Writing a press release
Creating a good impression
A good press release can raise the profile of your organisation, but how do you ensure that the right message is given? Hear are a few ideas for you to consider.
Where to start:
- The facts - what you've done or are doing and why it is news, dates, times, location, prices, funders or sponsors, key people and their roles should form the beginning of your press release. Get to the point quickly and use simple language with no jargon or acronyms.
- Contact details - make this very, very clear and as easy as possible for the journalist to contact you. For national coverage, you may need to consider offering an out of hours contact number - preferably a mobile and a willing volunteer to answer it!
- Appeal to their interests - for local papers make sure the local angle is in the headline i.e. Keighley Community Group helps 12 local people into jobs.
- Meet their deadline - find out the newspaper or magazine's deadline and get the press release done and sent out as a priority.
- Pictures - essential to add interest to the piece and sum up your story. If it's people into jobs you could take photos of them in their new role (but not sat behind a desk!)
How to improve:
- Plan ahead - your project plan should include when to write press releases and who to send them to but also how this activity fits with other publicity and Public Relations (PR) i.e. your newsletter/ poster campaign and fundraising events.
- Set a target - have a goal in mind i.e. 2 articles per year in the local press, one in a specialist magazine and regular diary entries for your events. An end result - perhaps a question in your annual members' survey about perception of your group or awareness of what you do, would also help keep your media plan focused.
- Maintain contact - don't be put off if your information isn't used. Keep up contact with journalists and keep sending in your news stories.
- Add interesting quotes - try and get comment from your chairperson, a service user, local resident or councillor, even a celebrity or sportsperson (as appropriate!)
- Make use of newswire services - Send your draft (in plenty of time) to Community Newswire a free news distribution service run by the Press Association and the Media Trust. Details at
http://www.mediatrust.org/community-newswire
Submitting your press release
- The most important consideration is the timing! Submit to magazines at least a month in advance. Find out the publication date and deadlines for your local paper. Newspapers fill up from the back, with the most important stories and breaking news at the front so the more time you give them, the more chance that your story will be included in a prominent position. On weekly papers, reporters may have more time to go out and about writing features on publication day than at other times of the week. Another useful tip is to 'save' your press release until a time when there is likely to be less competition from other stories- the newspaper 'silly season', the Christmas holidays or just before a bank holiday.
- Emailing a press release allows you to access a wide range of media outlets quickly and cheaply but beware- these are less likely to be read if it's obvious that they have been mailed out at random rather than targeted at particular publications/programmes.
- Press releases should be submitted on letterheads The title should provide a summary in not more than eight words (try to make this snappy!) and the date should be clearly marked below this on the right-hand side.
- Remember that you may have only 20 seconds to interest a busy news editor so try to sum up the subject or provide a teaser in the first sentence. The first paragraphs should outline the activity answering the following questions- who? what? why? where? when? and how? You should also include a quote in one of the opening paragraphs.
- Leave double-line spacing between the paragraphs to make the release easy to read and keep it short and sweet, with adequate margins. Aim for one page of A4 and certainly no more than two.
- Write in the active tense rather than the passive tense (eg 'the cat sat on the mat' rather than 'the mat was sat on by the cat'). This sounds much more punchy and exciting. Use plain English- don't use long words when short words will do and avoid jargon at all costs. Your press release should be easily understood by someone with no specialist knowledge. If you want coverage of an event, follow up with the following text in bold type: You are invited to send a writer and/or photographer to [organisation] at [place] at [time] on [date].
- Always finish with: For further information, please contact [yourself] on [phone and ideally mobile number]. Make sure that you are available when the media are likely to be chasing you! If you find it difficult to fit an explanation of what you or your organisation does into the main text of the press release, write a summary paragraph in bold text at the end marked 'Notes to editors'. If your organisation has produced a brochure, you may also wish to include this.
- Newspapers are messy places and bits of paper easily get lost so finish your press release with the word '...ends' in the bottom right-hand corner and if it is more than one page long, mark '...cont' at the end of the first page. If you send your own photographs, add 'pics enclosed' at the end. If you have a limited number of photos, substitute 'pictures available on request'.
- Don't be disappointed if your press release is not used. Many end up in the bin, and that includes those sent by public relations professionals. With careful targeting and practice, you will be able to increase your media coverage.
This information was written as part of the bfunded marketing advice service for voluntary and community groups in Bradford District funded by NRF and CBMDC. © KIVCA
