Whitepaper 7: Press release writing and distribution

A step-by-step guide for small and medium businesses

July 2007

Smaller organisations often have high expectations when it comes to marketing. They need value for
money when spending on any kind of promotional activity. They also appreciate that more and more
business is coming from the web – they know the one way smaller companies can compete with the big
boys is to be ‘visible’ online.

Writing and issuing press releases scores on both counts. The cost of researching, writing and
distributing press releases is low compared to other forms of marketing such as advertising and direct
mail. When it works well you can get noticeable returns. And if you issue press releases regularly and
make sure they are available online, they can help drive traffic to your website.

The humble press release may seem like an old-fashioned communications technique, but in fact it has
seen a dramatic resurgence. Pragmatic media relations people appreciate the reality that a well-written
release can get excellent results. And with today’s online distribution bringing down the cost of delivery
and adding a new dimension to the press release as a way of boosting website traffic, it’s a publicity
method nobody can afford to ignore.

Smaller organisations can use press releases to generate the kind of publicity that would cost
thousands of pounds to achieve with other forms of marketing. Media coverage helps to generate sales,
improve your status among existing customers, aid recruitment and attract investors. And the fact that
press releases can help boost website traffic makes them even more effective for smaller businesses.
Even if you do no other public relations activity, it can be well worthwhile to issue a press release every
now and then. It’s unlikely that every press release will result in media coverage, but if they’re done
properly each one can enhance your online ‘visibility’.

The evolution of a good press release

This is a quick step-by-step guide to the process you will need to go through to produce an effective
press release. Read the rest of this guide and use this as a checklist.

1. Consider your ultimate audience – the people you want to reach with your message. This will
help you decide which media outlets to target and who should be on your ‘press list’
2. Talk to your colleagues, find out what’s going on that could make a story. The more people you
talk to the better
3. Get your facts and quotes together. Look for strong facts about your company or product,
perhaps something relating to a major issue of the day
4. Write your press release. Put the best bit first and keep it short – 400 words is more than
enough
5. Make sure your headline is snappy and makes the point. Write it in sentence case
6. Put your contact details at the end of the release. It’s amazing how many people forget this

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A step-by-step guide for small and medium businesses, P 1 of 11
Part 7 of the Public Relations Whitepaper Series from DWPub
© Daryl Willcox Publishing 2007 +44 (0)845 370 7777
 7. Get your release proof-read, by at least two people
8. Send your release in the body of an email to target press contacts. Don’t include attachments in
the email
9. Submit your release to a reputable online press release wire service. Make sure your primary
keyword is in the headline and in the release as a text link

The starting point

OK – put your pens down, or shut down your computers. The start of the press release writing process
is no time to actually start writing.

One of the most common complaints from journalists about the press releases they get is that the
people writing those releases haven’t thought about the ultimate consumer of their communications –
the reader. A journalist’s job is almost entirely dictated by the whims of the reader. The objective of any
publication, whether online, print, trade or consumer, is to appeal to a closely defined audience. Think
about the audience you want to appeal to, and the sort of publications serving this audience. Get into
their collective mind, and you’ll create ‘copy’ (that’s journalist speak for a bunch of words drawn
together to form all or part of an article) that appeals to the right people.

Start to think about your audience right from the start of the whole process. As you get better at writing
press releases you’ll do this automatically. If you have several different target audiences, you can even
consider drafting subtly different releases for each sector. This maximises the chance of your story
being picked up by publications with widely different audiences.

Don’t start writing yet

We’re still not at the point of writing the press release – so get your finger off your PC’s ‘on’ button. You
need talk to your colleagues.

Before you can have a press release you need a story. ‘Stories’ are what journalists normally call
‘articles’. As the whole point of this process is to get journalists to write something in particular, the
language of PR (or better, media relations) closely follows the language of journalism. So we need a
good story.

What makes a good story? To work that one out we have to think about what journalists want to write
about. Journalism students usually spend a whole term studying what I am going to explain here in one
paragraph.

