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Write Like a Pro – Content Suggestions

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About this lesson

Writing a professional press release is crucial to increasing your chances of standing out among the many press releases that flood journalists and editors each day.

Exercise files

Download this lesson’s related exercise files.

Write Like a Pro – Content Suggestions.docx
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Write Like a Pro – Content Suggestions - Solution.docx
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Write Like a Pro – Content Suggestions - Sample Press Release.pdf
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Quick reference

Write like a pro - content suggestions

Writing a professional press release, which conveys commitment and seriousness, is crucial to increasing your chances of standing out among the many press releases that flood journalists and editors each day.

When to use

The suggestions below are useful to write an effective press release.

Instructions

  1. The Headline: needs to arouse curiosity, be catchy, accurate and short, about 8 words long.
  2. The Subhead: expands and clarifies the headline whilst arousing curiosity (about 20 words long). Is a spillover of the headline in terms of both content and keywords for SEO purposes.
  3. The Body: not longer than 2 pages, better if kept to 1 page, 300-600 words long. It is divided into short paragraphs, which are only a couple of sentences long, and should be to the point but not fragmented in nature. Addresses the who, what, when, where, why and how of the press release.
  4. The Lead Paragraph: gives your news in a nutshell, specifying the who and what of your press release. It should further arouse readers’ curiosity.
  5. The Main Body: answers all the other questions (when, where, why and how) and contains at least one quote from an authoritative figure in your company that effectively sums up the gist of your press release.
  6. The Closing Paragraph: sums up the main message of the press release and includes one or more calls to action, with a link to your website.
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  • 00:04 Professional writing will convey commitment and seriousness.
  • 00:08 Writing a professional press release will be crucial to increasing your
  • 00:12 chance of standing out among the many other press releases that are out there.
  • 00:17 Now if we reverse engineer a really good press release, the following element will
  • 00:22 appear, and I'm going to actually talk you through exactly how to make it work best.
  • 00:29 So when we start with a headline and
  • 00:32 we work our way downwards, obviously the headline alone can make or
  • 00:37 break you, because that's what gets people to read further.
  • 00:40 The headline is gonna be catchy and is gonna arouse people's curiosity,
  • 00:45 because it must be just about enough to draw their attention and to draw their
  • 00:51 attention away from perhaps any competing headlines when you are on an online world.
  • 00:56 So the headline has also gotta be accurate too,
  • 00:59 because there's nothing worse than reading a headline that promises something.
  • 01:04 For example, it says, here is how you need to do something, and
  • 01:09 then when you read the article or the press release,
  • 01:11 it doesn't actually tell you how, so it's gotta be accurate.
  • 01:14 Typically, it's short, that's roughly eight words long, because search engines,
  • 01:19 for the online version, will only index the first 65 characters, and
  • 01:24 that's why, if you do want to include an important keyword,
  • 01:28 then that's gotta go within the first couple of words.
  • 01:32 Now the subhead is slightly longer than the headline itself,
  • 01:36 cuz that would be about 20 words.
  • 01:39 It's gonna provide additional information with the purpose of expanding.
  • 01:44 So anything that you couldn't fit into the headline,
  • 01:47 that you feel is the next most important thing, that you would wish to clarify,
  • 01:52 or that you would use to continue arousing curiosity, that should be here.
  • 01:58 So the subhead, it really acts as the spillover,
  • 02:01 what we couldn't include in the headline due to any length restrictions,
  • 02:05 lovely it can fit into the content of the subhead.
  • 02:09 Now we move on to the body, and
  • 02:12 we will see that the body is normally not longer than two pages.
  • 02:16 Now, imagine you wanna work with one page and
  • 02:19 you wanna work with between 3 and 600 words.
  • 02:22 So that's a little bit shorter than what I normally aim for,
  • 02:25 because I tend to allow up to 800 words.
  • 02:29 So really in this case, there's not much time for us to waffle.
  • 02:32 The press release is divided into really short paragraphs,
  • 02:36 which will be only a couple of sentences.
  • 02:40 So, even if the paragraphs are to the point,
  • 02:43 they should not be written in fragmented sentences.
  • 02:48 There's gotta be a couple of questions that we want to answer.
  • 02:52 And if I talk you thought this, it will make it easier.
  • 02:54 We start off with who.
  • 02:55 So, this will be the key players or the people closely involved with the product,
  • 03:00 and the people who will benefit from the news.
  • 03:03 In what, we will say the news that we're sharing ,that's precisely the what.
  • 03:08 And the when, is the date and the time that surrounds the news.
  • 03:12 The where is, for example, the geographical location of
  • 03:16 the product launch or the new offices that we are discussing.
  • 03:20 And the why, this is really to say, why is the news important and relevant right now?
  • 03:26 And then the how is, you will typically answer the detail surrounding your news,
  • 03:32 how did you design the new product and so forth.
  • 03:36 So let's just zoom into the lead paragraph in the main body right now.
  • 03:41 In the lead paragraph, you need to give your news, in a nutshell.
  • 03:44 So normally the who and
  • 03:46 the what of the press release will be covered in this section.
  • 03:49 It's really the heart of your press release now and
  • 03:52 it should further arouse the readers interest, so that they continue to read.
  • 03:57 Now the subsequent paragraph,
  • 03:59 is gonna have more information about answering all the other relevant
  • 04:03 questions, this is also where the quote from an authority figure will be included.
  • 04:08 The quote's kind of useful here because the journalists,
  • 04:12 that decide to cover the news, can recycle that quote.
  • 04:16 It's very common, if a press release runs wild for
  • 04:20 at least 200 different sources, to recycle that quote.
  • 04:24 So it can be pretty powerful, if it's a great quote.
  • 04:28 And then, of course, we move on to the closing paragraph, and this is just like
  • 04:33 the lead paragraph, but it has a huge impact on the readers, because this will
  • 04:37 determine the last impression that your company is gonna form.
  • 04:42 So the closing paragraph will just sum up the main message of the release,
  • 04:47 and it will lead the users forward with a call to action.
  • 04:53 Here would be a link to your website for further information, or it would lead them
  • 04:58 towards a video or a podcast that you would like them watch.
  • 05:03 And this will ultimately then, generate new traffic and
  • 05:07 new interest, as a result of the release.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Getting Ready to Write a Press Release – Part II
03m:14s
Write Like a Pro – Formatting Tips
02m:46s
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