HOW TO WRITE A GREAT NEWS RELEASE
Reporters are very busy and receive a LOT of emails so the burden is on you to make your news release stand out and result in good coverage.
Here are the basics your news release must include:
Contact information, including the email address and the best phone number for the person assigned to respond to media inquiries.
A compelling headline.
One page explaining your news and providing any important background information.
Two to three quotes from organizational leaders or others in the movement. Make these strong, complete and pithy as they are the quotes that are most likely to appear in any coverage generated by the release.
Sources for any statistics you include. You can link to the websites or foot note the sources so that they appear at the bottom of your news release.
Links to supporting materials - don’t include attachments as many reporters block those.
YOUR SUBJECT LINE IS CRITICAL
Reporters’ inboxes are super crowded so you need to put a lot of thought into making the subject line of the email sharing your news release count. Include the words “news release” and keep it short and to the point.
PASTE THE TEXT OF YOUR NEWS RELEASE IN THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL
Include a short note and paste the news release right in the body of your email. Don’t include attachments - you can link to other information from your email if you need to.
PERSONALIZE YOUR OUTREACH EMAILS TO KEY REPORTERS
Your email is far more likely to catch a reporter’s attention if you personalize your email and your message to them - that means including their first name early in your subject line and also personalizing your short note above the news release.
SEND YOUR EMAIL SEVERAL TIMES
You should assume that reporters will not necessarily see your first (or second email) and plan to send your news release to them more than once in hopes of catching their attention. Personalize your follow up emails to any key reporters.
