[Resource of the Day] – Five Elements of a Press Release

Today’s Article: “Five Pieces of the Press Release Puzzle”
by Marsha Friedman
via Publisher’s Marketing Association

I wrote an article the other day about how to write a press release, but I thought it’d be good to offer an outside article about the topic as well to give a slightly different perspective on writing this crucial piece of communication. Today’s resource presents a format that’s a little more author-centric than the format I detailed, and it’s good for a publisher who’s trying to publicize a name, not necessarily a product.

The author of the article breaks a press release down into five categories:

Headline/Subhead: A single sentence designed to grab the audience’s attention, followed by another sentence with the rest of the details. These should be thought of as a team that works together, and not separate sections.
Topic Summary: In a journal article, this would be known as the “abstract” — a quick, single paragraph summary of the news that’s being announced. Here, it’s treated as the first paragraph of the body text. I noticed that the author put several words in bold to make them stand out — I personally don’t recommend that, but it’s a trick some copywriters like to use.
Talking Points / Questions: These should be included in any release that’s going to a media source whom might interview an author or publisher. According to the article’s author, media personalities often ask these questions verbatim by reading directly from the press release. That’s good to know.
Topic Overview: This is what I’d call the “body” of the release, where all of the actual content is included.
Biography: An important section for the end of the press release that fills the reader in on whom the subject of the release is and what he or she has accomplished.

While I like this format a lot, my main problem with it is the way in which it’s used; there should be a natural flow between the headline, subhead, and body text that pulls everything together. But often, when I read this variety of press release, I’m underwhelmed and uninterested, because it reads like marketing text and not like an article. Since one of the goals of a press release is to get lazy journalists to reprint part or all of the release as an actual article, I’d argue it’s best to imitate the journalistic style.

But then again, different formats are needed for different products, so it’s never a bad idea to have an arsenal of formats in mind to capitalize on every promotional situation. So, read the article and see what you think!

Writing Scraps

by Sean J. Jordan