Guidelines for Writing Successful News Releases
Written by PR Etc., Inc.
Published by Rockford Register Star
Monday, June 21, 2004

One of the most common items we’re asked to do in public relations is develop news releases to tout our clients’ products or services. Too many times our clients want to boast what I consider “fluff” – information and verbiage that would be excellent in novels, but definitely not in a news release.

So what are some guidelines that you can follow to make media take notice of your news releases? Here are some general tips:

• Make it “news”worthy. Think of it from the perspective of the media who receives, depending on the market, hundreds of press releases each day and has to sort out which ones are worthy of covering. Make it worth their time to read and cover – give them dates, times and specific details.
• Take out the fluff. Provide the media with the most important information at the top of the release. Many times organizations feel they must “build up” to the essentials of the topic, but media do not have that much time to search through the entire release to find the real news.
• Stay away from over-used words. Eliminate words or terms such as “end-to-end solution,” “unique,” or “only”; these words are used in almost every press release out there. Instead, tell the media – in simple terms – what is different about your organization or its offerings.

These few ideas can be extremely helpful in garnering the media’s interest and coverage for your business.