The rules of the perfect press release

The first step when you want to involve the media in an important event, such as the launch of a product, is to have the press office draw up a text informing journalists of what is going to happen and putting them in direct contact with the company: this text is known as a press release.

The final recipient of the press release is therefore not a potential buyer, but the journalist himself, who processes the information received and communicates the news to readers.

For this reason, the style in which a press release should be written should be sober, clear and complete: speaking in journalistic jargon, it should follow the rule of the five Ws (Where, What, When, Who, Why). It should also prefer short, simple sentences with few adjectives and little punctuation.

Generally, as with any other text, the press release is divided into:

1. Headline
2. Subtitle or summary
3. Body
4. In-depth information
5. End

1) The headline is the first element that attracts the journalist’s attention, so it must be clear and concise.

2) The subtitle of the press release is a brief description of what will be described in the body of the text. It is effectively a ‘summary’ of the press release and should contain the most important information to pass on to the journalist, so that they know where to focus their attention.

3) The body usually opens with the date on which the notice is written. It is not creative at all, it simply answers to the five W’s rule, can be structured in paragraphs and can have parts in bold and/or italics.

4) If it is considered necessary, some in-depth information on the company itself may be included after the detailed notification.

5) At the end of the press release, data from the press office are attached.

The most common way of disseminating a press release is by e-mail and it can be presented in the e-mail as an attachment or as the actual body of the text.

But what happens once a press release is issued? It is necessary to collect all the articles published through the press review, but the real work comes later, during the phase that allows you to understand if the media feedback is positive or negative. For years, Mediability has been taking care of precisely this phase of reading and cataloguing, enabling its clients to obtain accurate and curated data!