Every day, journalists receive hundreds of press releases. Most get deleted within seconds. A small handful get opened, read, and ultimately published — earning the company real media coverage, backlinks, and credibility. The difference between the two outcomes rarely comes down to how exciting the news is. It comes down to how the press release is written.
This guide walks you through every element of a press release that gets results: what makes a story newsworthy, how to format the document, how to craft a headline journalists cannot ignore, and how to distribute your release to the right people. Whether you are announcing a product launch, a partnership, an award, or a company milestone, the same fundamentals apply.
What Makes a Newsworthy Press Release?
Before you write a single word, ask yourself the most important question in public relations: why would a journalist's audience care about this? Reporters and editors are not in the business of advertising your company. They are in the business of informing, educating, or entertaining their readers. Your press release must offer them something genuinely useful to pass along.
Stories that tend to earn coverage share at least one of these qualities:
- Timeliness: The news is happening now or very soon, not six months ago.
- Relevance: It matters to the publication's specific audience — local business readers, tech decision-makers, healthcare professionals, and so on.
- Impact: It affects a meaningful number of people or changes how something important works.
- Novelty: It is genuinely new — a first, a record, an unexpected development.
- Human interest: It tells a story about real people, not just a corporation.
Common press release topics that meet these criteria include product launches backed by data, funding announcements, executive hires at a senior level, research findings, community initiatives, awards from recognized industry bodies, and responses to significant industry trends. If your announcement does not fit at least one of these categories comfortably, consider whether a blog post or social media update might serve you better. For a broader view of how press releases fit into a complete communications strategy, see our guide to PR strategy for small businesses.
Press Release Format: The Standard Template
Journalists recognize a properly formatted press release immediately, and that familiarity builds trust before they read a single line of your actual news. Deviating from the standard format signals that you do not understand media relations, which makes editors less likely to take your story seriously. Here is the structure every press release should follow:
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (or the specific embargo date) — flush left, all caps, at the very top
- Headline — one compelling sentence that summarizes the news
- Subheadline (optional) — one additional sentence that adds context
- Dateline — City, State, Date — at the start of the first paragraph
- Lead paragraph — the most important facts in 40 to 60 words
- Body paragraphs — supporting details, context, and data
- Executive quote — a statement attributed to a named spokesperson
- Additional body content — secondary quotes, more detail, supporting data
- Boilerplate — a standard paragraph describing your company
- Media contact information — name, phone, and email of your PR contact
- ### — the traditional symbol indicating the end of the release
Keep the total length between 400 and 600 words. Releases that run longer rarely get read in full and give editors the impression you cannot prioritize information. Save the deep detail for supporting materials you can attach or link separately. Platforms like PR Newswire and Business Wire both publish style guides that reinforce these conventions and are worth reviewing before you send anything over the wire.
Writing a Headline That Gets Journalists' Attention
Your headline is doing the heaviest lifting in the entire document. If it does not earn the open, nothing else matters. A strong press release headline shares several characteristics with a strong news headline: it is specific, it is active, and it communicates the actual news rather than hinting at it.
Practical rules for press release headlines:
- Write in present tense, active voice: "Local Retailer Opens Second Location" not "Second Location Has Been Opened by Local Retailer"
- Include the most important fact — the news itself — rather than a teaser
- Keep it under 100 characters so it displays cleanly in email subject lines
- Avoid marketing language like "innovative," "revolutionary," or "best-in-class" — these are red flags to journalists
- Use numbers when they are genuinely impressive: "Raises $4M in Series A" is stronger than "Raises Significant Funding"
Compare these two headlines for the same announcement. Weak: "Jupiter Tech Announces Exciting New Partnership." Strong: "Jupiter Tech Partners with Salesforce to Automate Lead Scoring for Mid-Market B2B Companies." The second version tells the journalist exactly what happened, who is involved, and who it affects — all in one sentence. According to research covered by PR Daily, releases with clear, specific headlines are opened at rates nearly three times higher than vague or promotional equivalents.
The Lead Paragraph: Who, What, When, Where, Why
The lead paragraph answers all five W questions in 40 to 60 words. Journalists are trained to pull the essential story out of the lead and rewrite it — so if your lead does not contain the whole story, they will move on rather than dig for it.
A well-constructed lead looks like this: "MIAMI, FL, June 10, 2024 — Jupiter Digital Marketing, a Miami-based growth agency, today launched a free AI-powered SEO audit tool that allows small business owners to identify critical website issues in under three minutes, with no technical expertise required." That single sentence answers who (Jupiter Digital Marketing), what (launched a free AI-powered SEO audit tool), when (today, June 10), where (Miami), and why (to help small business owners identify issues without technical expertise).
Do not bury the news. A common mistake is using the lead paragraph to provide background about the company before getting to the announcement. Journalists see this as a waste of their time and yours.
Writing the Body of Your Press Release
After the lead, use the body of your press release to build the story with supporting detail. Follow the inverted pyramid structure used in journalism: most important information first, supporting context in the middle, background and additional detail at the end. This structure means an editor can cut from the bottom up and still have a complete, coherent story.
Effective body content includes:
- Data and statistics that substantiate your claims — cite the source
- Context that explains why this announcement matters right now
- Customer or partner perspectives beyond your own executive quote
- Specific details about availability, pricing, timeline, or scope
- Links to supporting materials — a media kit, product images, a demo video
Every paragraph should earn its place. If a sentence does not add new information or clarify something essential, cut it. HubSpot's marketing blog notes that press releases with tight, factual body copy consistently outperform those padded with promotional language — because editors rewrite promotional language out before publishing anyway, and a release that requires heavy rewriting is a release that often does not get published at all.
