The WRITE Way to Get Your News Release Noticed (Part 1)

We’ve discussed various aspects of news releases: the WHY (benefits/rewards) and also the WHEN (occasions/reasons). Now, let’s begin to look at some of the specifics of HOW:

Style counts. While it’s true that good content is essential, it’s also important to realize that if your news release is hard to read, it might not get read! (And we don’t write news releases just for the writing exercise…right?)

Here are a few tips I’d offer to design your news release for easy readability and to enhance legibility:

• Stay with the traditionally accepted format for a news release. If you don’t know what that is, find out. There are many sites on the Internet that can help; do a search for "news release" or "press release." (You can also visit my web site and look at some of the releases I’ve done to see the standard, basic format.)

• The headline should be in Bold, but avoid ALL CAPS. (There is an old school method of writing news releases that had the title/headline in all caps, but not only is it difficult to read, but in “’net speak” you are yelling at the reader.)

• Go with a single, standard font throughout the entire release. Don’t use "cutesy" fonts or type the release in italics (or script) because that’s hard to read.

• Keep the background plain, with a black font color. (I’m assuming no one uses actually paper these days, so know that this refers to the background on your electronic document and your email.)

• For the main body of the release, use an easy-to-read font size: at least 11 points, but preferably 12 points. (Sometimes, it’s tempting to use a smaller font to keep the release to 1 – 2 pages, but that hinders readability…which is not the goal!)

• The boilerplate (we’ll discuss this in a later post) can be done in a smaller font, but I still don’t recommend anything below a 10-point font.

• There’s no need to double space your release, except between paragraphs. (Again, some older formats liked to not only double-space the content, but also to center it. It’s my opinion this make the release harder to read.)
  

Grab their attention. The average news outlet probably gets hundreds of news releases every day and most are trashed because of the headline. Craft an interesting, appealing headline (and an email subject line) to convey immediately why this news is important to them and their audience. (Hint: They are less interested in why it's important to YOU!).

To make a news release seem more powerful, or urgent, or important, some will use lots of exclamation points. But take my word for it: if your headline isn’t interesting, punctuation or special effects won’t change that. (It’s just dull…emphasized.)

First Things First. In standard news release format, we use what’s known as the “inverted pyramid.” (Visualize an upside-down Luxor Hotel.) The most important information goes in the first paragraph of the release and the least important information goes last. If that crucial first paragraph doesn’t get their attention, the details of your message will likely be lost.

The lead paragraph should include the traditional who, what, when, where and how of your story. Ideally, a reporter would have everything needed to make a decision on whether to move forward on your news release.

The opening paragraph is not the place to tout your organization, to tell why your new product is the best in decades, to invite people to your new location or to promote your new service offering. I like to use this valued space to tell a pertinent story, give a strong fact or statistic, make a bold statement or present a problem.



We will continue this topic in our next entry. I welcome your thoughts, insights, comments or questions. I would especially like to see hear some of your experiences.

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