How to Write a Winning Press Release: a Journo's Perspective

One reason so many companies look for former journalists to join their communications teams is because journalists have been trained to write catchy, sexy, and informative articles fit for mass consumption. They know how headlines catch the public's eye and how to tell a good story -- often quickly.

As the peoples' attention span dwindles and the masses' look for increasingly diverse sources of media to devour, journalists have kept up by packing information into paltry pieces of text and visualization like tweets, memes, and short videos.

Press releases of the 21st century will have to keep apace of the changes in media consumption. For the most part, the email missives of old informing the press of this or that tidings from your corporation or nonprofit will be relegated to the trash folder, or worse, the spam folder. And relying on emails or textual communication is only going to target a specific type of consumer, in this case, a journalist, blogger, influencer, or other media professional who reads emails and, specifically, text heavy emails.

So, how then, do you write a winning press release in 2021? The answer is that the strategy remains the same, but you may have to tweak the medium -- as usual, a blend of science and art.

As a reminder, the main objective of the press release is to pique the media's interest. Full Stop. *The Media!* Do you have any idea the quotidian informational load of "the media"? Do you know how many articles your average journalist processes daily? Maybe you don't want to know. If you want to get to the top of the journalists pile, if you want to stand out at all, especially in competition with other journalists writing news, you should basically be writing the headline for her. Your press release must be fantastic.

Read more from Elie Sherman:

Creating a Cohesive Narrative in a Complex World

The GAPc Communications Strategy

Pluses and Minuses to Work-from-Home: 2020

Of course, press releases should also reflect your organization's culture. I am loath to use the word, "consistent," because the post-Millennial media landscape is hardly that. However, people form relationship's with a brand and its oozy culture and journalists are no exception. They are people, too. You, as the press-release writer, should take a few minutes to soak that in and then use it to your advantage. Perhaps, you should try to get to know a couple journalists as well.

Obviously, if your press release is going to be published online, say on PR Newswire or your own website, then it should be search-engine optimized, or SEO content. The rules of good SEO always advance, as HubSpot writes, so you have to keep abreast of best practices. Moz is an interesting resource for those interested. There are plenty of courses about SEO on Udemy, too. The point is that if you want to start a Google trend, then you're going to have to know how Google operates.

So, there you have it. Press and release.