As a general rule, good stories are unexpected. Not interesting, unexpected. If you’ve ever wondered
why much news we see is bad it’s because we generally expect good things to happen in life. Good
things are rarely unexpected, so they rarely make the news. A story also needs to be current. People
aren’t interested in things that happened ages ago, unless the event is being revealed for the first time.

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So look around your organisation and see if you can spot the things that are unexpected and have
never been revealed before to the wider public. There are a few things that can support a story – ‘boost
its news value’ a news editor might say. These things, very roughly speaking, are sex, power and
money. The more people affected by a story, the better its value. Celebrities boost news value.
Obviously, some things are never going to be sexy but if you’re story has got such an angle then play it
up. Often in the trade press a good way in is to look out for hot topics in a particular industry. Look for a
topical application of your product – for example a green or socially responsible aspect – or a customer
that is already in the limelight. Don’t be ashamed to piggy-back the issues of the day.

Talk to your colleagues and listen to what’s going on. Think of a list of things that may be strong enough
to make a good press release. And if your boss insists on dictating the subject of your press release, try
thinking around it to see if there is a better ‘angle’. Here are some story-finding tips:
• Talk to your colleagues
• Talk to your customers
• Look for milestones – the first, the 1,000th for example
• With products, it’s often the benefit for the customer rather than the product function
that is the story
• Consider surveying your customer base and use the results as a story
• Think laterally – could your story provoke interest in other industry sectors?
• Tap into an existing hot topic
• Consider relevant forthcoming events and time releases to coincide with them

Nope – you still can’t start writing yet

So, you’ve worked out a great story, now it’s time to start writing, yes? Nope. Once you’ve decided on
your story there are a few things you need to collect before you can write your release. You can
obviously add things in later on but it’s best to start with as much in the bag as possible before writing.
The things you need are the building blocks of any story – facts and quotes. Facts and quotes are what
journalists use to make stories so that’s what we need to give them.

Facts are quantifiable definites. How big, how much, how long – that kind of thing. Facts are the most
fundamental part of any story. You should aim to answer five questions - the “who, what, where, when
and why”. If any of these answers are missing you reduce the chances of getting coverage.

Quotes are the colourful, subjective bits of the story. This is where you can attribute a colourful string of
nice but otherwise meaningless adjectives to your spokesperson. They don’t need to have actually said
anything – by all means make quotes up (your boss should sign it off anyway), but quotes are often
better if they are ‘for real’ and in colloquial (but grammatically correct) language. Don’t go mad on
quotes, you only need a couple.

OK – you can start writing now

You’ve thought about your audience and the media outlets (publications, radio and TV programmes,
websites) that serve it, you’ve identified your story and you’ve gathered your facts and quotes. You may
be wondering by now why this paper is called ‘How to write a press release’ when it should be ‘How to
build a press release’. Well, if it had been called ‘How to build a press release’ you may not have read it.
There’s a lesson there somewhere.

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Anyway, now’s the time to fire up your word processing application. But where do you start? Your mind
is probably swimming with facts, quotes and images of your reader. It’s a confusing time.

Fortunately most journalism, and therefore press release writing, is very formulaic. The first thing to do is
to think about all the facts you’ve collected and choose the ‘best bit’. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound
very scientific, but what I mean by the best bit is the most unexpected bit, the most newsworthy bit. Put
another way, the juiciest bit of the story. This will form the basis of your headline and your first
paragraph. You can write the headline now, if you like, or you can write it when you’ve finished the
release. More about the headline later.

Your first paragraph should include the best bit of the story and be grammatically correct (I don’t know
why but many people write the first paragraph in headline style - avoid this tendency if it creeps up on
you).

The second paragraph should be on a new line and include the next best bit of the story. Take note -
the press release, like any news story in the media, does not follow a chronological order. Instead it
starts with the best bit, then the next best bit and so on. This means you’re more likely to catch the
attention of the journalist (this is obviously critically important) and they can stop reading whenever they
like without missing the best bits of the story. Bear in mind journalists get potentially hundreds of
releases every week (the national press get hundreds every day), so unless you can grab their attention
in a few seconds your release will be relegated to the recycle bin.

