How to prepare an online press release
To prepare an online press release as effectively as possible, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind and follow, but even before you start you need to bear one important fact in mind: a press release is a piece of news, not an article. The actual article can be written by the journalist who receives the release, which will therefore be partly reused and partly reworked. So the main qualities a press release must have are: clarity, concreteness, brevity, and references. To be immediately clear and provide the right references, it’s a good idea to focus on a well-defined framework in order to sketch out the structure of the release.
Table of Contents
How to write the headline of a press release
The headline should be as short as possible and very clear. It must always contain the main reference, the keyword you want to highlight and get published by the newspaper or blog you’re sending the release to. For example, if it concerns a company or an event, the name of the company or event must be mentioned in the headline. If it concerns a public figure, they should be named in the headline. And so on. But the core of the news must also be included. As such, news is something new, which is why this very adjective is often used in the headline: “New headquarters for company …”, “New tools for social …”. These are basic examples, but ones that remain effective for a press release. So there’s no need for an emphatic or sensationalist headline. It will then be up to the journalist to make the article’s headline more appealing and original. In an online press release, the headline should also be used as the email subject line, ideally preceded by PR (short for Press Release) so that it’s immediately clear to whoever receives it.The subheading: an important element
On the first line of the release, a subheading should be added straight away, useful for providing a bit more information than the headline. This text shouldn’t be too long either, although we can allow ourselves a little more information than the headline, or rather an additional “snippet” of information that complements the headline. If no complement is needed, because the headline is already sufficient, the subheading can serve as a sort of brief explanation of the headline. It nevertheless remains an essential element in preparing a press release, because in the first few lines you must capture the reader’s interest and convince them it’s worth reading on. In particular, the aim of a press release is to convince the editorial team that receives it that the news is worth publishing. The subheading can be decisive in this respect. Indeed, it is with this very part of the text that you can try to communicate “why” the news is worth publishing.Introduction of the online press release
After the subheading, you continue with a paragraph of 4 or at most 5 lines, which we can consider an introduction or even a summary of the release. In these lines, in fact, you should summarize the news. Here it must first of all be clear why what you’re writing constitutes news worth publishing. It must be clear what the release is about and who it is about. Already at this point it’s essential to include the time and place references: where and when? These are two questions a journalist always seeks answers to. But making the editorial team struggle to track down this information is not a wise choice, let alone a clever one. Newsrooms receive hundreds of releases every day. Having to waste time hunting for basic information does not put whoever has to select the news to publish that day in the best frame of mind. The time and place indications can also be placed as a date at the start of the introduction, or in a more discursive way within it, but in that case bold formatting must absolutely be used to bring immediate focus.Body of the text
You then continue with the in-depth text of the release, which explains in more detail what was written in the introduction and adds the facts surrounding the news, the context. In this part you will give all the details you want published: in this text nothing should be left hanging. In a press release, unlike an article, there should be no open questions between the lines or doubts planted in the reader. Of course, it isn’t always possible to write out every detail. But you can be clear and precise about the facts or the information to convey. Even in this part, however, you must be sufficiently concise. It’s better to give the details in a fairly essential way. As mentioned, the release is the news you give to a newspaper’s editorial team, it is not an article aimed at the reader. The article should then be developed and argued by the journalist who receives the release, who may also add opinions or emphasize certain elements over others and, above all, may entice the reader with a point of view or an open-ended concept that opens the door to personal reflection. But none of this should be part of a well-structured release. What, however, helps make the text of a press release easier to read without tiring the reader and, above all, without losing the key points of the news?Break the text into paragraphs
Always use paragraphs to divide the text. It’s easier, even for the most seasoned journalists, to read many short paragraphs than one long, continuous text with no breaks.Highlight the important points
Using bold or underlining when preparing an online press release is a kind of prompt to the editorial team, a way of saying “this part really ought to be included in the article”. With this method you can also “steer” a setup useful for SEO optimization for online visibility, even though SEO work on a text then requires the intervention of a specialist in the field.Quote parts of the speech
If you are reporting an interview or news concerning a person or an event, it’s essential to include one or more quoted excerpts of statements. The excerpts must always be introduced in the third person, giving the name of the person who made the statement. It’s best to highlight these excerpts using, for example, italics.When preparing an online press release, you must always plan for the inclusion of links
The best way to propose including links in the article is to use purpose-built sentences in the body of the release with the link attached. It’s best to include at least a couple of links in the text. The online publication may not agree to include the links, but sometimes editors do so even by mistake, so there’s no harm in trying. It is, however, useful and proper to also include the reference links at the end of the text, if for example there’s a sign-up to complete or an event to follow online or further reading or simply a reference website for the news. A further tip is to include these links with the URL readable and clickable, so that the editor can easily verify the content they’ll be conveying to their readers.Conclusion of the news
Every release must end with a conclusion as incisive as the introduction but, compared to it, even shorter. The conclusion must reinforce the core of the news, so as to lead readers to think it’s an important piece of news that a publication shouldn’t miss. For this reason, even though it comes across as a repetition, it’s advisable to add it: it’s best to use synonyms and paraphrase what was written above. This way you invite the journalist to lengthen their article using terms written in the release.Useful references for further information
At the end of the release, after a couple of blank lines, you include the references, for example: Press office So-and-So Maria Rossi … or Laura Verdi … or Giovanni Bianchi … (In short, a contact name is needed) email: mrossi@tadeitali.it tel: 0011223344 website: www.taldeitali.it These contacts are useful for any requests for clarification, further information or even for possible interviews.But that’s still not enough…
Before sending an online press release, you need to take into account other elements useful to the newspaper that will publish it. It will therefore be necessary to: attach one or more high-resolution images or provide access to a folder of images, if there are many, from which journalists can take the photos: it’s better to supply photos than to rely on archives and the newsroom’s choices; always proofread the text before sending it; send the press release in several formats: the release should always be included, in summary or sometimes full form, in the body of the email, after a brief introduction; in addition the file should be attached to the email in Word or text format, so that whoever has to rework it can start from an editable text; finally, it’s also a plus to send it as a PDF, nicely laid out with paragraphs and bold formatting and, if possible, images, so as to give a more elegant and easily readable form, perhaps on letterhead…but this last option is useful above all for the more glamorous press offices, those catering to the world of fashion or to interior design magazines for example; plan for more than one send: once ready, the release should be sent to the newspapers straight away, in order to try to provide “fresh” news. It’s advisable, however, to also do a second send a few hours later, or even the next day, to those who haven’t published it or haven’t replied. You shouldn’t get discouraged right away: sometimes all it takes is persistence to get published… without becoming a stalker! request the publication link: the sentence “We kindly ask you to send the link to your publication in reply to this email, so that we can include it in our press review” is a classic not to be forgotten. As mentioned at the start, a press release is news, not an article. So, now that it’s clear how to prepare an online press release, all that’s left is to find a piece of news worth pitching to an online publication.Related service: discover Digital PR by ARvis — the agency that scales with you.
