Press Release Agency

A PR Team’s Guide To The Press Release Agency

When people think about PR, they tend to think of Public Relations. However there’s another ‘PR’ that falls within that umbrella term, Press Release. Press releases aren’t just for detectives, or shamed politicians; they’re a vital part of any PR campaign, and getting them right is an art form in itself.

The Essex press release agency here at VerriBerri want to discuss how you can make this work for your business.

So, What Makes A Good Press Release?

To conjure up an effective press release requires a great deal of thought. There are several key parts to consider when you’re writing one:

Title: A press release’s title is where you can afford to be more creative. Coming up with a catchy, enticing hook that will draw the journalist’s eye is imperative. Once they’re interested, that’s when you can lay out your stall, but if you’re not attracting them in the first place, no one will end up reading your press release. The content team at a press release agency are well-trained at creating tagline or slogan-like titles.

Length: Unlike blog posts, press releases should be shorter in length, concise and to the point. Many people think that writing enough is the difficulty in copywriting, however in reality, it’s keeping the word count down. Ideally, a press release should only be between 300 and 400 words.

You want your press release to accurately convey your brand’s core service, idea or product in as short a space as you can. The people who looking at it are journalists; they are incredibly busy and see a huge number of press releases every day. They simply haven’t got the time to spend scanning through reams and reams of waffle. Get your main points down and get it done. A press release agency have years of refining this technique, they know when less is more.

Style: A florid and verbose use of language won’t get you very far when you’re writing a press release. The tone and style needs to match the length; it needs to be punchy and direct. The last thing a journalist wants to do is wade through another self-indulgent document exclaiming that they’re the best thing since sliced bread.

Content: Now, this one is variable as it obviously depends on what it is that your brand is offering; but you should keep it as factual as possible. Avoid adding too much information surplus to requirement as you haven’t got a lot of words to play with in order to stick to the tighter parameters.

When To Publish A Press Release?

Timing is critical when it comes to launching your press release. There are definitely better times than others to hit publish. As a rule, unless it’s groundbreaking, you should avoid posting on Friday afternoons because journalists are winding down. Even if they do go through it, they’ll be less likely to give it their full attention.

A press release agency can analyse in even further detail about when the best time to send your press releases is. Ultimately, every brand, client and service is unique and should be approached as such.

Things To Avoid In A Press Release:

We’ve touched upon what you should be including in your press releases. But how about what you should be avoiding? Arguably, the list of press release do not’s far outweigh the list of press release do’s. We’ve seen our fair share of horror stories here at our press release agency, but we’ve narrowed down to just a few of the obvious ones to make sure you avoid:

• Taking A Shotgun Approach. There’s nothing worse than reading something generic sent out to everyone. We’ve all been there, receiving an untargeted email campaign with generic and vague content. Sending it out to absolutely everyone without personalising your press releases at all doesn’t help your brand. In fact, it can do it damage. Quantity doesn’t always trump quality.

• Bland Press Releases. Don’t confuse concise and factual with boring. You can still add your brand’s distinctive voice and personality to your press releases. Give your press releases wider industry context and try to drum up some buzz with it, give the journalists a good reason to be interested. Don’t let this stray into sensationalism, though. The moment you feel yourself veering off towards click-bait territory, reign it back in to maintain an utmost level of professionalism.

• Making Silly Mistakes. This seems like such an obvious thing to check for, but brands are often so eager to get their product out there and seen, that they rush their press releases. The result is a press release littered with grammatical errors, and an absence of punctuation. This strikes of a real lack of professionalism and the journalist will have written you off before they’ve even finished reading it. So, make sure that you proof your work, proof it a second time, and then proof it once more just for luck.

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