Three or more paragraphs down is where your quote from your spokesperson should be. This should
be colourful, but not too long and flowery. Try to use real language – the way people speak, but without
introducing grammatical errors.

Further down the release should be the detail. Answer any of the who, what, where, when and why
questions that you haven’t in the first few paragraphs.

A note on style – you’re not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize when you write a press release. It’s about
communicating effectively and efficiently, not about showing off with language. Don’t use a complex,
pompous word when a simple one will do. You may think ‘clever’ language will sound better, but
nothing is more likely to put a journalist off. And avoid all temptation to ‘puff’ your story with superlatives
or hyperbole. Journalists either laugh or cringe every time they see the word phrase “the world’s
leading…”.

A note on length - press releases do not need to be long. If you have all the facts in there and one or
two juicy quotes and it only runs to 300 words then that’s all you need. One way to keep your release
short is to keep your sentences short. In any case, longer sentences are very hard to understand.
Right at the end of your release is one of the most important components. This is where you put your
contact details. You need to put your name, your company name, your phone number and your email
address. If you’re really keen put your mobile number here too – many publications and broadcast
organisations work odd hours, late into the night or weekends, and you don’t want to miss an
opportunity just because a researcher on a radio programme couldn’t call you to check a fact before
they went on air.

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If your story involves a third party – as in the case of two companies doing something newsworthy
together – then include their contact details too. In these kinds of stories it is critical that you get the
other organisation to agree the press release before you send it to anyone.

Once you’ve written your release read it through. This may sound obvious but it’s amazing how many
releases are issued that contain spelling, grammatical and factual errors. Get someone else to check it
too (chances are your boss will want to read it anyway, but they won’t necessarily be good proof-
readers).

There is no absolute need to have pictures available, but it can help as sometimes the availability of a
good picture could mean the difference between getting coverage or not. Do not email pictures (or any
attachments for that matter) to journalists unless they ask for them – if pictures are available simply
make sure you mention this in the release. Online press release wires sometimes allow you to attach
pictures. This is very worthwhile as it can attract attention to the release as well as informing the media
that a picture is available.

The online visibility dimension

Something making big waves in marketing at the moment is search engine optimisation (SEO). What
the hell is SEO? Don’t be afraid of this rather obscure acronym. You don’t need to be a sandal-wearing,
long-haired technical boffin to understand how SEO is relevant to your press release and how you can
make the most of it.

There are two sides to SEO. Firstly, if your press release is on the internet and it includes a link to your
own website, it will help drive traffic to your site. People find your release, then click through to the site.
The effectiveness of this depends on where your release is available on the internet (its visibility) and
how relevant the release is to the website it links to.

Secondly, press releases on the internet can actually boost your traffic direct from search engines. One
of the ways search engines like Google decide how high up on a list of search results a particular
website should appear is by the number of other websites that link to it. Therefore, the more links to
your website you have from other sites, the better your ‘search engine rankings’ will be. And the better
your search engine rankings, the more visits your website is likely to get.

Here comes the tricky bit. The important thing here is keywords. The way search engines associate
particular keywords with your site, and therefore push you up the results list when people search on
those keywords, is if those keywords are used in ‘text links’ (also known as ‘embedded links’) direct to
your site. So, just having your web address in a press release is OK, but it’s even better to have specific
keywords linking to your site.

Even if this all sounds a bit like gobbledegook to you, all you have to remember is to work out your
organisation’s most important keywords and make sure you include one of them in each press release.
You can still include your plain website address in the contact details at the bottom. Note that when we
say ‘keyword’ in this context we really mean ‘keyword or key phrase’ – a keyword could be more than
one word, for example a keyword relating to this whitepaper could be ‘writing press releases’.

