Six tips for a successful press release

1. a press release informs

Press releases inform journalists, content creators and interested parties about news and facts relevant to the respective target group. By communicating this information to the press, the sender makes a topic offer that the recipient can share with the target group in a further processed, abridged or integrated form. In this way, a press release helps to increase the visibility of the sender in the media and builds reputation and expert positioning.

The most important factors for the success of a press release are the topic, the text quality, the timing and the exact addressee. If relevant information is prepared in a concise, target group-oriented and journalistically helpful manner and sent to well-researched journalists at the right time, the probability of publication increases. Even if press releases are not used immediately for publication, they are also used subsequently as research sources by journalists.

But how do you prepare a press release? What size should it have?

2. news follow the news value theory

An effective press release first needs a concrete and relevant topic. And it needs to be relevant to the recipient and the target group - not just to the economic interests of the company.

The news value delivered with the press release is decisive. Only if relevant information is provided for the target group is a news item considered newsworthy. Relevance, timeliness and timing are the most important points for finding topics and editing press releases.

• Relevance - will anyone be affected by this information? Does this information have added value for the target group?
• The timeliness - is it urgent/new news?
• Good timing - is your message competing with other issues that threaten to overshadow it?

In addition to relevance and topicality, news factors also include, for example, personalities, celebrities, curiosity, emotion or drama. The guiding principle when writing a press release must be to support the journalists in their work so that they can provide the respective target group with interesting and, above all, relevant content in a simple and correct manner.

3. keep it simple

Journalists receive hundreds of e-mails from agencies, companies and other organizations every day. So they have to decide very quickly which topic suggestions they want to deal with in more detail. Therefore, headlines should be short, crisp and meaningful, and reflect the actual content of the message - in other words, direct and to the point.

For inspiration, it's worth studying exactly how media headlines are constructed, or how other companies approach the press. To give you an idea of our own "best-of list" of successful headlines, here are some sample headlines:

• Muscles instead of farting! - New cricket protein powder from Sens is good for body AND environment
• Christmas for gamers and techies: These gift ideas belong under every tree
• Climate-neutral NFTs meet wild carrots
• LivingPackets unveils second generation of its intelligent packaging
• Winter Chai from Heydrate - water in the mood for Christmas
• New study shows what Gen Z wants from their job

4. answer crucial questions for a message

A press release communicates - that is already in its word. It is not a novel and does not require any derivation. So communicate the news factually as such. You can do this easily by answering the W-questions clearly and precisely in the first paragraph of your press release:

• Who does something?
• What does she/he do?
• When does this happen?
• Where does it happen?
• How does this work / does it work?
• Why is it done?

You must outline all of this in the first four to five sentences; go into detail later. Make sure that the text is not promotional and avoid overused words like disruptive, unique or revolutionary. Focus on the facts and put them in order.

5. you want to be seen - show yourself!

The goal of the press release is to crystallize all the relevant details of the information and the position as a brand with the text. Working with diverse keywords is an important part, not only to write a fluent, readable text, but also to be search engine relevant.

The keywords should be words that potential customers associate directly with the company, the brand, or a specific product. Depending on the company or product, words such as best practice, certification, platform or tool can be used as examples for the tech platform area.

In the paragraphs that follow, you can refer back to the structure of an inverted pyramid. The most important details are at the top and the less important information, background and explanations appear at the bottom and are dealt with concisely.

Visualization is one of the most important aspects in the press release. Because a story rarely works these days without visual, video or audio material. Photos, video clips or infographics are always a good "eye-catcher". When it comes to the basic structure, you can follow a tried and tested basic framework:

• Image (not necessarily in the first place)
• Attention grabbing headline
• Small explanatory preamble
• Continuous text including quotations
• Binder/Boilerplate - a brief summary from the company
• Press contact

6. give statements, name contact persons

We all want to know who we are dealing with - therefore, one or two central statements should be made in the form of statements by an authorized person and a concrete contact person who can actually be easily reached by journalists should be given at the end of the press release with a telephone number and e-mail address for the press. If there is a need, journalists need a contact person quickly because they are currently working.

Conclusion: Oldie but Goldie

The press release is still a very important tactical element of press relations for companies in order to be noticed in the daily flood of information. While there is no quick secret recipe and no guarantee of success that every topic will always "sit" right away, with a little practice, this format should come off quickly.

* Michaela Krause is a PR professional with over 13 years of experience in the DACH market. Her work ranges from product and corporate communications to crisis communications and event PR. Krause founded the company Laika Communications.