Let's be honest. Most press releases never get read. They land in a journalist's inbox, get a 2-3 secs glance, and disappear into the void forever. That's not the journalist's fault. It's yours, or more accurately, it's the fault of how the press release was written.
Journalists are
busy people. They're managing deadlines, chasing sources, editing their own
stories, and handling a flood of pitches every single day. When your press
release hits their inbox, they're not going to slow down and give you the
benefit of the doubt. They're going to scan it fast, and if nothing grabs them
in the first few seconds, it's gone. So the question you need to ask yourself
before you send anything out is simple: why should a journalist care about
this?
That question
sounds harsh, but it's the most useful thing you can sit with before you write
a single word. Not 'what do we want to announce?' but 'what
makes this actually interesting to someone who has no stake in our
success?' Those are two very different questions, and most press releases
are written with only the first one in mind.
Start with the
headline. This is where most people go wrong immediately. Headlines like
'ABC Company Launches New Product' or 'XYZ Brand is Excited to
Announce' are the equivalent of a shrug. They say nothing. They create no
curiosity. A good headline tells the journalist exactly what happened and why
it matters, ideally in a way that makes them think 'Okay, I want to know
more.' It doesn't have to be clever or punchy; it just has to be clear and
specific. For example, 'Lagos-Based Fintech Startup Raises $5M to Expand Across West
Africa' is a headline, while 'Company Announces Funding Round' is not.
Then comes the
opening paragraph, and this is where the whole thing either lives or dies. The
classic journalism rule applies here: who, what, when, where, why, and how,
all answered in the first few lines. Don't build up to the news. Don't save the
most important thing for later. Lead with it. Journalists are trained to read
in this inverted pyramid style, where the most critical information sits at the
top and the supporting details fill in below. When you write a press release
that buries the news three paragraphs in, you're essentially fighting against
the way journalists think and read. You will lose that fight every time.
One of the most
overlooked elements in a press release is the quote. Most quotes in press
releases are completely useless. "We are thrilled and excited to announce
this incredible milestone that reflects our commitment to excellence and our
valued customers," may sound familiar, but that sentence tells us absolutely
nothing. It's a filler. Journalists know it's a filler. They skip it or delete it
entirely when they write their story. A good quote should sound like something
a real human being actually said. It should add a perspective, a context, or an
insight that isn't already in the body of the release. Think of it as the one
place in the document where someone gets to have a voice, use it for something
worth saying.
Context matters
more than most brands realise. A press release shouldn't exist in a vacuum. If
you're announcing something, connect it to a bigger trend or a relevant moment
in your industry. Journalists aren't just looking for company news; they're
looking for stories that fit into the world their readers are already paying
attention to. If your announcement ties into something that's currently
happening in the market, in the economy, or in the news cycle, say so. Make the
journalist's job easier by drawing that line yourself.
Keep it short.
Seriously. One page is ideal. Two pages is the absolute maximum, and you should
only stretch to two if you genuinely have information that can't be cut. A
press release is not an opportunity to document your entire company history or
explain every feature of your product. It's a hook. Its job is to give the
journalist enough to get interested and reach out for more. If you're writing
four pages, you've misunderstood what a press release is for.
The boilerplate, that paragraph at the bottom that describes your company, matters more than
people think because it's often the only thing a journalist reads before
deciding whether to follow up. Keep it tight, accurate, and current. Don't use
it to list every award you've ever won or recite your company values. Just say
who you are, what you do, and where to find more information. One clean
paragraph. Done.
Distribution is a
whole separate conversation, but it's worth saying this: sending a press
release to a journalist who has never covered anything remotely related to your
industry is a waste of both your time and theirs. Targeted outreach to the
right reporters (people who genuinely cover your beat, your sector, or your
geography) will always outperform a mass blast to a generic list. Quality over
quantity is not just good advice here, it's the only strategy that actually
works.
At Beta PR, we've seen firsthand how a well-crafted press release can open doors
that months of advertising can't. We've also seen companies with genuinely
newsworthy stories get zero coverage simply because the release was written in
a way that made it impossible for journalists to see the value. The difference
between those two outcomes is rarely the story itself. It's the craft,
the targeting, and the understanding of what the other side of the table
actually needs.
Write for the
journalist first. Your CEO can review it second. That shift in perspective
alone will change the quality of everything you put out.
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