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A note on keywords and good SEO practice

Making sure your press release works for SEO is known as ‘search optimising’. There is a huge
difference between a release that has been optimised well and one that has been optimised badly.
Beware – overdoing it can actually have a negative effect! Here are some tips for good press release
optimisation:

• Only include one or two embedded (text) links in each release. The recommended
number is just one. By all means repeat the keywords a few times, but only one should
be a link. You can call this your ‘primary’ keyword for that release. If there are too many
links in a press release search engines will at best ignore the release and at worst
down-rate the website the release is on
• Include your primary keyword in your headline, but make sure the headline makes
sense
• If your press release is informative and reads well it will be more effective for SEO. Don’t
pepper it with keywords to the detriment of readability
• Your primary keyword text link should link to a page within your site that has content on
it which relates very closely to the keyword. The keyword itself should appear on this
page two or three times. This is called a ‘landing page’ and is critical for a link to be
really effective for SEO. If there is not a suitable landing page already then create one,
making sure it includes a ‘call to action’ – for example, ‘contact us for a trial today’ with
a link to a contact form
• Make sure your release is available on a reputable online press release wire

Formatting

When press releases were always printed onto A4 paper, stuffed into envelopes and sent to journalists
in the post, it was reasonably easy to format it how you wanted without fear of things getting messed
up. Now very few press releases are sent by post and virtually all of them are sent by various electronic
means, controlling the format of a press release has become more difficult. The rule here is keep it
simple. Whatever you do avoid colour, fancy fonts or ‘clever’ formatting. It looks amateurish and is very
unlikely to arrive at its destination looking how your first intended.

Headline
This shouldn’t be too long and should be in sentence-case. That means the first letter should be a
capital and proper names should start with capitals, but the rest should be in lower case. Some people
think that headlines should be all capitalised but this actually just makes them harder to read and
annoys journalists.

Don’t forget most people will be reading your headline in the subject line of an email or on a website.
Short and lower-case is much easier to consume than long and capitalised.

You can follow two lines down with a sub-heading. This is optional but can be useful to highlight
another angle to the story that may grab people who haven’t been drawn in by the main headline.
However, the sub-heading is losing favour in the days of electronic press releases as it can be better to
just go straight into the first paragraph in the body of an email. This is especially pertinent if using press
release wire services that send out alerts which just include the headline and first few lines of a release.

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Part 7 of the Public Relations Whitepaper Series from DWPub
© Daryl Willcox Publishing 2007 +44 (0)845 370 7777
The first paragraph should be just one sentence. Between each paragraph should be an extra space –
‘double spacing’ between paragraphs.

Quotes
Quotes should attribute the speaker, including full job title, and follow the following convention:
DWPub founder and chairman Daryl Willcox said: “Your quote goes in speech marks like this, with a full
stop inside the speech marks.”

Once you’ve introduced someone with their full title like that you can then just use their first name or
surname (but be consistent).

Facts
Facts should be included in the main text of the release. Many people make the mistake of putting facts
in quotes. For example:

Daryl said: “Ten per cent of press releases come from search marketing agencies; PR agencies should
sit up and take notice.”

This is a fact mixed up in a quote. A better way to write this would be:

Ten per cent of press releases come from search marketing agencies. Daryl said: “PR agencies should
sit up and take notice.”

If you are using statistics from a reputable third party, always cite the source – it adds weight.

Jargon
You should avoid assuming too much knowledge on behalf of the reader, it will bog people down. So
avoid jargon. Unavoidable acronyms should be spelt out first with the acronym in brackets, and then
you can use the acronym – for example, Daryl Willcox Publishing (DWPub).

Contact details
At the end of your release you must put your contact details. Some people put their contact details at
the top – this worked OK in the days of paper but I think it can mess up an electronic press release.
Whatever you do, do not miss out the contact details. Include the name, email address and phone
number of the person you want to take calls from the press (yourself, presumably), plus the full address
of the company. You can include two sets of contact details, one for yourself and one for the
spokesperson you have quoted in the release. Apart from ensuring journalists can follow up the release
it also lends gravitas.

