A press release is one of the few business documents with a genuinely simple job: tell journalists something true, new and worth repeating, in a form they can use without rewriting it from scratch. When it works, your announcement becomes coverage. When it fails, it is usually not because the news was weak, but because the release buried it, oversold it, or made a busy reporter work too hard to find it. Learning how to write a press release properly is therefore less about flair than about discipline: the right facts, in the right order, in plain language.

This guide walks through the whole process in nine steps, from deciding whether you have news at all to following up after distribution. It follows the conventions newsrooms expect, explains why each element exists, and flags the mistakes that most often sink an otherwise good story. You do not need a communications degree to use it. You need a real announcement, an hour of care, and the honesty to write like a reporter rather than a brochure.

What a Press Release Is, and When to Use One

A press release is a short, factual announcement written for the media. It states what has happened or is about to happen, who is involved, where and when it matters, and why anyone outside your organisation should care. Unlike an advertisement, you do not control where it appears or how it is edited, and unlike a blog post, it is written to be quoted, cut and republished by other people. That is why its tone is neutral and its structure is standardised: every journalist who opens it already knows where each kind of information lives.

Use one when you have a development that an audience beyond your own followers has a reason to hear about: a launch, an opening, a funding round, a senior appointment, research findings, an award, a partnership, an event, or a considered response to an issue in your industry. Routine internal news, minor product tweaks and general marketing messages rarely qualify, and sending them anyway teaches journalists to ignore your name. The test in Step 1 will help you judge honestly.

Step 1: Confirm You Have Real News

Every good release starts with a decision, not a document. Ask what has actually changed, and for whom. A new product is news to the customers and trade press of its sector. A new office is news to the local paper and to recruits in that town. A milestone is news if it proves something: demand, growth, recognition by others. If the honest answer is that the announcement only matters inside your building, publish it on your own channels instead and save the media release for a stronger day. Journalists remember who respects their time.

Then find the angle, the one sentence that explains why this story deserves attention now. Angles usually hide in consequences: what becomes possible, cheaper, faster, safer or available to more people because of your news. Write that sentence down before you write anything else. Every later choice, from the headline to the quote, exists to support it. If you cannot write the sentence, the story is not ready, and no formatting trick will rescue it.

Step 2: Gather Your Facts, Quotes and Assets

Drafting against a checklist beats drafting from memory. Collect the essentials first: the exact names and titles of people and organisations, spelled correctly; dates, times and places; the key figures you intend to cite, with their sources noted so you can defend them; and any approvals you need from partners, clients or legal advisers. Decide who your spokesperson is and confirm they are genuinely available for interviews on the day you distribute, because a release that generates a question nobody answers wastes its own momentum.

Gather your assets at the same time. A usable photograph, a logo file, a short video if you have one, and any supporting document, such as a report summary or event agenda, should be ready before you write. Releases travel further when everything a journalist needs arrives together, and hunting for an approved image after an editor asks for one is how stories miss their slot.

Step 3: Write a Headline That States the News

The headline has one job: state the news so clearly that a reader who sees nothing else still learns what happened. Put a verb in it. Name the actor. Prefer the specific to the grand: a headline that says a company will open a named facility in a named town, creating a stated number of jobs, tells a journalist more in one line than any claim about revolutionising an industry. Keep it to roughly one line, write it in plain words, and resist puns, which date quickly and confuse search engines and non-native readers alike.

Headline Habits That Help

Draft three or four versions and read them aloud; the clearest usually wins. Front-load the most newsworthy words, because headlines are often truncated in inboxes and feeds. Include a relevant search phrase if it fits naturally, since releases are read online as well as in newsrooms, but never bend the sentence out of shape to fit one. Finally, check the headline against the release itself: if the body does not quickly deliver what the headline promises, rewrite the headline, not the reader’s expectations.

Step 4: Add a Subheadline That Supports the Headline

The subheadline, sometimes called the summary or deck, is a single sentence beneath the headline that adds the most useful supporting fact: the scale, the timing, the location, or the benefit to customers. Think of it as the second line of the story. If the headline announces a launch, the subheadline might add when it is available, where, and what it does that the previous option did not. Keep it factual and skip it entirely rather than repeating the headline in different words; a weak subheadline is worse than none.

Step 5: Write the Dateline and Lead Paragraph

Releases traditionally open with a dateline: the place the news is issued from, and often the date, set at the start of the first line in capitals, for example a city name followed by a dash. The lead paragraph that follows it is the most important text you will write. In two or three sentences it should answer the classic questions: who is involved, what has happened, when and where it happens, and why it matters. A reader who stops after the lead should still have the whole story in outline.

Write the lead last if you find it difficult; many professionals draft the body first and then summarise it. Keep the sentences short, put the newest information first, and move background and explanation further down. Avoid opening with your company name followed by a boast, a pattern that delays the news and reads as advertising. The announcement itself is the subject; let it lead.

Step 6: Build the Body with the Inverted Pyramid

News writing organises information as an inverted pyramid: most important facts at the top, supporting detail in descending order, background at the end. The shape exists for a practical reason. Editors cut from the bottom, and readers drift away at any point, so nothing essential may live in the final paragraph. After the lead, add the strongest supporting evidence: how the thing works, who it affects, what it costs or saves, and the context that makes the announcement significant. Then add background: brief history, the problem being addressed, and what happens next.

