Mastering the art of writing an engaging press release is by no means a simple task. With journalists receiving hundreds of stories every day it can be difficult to cut through the noise and make yours stand out from the crowd. To tackle this our Leeds Agency has come up with some key top tips to help your business write the perfect news story.
Knock’em dead with a killer headline
A headline can make or break a story. Being the first thing a journalist sees it’s imperative that you get it right. A killer headline will be short, sweet and encompass the entire story in a nutshell – the aim is to grab the journalist’s attention at first glance, encouraging them to read on.
Strong news hook
It may seem obvious, but it’s important to ensure that your press release has a strong news hook so spending time identifying what this is, is vital. A journalist will only publish stories that are of value to their target audience(s), therefore you need to make sure your story is written in a way that satisfies their interests – this may mean adapting an initial release to make it suitable for different media outlets.
The bones of your story
Once you’ve got the journalist hooked, you can begin to delve into the finer details answering the who, what, where, when, why and how. Although they are unlikely to use all of the content it gives them the option to ‘pick n mix’ and create a story which best fits their readers.
As for the structure, it’s good practice to follow the ‘inverted news pyramid’ which outlines how information should be structured. It begins with the most important information and then filters down to the least important details – it’s good to have this on hand to refer to when writing any press release.
A picture speaks a thousand words
Before circulating your story to the press make sure you have a high-quality image to send with it. An image can sometimes be the difference between someone covering your story or throwing it in the bin. Newspapers and magazines are full of quality photographs and graphics, therefore in order for your article to get the reader’s attention you need a good supporting image.
Want to know more about the benefits of PR? Get in touch with our digital marketing team at our Leeds digital agency to see how we can help your business to flourish.