Press releases exist to let print, Web and broadcast editors know what’s going on in the community or an industry, so they can disseminate news to their audiences. A recent example was medical research that showed a decline in the obesity rate of young children. The CDC issued a press release, and the story made national news.
Sending a press release to local media outlets can lead to publicity on radio and TV newscasts or in articles for print and web publications. There is no guarantee the material will be used, of course, because of several factors, including timing, space availability and topic suitability. For instance, Business Lexington, being a monthly publication about business in central Kentucky, is not going to publish press release info about a new bakery opening up in Walla Walla, Wash., no matter how well that release was written.
Adding media outlets to your weekly e-blasts or monthly newsletters is different from sending a press release. The content written for websites and marketing materials is protected by copyright; trained journalists will not copy and paste that information into a story. By sending a specific email with the phrase “for immediate release” at the top, you are releasing — granting permission for — any of the ensuing words to be used verbatim.
Releasing also means letting go. Once you’ve hit “send” on the emailed press release, let it go. It will arrive in the intended editor’s inbox or not; it will be used or not. Following up with a phone call does not garner any brownie points.
The principles of writing a press release haven’t changed in a century. They consist of, in no particular order: Who is sending this information and why? What is newsworthy? When and where did it or will it happen? How can the community help or respond?
The logistics of sending a release, however, have changed dramatically. They were once mailed, and then faxed, often with an embargo date to give print publications time to catch up with broadcast outlets. Those technological days are behind us; magazines and newspapers can distribute information online as quickly as anyone else can.
During the past decade, press releases were often emailed at all hours of the day and night, because people would open email the next morning when they got to work. With the advent of smartphones and tablets, today’s best practice is to email a release — in the body of an email, with no attachments — during regular business hours.
Attachments are bulky and awkward, and no longer technically necessary. An email with the message “Please see the attached release” is often another way of saying “Please hit the delete button.”
If you have high-resolution photos or images available, upload them to an FTP or file-sharing program and include the link within the press release.
It doesn’t matter whether you call it a press release or a news release, because neither phrase will appear in your email. The subject line should be the same as the headline of the release, or a shorter version.
Once upon a time, the end of a press release was denoted with -30- or ### (centered at the bottom of the page), but those markings serve no function today. It is common for the final paragraph to be an “About” section: a brief bio about the organization sending the information.