Crafting the Perfect Executive Quote
The executive quote is one of the most misused elements of a press release. It is not a place for additional facts or another recitation of the announcement. It is a place for human perspective — the "why this matters" from a real person who can be held to the statement.
A weak quote: "We are thrilled to announce this exciting new partnership and look forward to delivering value for our customers." This quote adds nothing. It could apply to any announcement from any company in any industry.
A strong quote: "Small business owners spend an average of 11 hours a week on tasks that could be automated," said Sarah Chen, CEO of Jupiter Digital Marketing. "This tool gives that time back, and it does it without requiring business owners to become SEO experts first." This quote offers a specific insight, communicates genuine stakes, and sounds like something a real person would actually say.
Guidelines for press release quotes:
- Write quotes that sound natural when spoken aloud, not like corporate copy
- Attribute every quote to a full name and title
- Use one quote per spokesperson — do not stack four quotes from four different executives
- Include the quote from your most senior relevant spokesperson in the first mention; secondary quotes can come from customers, partners, or other stakeholders
The Boilerplate: Describe Your Company
The boilerplate is a standardized paragraph at the end of every press release your company sends. It describes what your company does, who it serves, and how journalists or readers can learn more. Most organizations keep the same boilerplate for months or years, updating it only when the company undergoes a significant change.
A good boilerplate is two to four sentences long and covers:
- What your company does in plain language (avoid jargon)
- Who your customers or clients are
- A notable credential — years in business, number of clients, awards, or industry recognition
- Your website URL
Example: "Jupiter Digital Marketing is a Miami-based digital growth agency specializing in SEO, paid media, public relations, and content strategy for small and mid-sized businesses. Founded in 2016, the agency has helped more than 300 companies across North America increase their online visibility and revenue. Learn more at jupiterdigitalmarketing.com."
The boilerplate should appear after the body of the release and before the media contact block, separated by a label such as "About Jupiter Digital Marketing." For more on how press releases fit within a broader brand presence strategy, see our article on media outreach and pitching.
How to Distribute Your Press Release
Writing a strong press release is only half the work. Getting it in front of the right journalists and editors is where most organizations fall short. Distribution falls into two main categories: wire services and direct outreach.
Wire services distribute your release to a broad network of newsrooms and journalists. Major platforms include PR Newswire and Business Wire, which offer national and international distribution. Wire services guarantee that your release reaches a large number of outlets, creates a public record of the announcement, and often generates automatic pickups on news aggregators. They are most valuable for funding announcements, major product launches, and regulatory filings. The trade-off is cost — a national wire release typically runs several hundred to several thousand dollars.
Direct outreach is more targeted and often more effective for regional news, trade publications, and vertical media. Build a media list of specific journalists who cover your industry, your geography, or your topic. Tools like Muck Rack help you identify reporters by beat and track their recent coverage. Personalize your pitch email — reference a specific article they wrote, explain why your story is relevant to their audience, and attach or paste the press release rather than sending only a link.
Additional distribution tactics:
- Post the press release in the newsroom or media section of your website for SEO value and journalist reference
- Share the announcement on your LinkedIn company page, tagging relevant journalists or partners
- Submit to free wire services like PR.com or OpenPR for additional online visibility
- Alert industry newsletters and association publications that may republish news relevant to their members
As Spin Sucks and PR Week both note, the most successful press release campaigns combine wire distribution for broad reach with targeted direct pitching for quality placement. A single well-placed story in a respected trade publication often delivers more business impact than dozens of automated syndications on low-authority news aggregators.
For best results with SEO, hosting your press release on your own domain and earning inbound links from outlets that cover it is also a meaningful signal. Search Engine Journal has covered how press releases, when distributed thoughtfully, can support domain authority through earned media links — making them a dual-purpose investment in both PR and search visibility.
Following Up After You Send a Press Release
Sending the release is not the end of the process. A brief, professional follow-up email sent two to three business days after your initial distribution can meaningfully increase pick-up rates — but only if you do it correctly.
Rules for follow-up:
- Follow up once, not multiple times. Repeated follow-ups damage your relationship with that journalist.
- Keep the follow-up to three sentences or fewer: confirm they received it, offer to answer questions or provide assets, and make it easy to say yes by offering a specific next step like a short call or a product demo.
- Do not simply ask "Did you see my press release?" — offer something additional, such as exclusive access to a spokesperson, original data, or a customer they can interview.
- If a journalist says they are not interested, thank them and move on. Do not argue or ask them to reconsider.
Track your results carefully. Note which journalists opened your email, which outlets published coverage, and which pitches generated replies even without a published story. That data makes your next press release campaign significantly more effective.
Press releases that get published are not accidents — they are the result of a clear news angle, a well-structured document, a compelling headline, and a distribution strategy matched to the story's scope. If you are ready to build a consistent PR program for your business, start by auditing your last three months of company news to identify announcements that deserved coverage but did not get a formal release. Those are your first three opportunities. From there, the habit of writing and distributing press releases becomes one of the most reliable ways to build your brand's authority in any market. If you would like expert guidance on building that program, our team is ready to help — reach out for a free strategy consultation and we will map out a PR approach built around your specific growth goals.