How to Write Your Press Release like a Journalist
Download The Ultimate Guide to Press Release SEO: 2016 Edition for practical tips on improving how your releases rank in search engines. The following article is excerpted from the guide.
While some writers still get paid by the word, you should write your press release as if each word is costing you something. Especially for an earnings release, where your readers will be clicking on your post seeking very specific financial information, there’s no better strategy than getting straight to the point.
This kind of writing requires selective or minimal use of adjectives, especially ones that are overtly promotional. Words like “awesome” and “interesting” might be common fodder for headlines these days, but superlatives like “one-of-a-kind,” “premium,” and “best-in-class” are almost always associated with advertising.
Your sentences should be short and declarative, concisely stating the facts that are most relevant to your reader. This is especially crucial near the start of the release, which should establish the context and purpose of the announcement (we’ll return to the proper structure of your release in a moment). Declarative sentences not only sound more journalistic, but tend to be more “tweetable.” A short sentence that doesn’t require much additional context will always gain more traction in the world of digital news.
The tone of your press release ought to be somewhere between editorial and academic, though it’s generally better to err towards the latter. That said, while your press release should stick to the facts, there are ways of coloring your audience’s impression of them. For instance, if your company is undergoing a change in executive personnel, it’s advisable to use language that emphasizes progress, rather than drawing attention to potentially negative circumstances that led to the change.
Another key to writing like a journalist is to quote your sources. Doing so adds an additional human element to your release, makes it more compelling (as long as your executive’s quote comes across as authentic and not as a jargon-filled talking point), and identifies potential spokespeople to the media.
Writing for the New York Times, Frank Lohr pointed out that one of the most enduring standards of journalistic writing, the inverted pyramid, evolved from the needs created by new technology: the telegraph. “Putting words on telegraph wires was costly,” said Lohr. “So reporters made sure the most significant points were made at the start.”
Similarly, the rise of SEO and web-based news services has led to a renewed emphasis on the inverted pyramid. SEO takes the logic of the inverted pyramid quite literally: use the words that your readers are searching for as early as possible, only getting more general and digressive as you get deeper into the article. This approach not only achieves the immediate practical end of drawing eyeballs to your release, but makes the piece more readable. Those seeking one or two relevant facts get what they want quickly, while readers with a more sustained interest in the subject at hand are free to absorb more information.
The more things change, the more they stay the same—yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s also a helpful thing to keep in mind when writing a press release. The first goal in constructing a release should be to tell an informative, concise, and clear story, even if that story is about your company’s financial performance.
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{{ InlineImage2 }}Matt Raymond is Marketing Director, Public Relations Services at Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. Nasdaq Public Relations Services offers everything you need to power your PR programs and spotlight success to your stakeholders. Global press release distribution and accurate media contacts. Interactive webcasting and multimedia to bring your story to life. Monitoring services to track your coverage, and intelligence to see the big picture.
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