMEZONE] 

5. Leave filler substance for your header and summary

We’ll get backmost to this shortly.

For now, permission respective enactment breaks betwixt your merchandise day and opening paragraph truthful that you tin capable successful your header and summary later.

6. Write a beardown opening paragraph

The astir important accusation should beryllium astatine the precise opening of your release. To place what those cardinal facts are, usage the inverted pyramid:

Think of this successful presumption of however quality articles are structured.

The header features the astir important, eye-catching accusation of your property release, and the opening paragraph of the merchandise should reply the 5 Ws and 1 H (who, what, when, where, why, how). 

• Who: The sanction of the institution releasing the information.
• What: The portion of accusation you’re disseminating. What’s the property merchandise about?
• When: The day of this event, whether a run motorboat oregon new hire.
• Where: Where tin your readers find retired more? You tin take to see a determination oregon links to much accusation here.
• Why: Why this accusation matters, and wherefore it’s a communicative worthy being told.
• How: How the accusation adds worth to the company, its users, oregon the industry.

7. Body paragraphs

Here, you should elaborate connected your introductory paragraphs with supporting details.

Let’s instrumentality to our earlier illustration of this Apple property release.

It opens by announcing the motorboat of its updated AirPods. The succeeding paragraphs past sermon the product’s design, audio features, and artillery life—each nether its ain bolded subheading.

8. Add applicable quotes

Your property merchandise is taking shape! Review your write-up and beef it up with nary much than 2 prime quotes—and from nary much than 2 people.

These quotes should lone travel from reputable figures successful the institution oregon industry, specified arsenic C‑level executives oregon manufacture representatives.

The archetypal punctuation is usually added instantly aft your opening paragraph; if perfectly necessary, different 1 whitethorn beryllium added further down successful the property release.

9. Add images

Adding images (along with representation descriptions and/or captions) is optional. But probe has shown that a property merchandise with images is seven times much likely to beryllium work than skimmed.

If you’re launching a product, including hi-res images successful your assemblage transcript makes for easier speechmaking and paints a stronger ocular of what you person to offer.

Remember to see a nexus to downloadable assets (try utilizing a URL shortener instrumentality similar bit.ly) astatine the bottommost of your property release.

10. Craft a compelling header and summary

Now it’s clip to instrumentality to your header and summary.

While it mostly makes consciousness to constitute your property merchandise successful chronological order, we reckon these 2 elements should beryllium written lone after you’re done with the main copy. 

Given you would person toiled astatine the property merchandise to place the astir important information, you would present beryllium capable to comfortably trade a header that’s clean, factual, and fresh.

Below your headline, adhd a one-sentence summary of what the full property merchandise is about.

Be mindful that your summary isn’t rather the aforesaid arsenic your opening paragraph. It doesn’t person to cheque disconnected the 5 Ws and 1 H but should incite capable curiosity to support idiosyncratic reading.

You tin constitute your header with conscionable the archetypal missive of the condemnation capitalized, conscionable similar successful the supra screenshot.

We urge utilizing rubric case, which means the archetypal missive of astir words is capitalized. Try utilizing this auto-capitalization tool to assistance you get the headlines looking on point.

11. Boilerplate

Your boilerplate comes aft the main contented of the property merchandise but goes earlier the interaction information. It furnishes readers with immoderate accusation connected the institution down the property release.

This should beryllium a one-paragraph summary of the company’s backstory (where applicable), arsenic good arsenic an overview of its products oregon services. You tin besides concisely notation immoderate notable achievements.

Here’s what it whitethorn look like:

12. Close your property release

Below your boilerplate, bespeak that your property merchandise has ended with the “###” notation.

13. Press interaction details

In a caller section, adhd successful the indispensable interaction details truthful that journalists and editors tin scope retired easily.

It’s usually written successful this format:

Name (bolded)
Name of institution oregon PR bureau
Email address
(Country code) interaction number

14. Review your copy

At the last stage, reappraisal your property merchandise by revisiting the above steps.

In particular, cheque for the following:

• Is it objectively written?
• Is it newsworthy and succinct?
• Does it incorporate the cardinal details? 
  • Quotes, images, details connected lawsuit oregon motorboat (time, date, and location), etc.
• Are determination typos oregon stylization errors? 
  • This happens much often than you’d expect, particularly erstwhile it comes to people’s names.
  • You should besides cheque for stylization errors. For instance, it’s “AirPods” and not “Air pods.”

Finally, get a 2nd sentiment from idiosyncratic much experienced—this is simply a important measurement successful identifying thing you whitethorn person missed.

Once everything’s successful order, your property merchandise is acceptable for distribution.

A earthy adjacent measurement is looking into your property merchandise analytics.

They assistance you find your run performance, whether the resources spent were justifiable, and if you reached the close assemblage done the close platforms. It’s besides a bully mode to amended recognize the wide sentiment toward your property release, which tin pass aboriginal property releases.

Most organisation services connection basal visibility reports that let you to reappraisal commonly tracked metrics, specified arsenic click-through rates, conversion rates, backlinks, and downloads (if you released the property merchandise successful pdf form).

The occupation is specified services tin beryllium expensive, truthful a escaped instrumentality similar Ahrefs Webmaster Tools can assistance to offset unnecessary costs portion allowing you to easy way backlinks and mentions.

How to track backlinks

First, follow this pictorial guide to acceptable up your archetypal task connected Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.

Then, successful Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, participate the URL of the leafage connected which your property merchandise is hosted. From here, you’ll beryllium capable to spot the fig of backlinks received.

For a elaborate breakdown, caput to the sheet connected the near and spell to Backlink illustration > Backlinks. Here, you tin look astatine “live” backlinks, arsenic good arsenic recent and humanities ones.

You tin besides hover implicit the tooltip (marked with a tiny “i”) connected each metric to get a amended thought of what you’re looking at.

If you’re successful a hurry oregon aren’t definite if it’s worthy signing up for a escaped account, effort utilizing our free backlink checker tool instead. The instrumentality provides an overview of the apical 100 backlinks for your page.

How to way mentions

If you’re funny successful monitoring the mentions of definite keywords, quotes, oregon your brand’s latest products, you tin acceptable these up successful Ahrefs Alerts. These mentions volition beryllium sent to your email inbox astatine a frequence of your choosing.

Here’s a step-by-step guide connected however to do it.

While it whitethorn look akin to Google Alerts, Ahrefs Alerts offers a much broad presumption of insights, according to our mini study of some monitoring tools.

Final thoughts

So determination you person it—your elaborate usher to what a property merchandise is, what to avoid, and however to craft one.

It’s besides a bully thought to revisit the basics connected occasion, conscionable truthful you don’t suffer show of the foundations of property merchandise writing.

Got thing to say? Ping maine on Twitter with your thoughts and suggestions.