Advertising is a good way to boost sales or customer loyalty, but it’s not the only way to reach your target audience. Generating newsworthy information that journalists and bloggers can distribute among your potential customers is another strategy that leads to better marketing metrics. Moreover, the results of such campaigns can be longer-lasting and cost your company much less than a classic advertising campaign.
In this article, we go through the basics of writing a press release that captures the attention of media outlets, as well as brand events that are likely to be covered by news platforms and magazines, press release templates, and more. In addition, you’ll learn how to use stock content to make your press release even more effective.
What is a press release?
Press releases are documents distributed by companies or organizations and addressed to journalists, news outlets, media platforms, agencies, and influencers focused on certain topics. Such documents appear to be official statements. They usually deliver first-hand news about their sender and contain quotes, figures, facts, and contact information.
The primary purpose of press releases is to help companies go viral. A good press release generates media coverage of an event it is dedicated to and allows a company to collect positive media mentions. As a result, more potential clients learn about the company and are more likely to trust it and buy its product. A PR manager is responsible for creating and sharing press releases; however, in small firms, this function can be performed by a marketer.
There are several cases in which businesses can write and distribute their press releases:
✅ Research and findings (example: 7 Creative Design Trends Coming in 2024);
✅ Upcoming events organized by a company (example: Social Media Week 2021 is Coming to Kyiv, Ukraine);
✅ A company reaches a significant milestone (example: Depositphotos Made It to 250M Files! Explore 10 Key Features for Clients and Authors);
✅ Product launch (example: Spark Your Creativity! Depositphotos Launches AI Generator With Commercially Safe Images);
✅ Collaboration with other companies, organizations, or artists (example: Social Media Week Kyiv Introduces Its 2021 Visual Manifesto);
✅ Corporate awards or other recognition (example: We Did It Again! Depositphotos Wins Red Dot Award for Creative Trends Project 2023);
✅ Social responsibility initiatives and events (example: Depositphotos and VistaCreate Suspend All Business in Russia and Belarus).
In all of these cases, writing a proper press release is just the first stage taken by a PR manager. The process also includes creating a list of potential media platforms that might be interested, customizing a standard press release for key new outlets, writing letters to them, and following up on communication.
To measure results, marketing departments can count media mentions and reactions on social media, as well as review user feedback and stakeholders’ actions.
How to write a press release: Key rules
A press release is an official document written for news agencies and media platforms to consider an event that might be of interest to their audience. Editors make the decision whether to publish news based on a particular press release.
To prove to the editors that your company event is worth their readers’ attention, you need to avoid direct corporate promotion and provide them with independent news about the value of your information. You can include exclusive insights on the topic that only your company can provide to reach this goal. For example, some of the most media successful projects by Depositphotos are trend reports like Summer Color Trends 2024 or Weirdly Wonderful Searches 2023: The Surprising World of Stock Photography—all based on customers’ search tendencies.
Besides containing exclusive and unexpected findings backed by your corporate expertise, your press release should be digestible for editors and journalists who often don’t have much time to get into details. That’s why it’s critical to include the most sensitive information in your release’s title (headline) and not allow your official statement to exceed one printed page.
Here are the fundamental rules for writing an effective press release:
- Clear and attention-grabbing headline;
- The first paragraph contains significant details answering what—where—when—why—how questions;
- Inverted pyramid style—from general to specific; all non-critical details should be mentioned at the end of the document;
- Only accurate, double-checked information (figures, names, dates);
- Quotes by officials and experts mentioning their full names and positions;
- The context of your company.
While composing a press release, focus on its newsworthiness; otherwise, news outlets will ignore it or offer you a paid collaboration with materials for your event marked as promotional. To avoid this, make sure that your document offers informational value to readers or is of their interest.
Press release template (structure)
#1 Title or headline
This part should contain no more than two lines of text—being brief yet precise is a priority. A title must include one attention-grabbing statement that summarizes your press release.
#2 Date and place
This is not an obligatory part of your press release, but it’s better to add it if you’re sharing information on sensational events that have just happened. Also, the date is critical if your press release updates previous official news.
#3 Intro paragraph
The first paragraph answers the most critical questions about your news: what, when, where, and why it happened. The introduction should be no more than four sentences. It will be advantageous to base it on solid and engaging narration.
Find ideas here—The Power of Storytelling: Revolutionizing Brand Engagement through Narrative.
#4 Press release body
The body part of your press release provides readers with the most critical (valuable or intriguing) details of the event and quotes by officials, partners, experts, or event participants. Here, you can emphasize your company role and give some context.
More on writing influential texts—Pro Tips to Create a Killer 5-Minute Presentation.
#5 Boilerplate
This is a short section separate from the body of your press release with its own subtitle, like “About [company name]”. Here, indicate your company niche, geography, scale, key achievements, or other background information so readers can understand the context.
#6 Contacts
The idea behind this part of a press release is to provide media platforms with an opportunity to get more information for future publications. Usually, contacts include the PR manager’s full name, phone number, and email address.
#7 Attached visuals
In modern press releases, the bottom of the document often contains a link to a folder with licensed, high-quality visuals that journalists, bloggers, and influencers can use in their publications. This can be Editorials, as well as content licensed for commercial usage.
Add the author’s or owner’s name to the description of the provided content. If the source is Depositphotos, you need to indicate this to provide images. For images that are downloaded from Free Files, attribution is obligatory.
Final thoughts. What to do with your press release
After your essential press release is ready, it’s time to switch to distribution. To begin with, identify media outlets you would like to interest. It’s perfect if you have a ready-to-use media list—especially with contacts of particular editors, journalists, and bloggers loyal to your company. If you don’t have one, compile a list of media platforms, journalists, and influencers and try to find their contact information.
The second step is all about customizing your press release to various different media platforms. There’s no need to completely rewrite your document—work on headlines and the first paragraph to fit their interests.
The third step is responding to journalists and sending follow-up emails to those who didn’t react to your release. Consider that for new outlets, time is everything, so if a journalist requests more images, quotes, or details, answer promptly.
More tips on cooperation with media for marketers:
Growing Your Business with Minimal (or No) Money
Authentic Ways to Address Pride Month in Brand Communication + Thematic Collection
Experiential Marketing Explainer: Types, Tips, and Brand Cases
Collaborations with Artists for Brands: How it Works & Practical Examples
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