Keep paragraphs short, usually two or three sentences, and give each one a single point. Use plain language and define any technical term the first time it appears, because your reader may be a general reporter covering your sector for the first time. Include figures only when you can source them, and present them in context rather than as decoration. As a working norm, most releases run to roughly one page, somewhere in the region of 300 to 600 words; genuinely complex announcements can justify more, but every paragraph beyond that should have to argue for its place.

Step 7: Add Quotes That Say Something

Quotes are the one place a release is allowed a voice, which is why weak ones are such a waste. Facts belong in your own sentences; quotes should carry what facts cannot: judgement, motivation, experience and consequence. A useful quote explains why the organisation made this decision, what it believes will change, or what the news feels like for the people affected. A useless quote announces that an executive is delighted, excited or proud, and journalists delete those on sight.

One or two quotes are enough, each attributed to a named person with a real title, and each approved by the person quoted before distribution. A second voice, such as a customer, partner or independent expert, often adds more credibility than a second executive. Write quotes the way people actually speak, in short sentences, and read them aloud: if no human would say the sentence in conversation, it does not belong inside quotation marks.

Step 8: Finish with the Boilerplate and Contact Details

Close the release with the boilerplate: a short, standard paragraph, usually headed with your organisation’s name or an About line, that says what the company does, who it serves, where it operates and since when. Write it once, keep it current, and reuse it unchanged across releases so that every story carries the same accurate description of you. Editors rely on it when they need a one-line introduction to a company they have not covered before, and investors and partners read it as a statement of record.

After the boilerplate, add clear media contact details: a named person, an email address and a phone number that will actually be answered on release day. Many releases end with a simple marker such as ### or ENDS to signal the document is complete. This small block is easy to neglect and expensive to get wrong, because the entire point of the exercise is a conversation with a journalist, and the contact line is where that conversation starts.

Step 9: Format, Proofread, Distribute and Follow Up

Format the release so it can be read at speed: headline prominent, subheadline beneath it, short paragraphs, subheadings only in longer documents, and text pasted cleanly rather than locked inside elaborate designs that break when forwarded. Then proofread like an opponent. Check every name, title, date, figure and link twice, read the text aloud for rhythm and errors, and have a second person review it, because the writer is the worst proofreader of their own work. A single wrong digit in a phone number or a misspelled executive name can quietly undo an otherwise strong story.

Distribution is a targeting decision, not a volume contest. Send the release to journalists and outlets whose audiences genuinely match the story, respect embargoes you have agreed, and time it for when newsrooms plan rather than when they are closing pages. Many organisations use press release distribution services to handle delivery to curated media lists and online publication, which saves time and provides a record of where the release appeared. Follow up once, politely and briefly, offering something useful such as an interview, an image or an extra fact, rather than asking whether the journalist received your email. Then record the results honestly: coverage earned, interviews held, traffic referred, and lessons for the next announcement.

Common Mistakes That Sink Good Stories

Most failed releases fail in predictable ways. Recognising the patterns is the fastest route to avoiding them:

• Burying the news: opening with company history or market waffle and reaching the announcement in paragraph four.
• Writing an advertisement: superlatives, slogans and claims no editor can verify, where facts should be.
• Empty quotes: executives expressing delight while saying nothing a reader can learn from.
• Missing basics: no dateline, no contact name, wrong dates, or figures quoted without any source.
• Sending to everyone: one untargeted blast to thousands of inboxes instead of a considered list.
• Forgetting the follow-through: nobody available for interviews, and images that cannot be found when asked.

None of these require talent to fix. They require the checklist mindset of Steps 2 and 9, and the willingness to read your own release as a sceptical stranger would.

FAQs

1. How long should a press release be?
As a rule of thumb, one page is the target, commonly somewhere around 300 to 600 words for a straightforward announcement. Length should follow the news: a complex launch with several audiences may need more, but every section should add information rather than volume.

2. Should I write the headline first or last?
Draft one early to fix your angle, then rewrite it at the end when the release exists. The final headline must match what the finished text actually delivers, and it is usually sharper once you can see the whole story.

3. Can I send the same release to every journalist?
You can, but targeted sending works better. Adjust the subject line, the opening line and sometimes the emphasis for local, trade and national media, while keeping the release itself consistent and factual for everyone.

4. What should I do if nobody covers my release?
Review it honestly before blaming the list: was there real news, was the headline clear, did the timing clash with a bigger story? Publish the release on your own newsroom, share it with your audience, and apply the lessons to the next announcement. Coverage cannot be compelled, but it can be earned more often with better stories.

Conclusion

Writing a press release is a learnable craft with fixed rules: real news first, headline and lead carrying the story, body in descending order of importance, quotes that add a human judgement, and a clean finish of boilerplate and contact details. None of the nine steps is difficult on its own. The skill is in doing all of them, in order, every time, including the proofreading and the follow-up that enthusiasm tends to skip.

Keep this guide beside you for your next announcement and work through it as a checklist. Your reward is not a promise of coverage, because no honest guide can offer that. It is something more reliable: releases that journalists can use without friction, and a reputation, built one accurate announcement at a time, for being a source worth opening.