Once you’ve written your press release and formatted it correctly, including a snappy headline that
includes your primary keyword, then you’re ready to unleash it upon the world. Before you do though, if
you’ve quoted anyone or mentioned a customer it is considered good practice to get approval from
these parties before you send it. One trick to avoid people meddling with your hand-crafted release is to
ask them to just check facts and quotes for accuracy. Oh yes, and make sure there are no spelling or
grammatical mistakes in your release – get a couple of reliable colleagues to read it through very, very
carefully.

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A step-by-step guide for small and medium businesses, P 7 of 11
Part 7 of the Public Relations Whitepaper Series from DWPub
© Daryl Willcox Publishing 2007 +44 (0)845 370 7777
Distribution

The one aspect of the press release that has been totally revolutionised by the internet is press release
distribution. Back in the mid-nineties it was totally normal for companies to print their press releases off
on special letterheaded paper, staple the sheets together and then insert them into envelopes for
posting to individual journalists and newsdesks. Can you imagine the amount of post media outlets
used to get? It was incredible. It wasn’t unusual for major trade publications to get 100 press releases
through the post each day. It was an environmental disaster and thousands of working hours were
wasted each day simply opening the post.

When a really urgent press release needed to go out, for example a company signs a major contract
just before their main trade publication ‘goes to press’, then the press release would be sent by fax. I
remember clearly when I was a journalist, the days of the fax machine keeling over under the strain of
so many last-minute faxes on press day.

In the last ten years, email has become the standard communication method for sending press releases
to the traditional media. It took a while – many journalists staunchly resisted as it is slightly easier to
assess the merit of a printed press release than one buried in your email inbox. But today publications
often specify email as the preferred method.

The most effective way to distribute your press release is a two-pronged technique. This involves
sending your release by email to your own ‘target press list’, plus submitting your release to a reputable
online press release wire service. You should also include your release on your own website under a
dedicated ‘press’ section linked from the homepage including an archive of all releases plus up-to-date
contact details for press enquiries.

Sending to your target press firstly involves creating the list. Think of all the newspapers, magazines,
radio or TV programmes and websites that cover your industry. If your business is very regional – say a
retail operation in one area – then you will need to focus on outlets such as local newspapers and radio
in that region. You may find that if you work in a niche business-to-business (B2B) sector this will run to
just a handful of trade magazines, a few websites and maybe a specialist section on one or two of the
national newspapers.

Depending on the outlet, your list should contain the general newsdesk email address and/or the
specific email address of the person responsible for covering your subject area (for example, if yours is
a car business then you’d probably want the motoring correspondents).

Of enormous help in compiling press lists are media databases such as the FeaturesExec Media
Database which can help you identify relevant outlets and allow you to download a press list. It is also
very useful to include freelance journalists in your sector. It can be hard to identify these (though you
can use directories such as the JournalistDirectory) but you may also find they start to make themselves
known to you once you start issuing press releases. Make sure to add the details of any journalist who
responds to your release if they aren’t already on there, so that they get future releases (long term, PR is
all about developing relationships).

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On the day you email your release out to your target press list (don’t forget it include it in the body text
of the email and not as an attachment), submit it to a reputable online press release wire such as
SourceWire. Make sure your primary keyword is included once as an embedded link in the body of the
release and don’t forget to include your contact details at the bottom. There are a number of press
release wire services around – from the free to the very expensive (£150+ per release). With free press
release wires you tend to get what you pay for – they generally just stick the release up on one website
and further distribution is limited if anything. The more expensive ones tend to be good at getting your
release to local and national press, but not much further. SourceWire is very low cost but gives you high
online visibility plus email distribution to thousands of newsdesks and journalists in local, national,
consumer and trade media – print, online and broadcast.

