At PingGo we are all about sharing and empowering folk to write great news content. The press release writing tool in PingGo with eight press release kits to choose from are a fast and efficient way to write compelling media ready press releases. But if you want to understand the science behind the craft of writing news, then use this free press release template to build your own press release by hand.
Write PRESS RELEASE at the top of the page in bold and upper case.
Date the press release so journalists know the story came out today and is not old news. Or you can send the press release out a few days in advance marked — UNDER EMBARGO — until a stated time and date that the journalist is allowed to publish the story.
A factual summary of the announcement. Write in bold and use lower case. When reading, the eye pauses on capital letters so newspapers and magazines tend to write in sentence case, using capital letters only at the start of a sentence or where absolutely necessary. Is your product or service the first, the biggest, the smallest or the most remote? If so, say so. Ask yourself what is new or the most unexpected thing about this press release.
This is the most important paragraph and should summarise the whole story so that the newspaper or website could publish just the first paragraph without losing any key information. It should grab attention and hook the reader. A press release is not a mystery novel. Don’t keep the reader in suspense and bury your story in paragraph five.
The heart of the story, this is where you explain why the story matters. Remember to use short words of two syllables or less. Join them together in short sentences of 10 words max and short paragraphs of two or three sentences at most. The full press release should be no longer than 400 words.The nutgraf will elaborate on the first paragraph and/or provide context for the story. It may develop some of the ideas raised in the first paragraph or billboard what the story is about.
Wylie E Coyote, road runner of Acme Corporations says: “Include a couple of lively quotes to give the press release (which should be fact heavy) some energy and a human voice. Use the opportunity to say something real — explain what this news means for the market, why your company is able to do this kind of work or make deals like this.Coyote continues: “Why are these kind of opportunities becoming more scarce, more common or will they indeed become more difficult under new legislation? You could also consider including a quote from a customer or independent expert with a credible view from outside your company."
If you have any additional information to add and there is space on the page put it here. Summarise the story without repeating. The full press release should be no more than 500 words organised into five or six short two to three sentence paragraphs.
By writing Ends (or by using three hashtags ###), the journalist knows that this is the whole press release and they don’t need to scroll down any further or wait for a second page to come through on the fax!
Always include a contact name for every press release. The journalist may want an interview, to ask more questions or get photography and they won’t ask twice. If they can’t get you when they want to get you, they may drop the story.
A short paragraph at the end of the press release after ‘for more information please contact…’. The boilerplate contains background information about the company — how long you have been in business, area of expertise, key clients and size. The boilerplate is used in every press release to ensure consistency.And if that is too confusing. Just check out our super simple press release templates on PingGo.Good luck with writing your press releases. Come back and let us know when you get your story published. We’d love to know how you get on.
