News alert, despite the breakneck speed of sharing news on social media, the inbox of a journalist remains full. The iconic press release still remains one of the most important tools in B2B marketing, and that means your press release writer has to work really hard to stand out.
Now, let’s be upfront about this – we’re not a PR agency, and we do not have the contact list that a PR agency would use to get your article placed. But, we are a team of B2B, tech, and finance focussed copywriters. and we do know how to write a compelling story.
That’s why we’re often asked to write, or edit, press releases – sometimes even by PR agencies. What makes our press release writing different is that we ask ourselves, “so what, who cares?” and we write in a way that answers that question for your readers.
It’s easy to find and fill in the blanks of a highly uniformed press release template, after all, the anatomy of a press release is pretty similar. But, with a little bit of creative writing, you can turn a dry and boring press release into something fun to read and remember.
Grab the journalists attention from the second they open their email with an engaging (but accurate headline). A strong headline (and, for that matter, an intriguing email subject line) will make or break your press release. Ask yourself, have you ever seen a journalist start a news report with “We are honoured to announce…”?
If the most interesting part of your press release is halfway down, you’re missing your opportunity. Your content writer needs to find the part that your audience cares about the most, and say that first. If you have different audiences who care about different parts of your story, then we recommended writing different versions of your press release. A mass-send press release to different media platforms hardly works.
Whoever reads the publication or website that you’re writing for is the person you should be writing to. You should be figuring out how the story is relevant to the reader because if the content does not resonate with the reader, then there’s hardly a reason to write a press release. The journalist cares about how their audience will perceive your story.
We say this on all of our writing tips – use simple, straightforward language, and avoid industry jargon. Concise sentences make your press release easy to read and understand. In fact, an ideal sentence length should be around 10 words. Anything more can be difficult to follow. You might be surprised to hear that a maximum 10th grade reading level is also recommended. Even if your audience is educated, the most effective press releases do not sound like a scholarly article.
We recommend writing like a journalist, and that means keeping it factual rather than subjective and always in the third person. If you litter your press release with adjectives such as ‘revolutionary’, it actually tends to discourage readers. Of course, it’s natural to want to boast, but if you can’t provide that something is truly revolutionary, don’t say it. The only caveat to this is the quote from management – that shouldn’t contain facts. It should sound as human as possible by allowing the quote to show an emotional reaction.
At the end of your press release is a section that’s typically titled, About Company_name. It’s also known as a boiler. A boiler is essentially a slightly longer elevator pitch or a shorter ‘About us’ website page. It’s typically one paragraph, and it should sum up who your company is, what you do, who you do for, and why you exist.
As press releases are often distributed to hundreds of websites, and industry news sites they can also help you improve your search engine ranking. Your press release should be written with high volume keywords in mind, as well as links to your website so that you can obtain backlinks from those sites that are running your press release.
When writing a press release, the format is usually very similar. It starts off with the date and release information followed by a headline. After that there’s usually a nutshell paragraph, followed by another more detailed paragraph with social proof or metrics, then a human-sounding quote, and another paragraph to sum it all up. Last but not least, the company boiler and contact details are presented. Because the format is so similar, a strong B2B content writer is needed to help you get your message across succinctly, strategically, and creatively.
### is typically put above the company boilerplate to indicate that the press release has come to an end. It signifies that the journalist has the full document. Other variations of this might be —end—, or even the number 30 which was once used as shorthand to signal the end when sending telegraphs.
Above we highlighted the typical press release format. In terms of how we make this format stand out, we make sure all these questions are answered.
Who – Who is involved?
What – What is the news hook?
When – When did this happen or when is it happening?
Where – Where can I find out more about this?
Why – Why is this important?
How – How did this come about?
In our eyes, nothing much. Naturally, the interests of the audiences (and the remit of the media) will be very different, but the same writing premises hold true whether it’s B2B or B2C. Whether it’s a Chief Information Officer or an online accessories shopper, both audiences need to know why the press release is important for them.