Measurement

You’ve researched and written your release, checked it over carefully and had the quotes approved and
facts checked, then you’ve created your press list and selected your online press release wire. Full of
excitement you send your release out. Then silence. What happens next?
Keep an eye (or an ear) on the media from your target press list and use internet search engines to see
if you’ve triggered any online coverage. You could invest in a ‘cuttings’ (or ‘clippings’) service. By
subscribing to such a service you will get a paper or electronic ‘cuttings book’ sent to you every now
and then which includes mentions of your organisation. There are some dedicated online services too
which seek out stories on websites and alert you. The downside to most of these services is often the
cost and that they are rarely 100 per cent reliable, but they can potentially save a lot of time.

There is the distinct possibility that nothing will happen at all. No journalists will call and your
organisation will be sadly absent from the front page of the newspapers the next day. Don’t be
disappointed – sometimes it takes a while for things to filter through. Publications can work weeks or
months in advance or decide that your release is not news but could be useful in a longer article (a
‘feature’) which tend to be planned months in advance. It may be that your release doesn’t get picked
up at all – many factors are at work, sometimes journalists can be very fickle when it comes to what they
think a story is. At other times you can be drowned out by other news or there may simply not be
enough slots to fill to include your story.

Even if you get no ‘traditional’ press coverage you may find it gets picked up by community websites or
blogs – known collectively as social media. This kind of coverage may be limited in terms of the
audience but the value can be high. It’s better to measure these outlets in terms of influence rather than
audience, plus they often include extremely valuable links to your site.
Even in the absence of online coverage your release is more than likely still be working for you.
Journalists may use it many months later (I got coverage in The Times three years after a press release
was submitted) or be more open to subsequent releases, and it’s likely that customers or potential
customers will access your release directly online. In addition, every release online has the potential to
boost your traffic from search engines regardless of whether they get picked up by journalists or not.

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The moral of the story is that PR should be a regular part of your marketing activity. One press release
may hit the mark or it may not, but if you do one a month or one a quarter your chances of real results
will increase exponentially. This works on an SEO level too. One release riddled with keywords and links
could actually do you more harm than good. A number of releases with one primary keyword (with one
text link) per release is much more likely to drive traffic and help boost your search rankings.

Press releases are an effective way to boost your business through gaining media coverage and
increasing your visibility online. Done well and done regularly any business can reap the benefits. Quite
simply, every business – large or small – should be doing it.

About the author

Daryl Willcox is the chairman of DWPub, a company that provides online services for journalists and
media relations specialists. The company has seen double-digit percentage growth every year since its
launch in 1997. Prior to starting the business Daryl was a journalist primarily covering business and
technology issues. He studied journalism at the London College of Printing (now the London College of
Communications).

The press release about the launch of this whitepaper is online - www.responsesource.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=32732
Another part of the DWPub elations Whitepaper Series provides further advice on press releases – visit
www.dwpub.com/whitepapers for a free copy.

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DWPub (www.dwpub.com) helps PRs, organisations and the media connect, collaborate and tell stories
more effectively every day. We provide the media and marketing community with simple, easy-to-use
and highly effective online media relations information, management and networking services which
together we call the DWPub Media Suite.

Up-to-date media contacts database, forward features and media management tools. Maximise your
coverage. FeaturesExec is essential for professional PRs as well as businesses, charities and
organisations that want media coverage.

Media enquiries and coverage opportunities at your fingertips. ResponseSource provides leads for PRs,
businesses, charities and other organisations that want media coverage.

Targeted news distributed with our press release wires. Get your press releases to the right journalists
and get found online – increasing your chances of coverage.

Over 7,000 freelance journalists in one place. Find independent freelance journalists who want to cover
your story.

For more information on the DWPub Media Suite or to request a free demo and trial:

• Visit http://www.dwpub.com/media-suite
• Call +44 (0)845 370 7777
• Email [email protected]

Comments or queries about this whitepaper are very welcome.

© 2007 All rights reserved Daryl Willcox Publishing, Melrose House, 42 Dingwall Road, Croydon, CR9 2DX

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