PRESS RELEASE TEMPLATE

One of our promoters, Fiona Cowan, a professional editor, publisher and member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations has very kindly put together this handy guideto writing press releases to send to the media to publicise your event.

I am sure you will find it extremely useful, not only for NTA events but for all the other activities in your venue.

"… and we'll need a press release …"

The words are said so casually, usually towards the end of a meeting. But nobody wants to do it, everyone avoids eye contact, and often the resulting news release doesn't result in any media coverage.

The good news is, writing a news release is just a skill. You can learn it in a couple of hours. Anyone who's fairly organised can do it.

I'm going to show you how!

  • There are 10 tips - Print them off and keep them near where you work.
  • There's a framework -Insert the details of your story in the blanks.

FIONA'S 10 TIPS FOR NEWS RELEASES

  1. Short is sweet
    Send by email, with a Subject that sums up the story. Keep the story short enough to be 1 side of A4 if someone printed it out. Short sentences, short paragraphs, short words.
  1. List the gist
    Make sure your story answers the questions: what? how? why? where? who? when? Ask someone who knows nothing about the story to read it; if they have questions, put the answers in the text.
  1. Be upfront
    At the end, give a contact name, email (if possible) and telephone number of someone who can give more information. Make sure they're available for a couple of days after the release goes out! You can give daytime and evening/weekend numbers. It should be whoever can talk best about the story, not necessarily the most senior person.
  1. Keep it simple
    Don't try to write clever headlines. Journalists write their own.A simple label in the Subject box will grab their attention and is far better.
  1. Flowery prose will wither
    Keep your writing style simple.Your release will almost certainly be rewritten anyway, so the main thing is to make sure all the facts are clear and easy to find. And do stick to facts - no opinions, please.
  1. Short is best
    Just two or three clear paragraphs are more useful to a busy journalist than two pages of dense writing that take ages to read. Say only what is needed.
  1. Make it real
    Include a "quote” from a real, named person. Make up the words to suit the story — but get the approval of the person you're quoting. It's a good idea (but not essential) for this to be the same person to contact for more information (see 3). The quote may express personal opinions, unlike the rest of the story which is all facts-facts-facts.
  1. Bring it to life
    Journalists like human interest stories; offer them real examples of how your events have made a difference, eg profits from the last production bought a new cooker for the venue or deaf children were delighted to be able to join in the songs, thanks to a sign language interpreter.
  1. Offer a picture
    Not everyone can manage email attachments, so send these only if asked. But offer pictures if you have any, with a brief description. Or offer to cooperate if an Editor wants to send a photographer. Or both. (But never offer pictures to a radio station… don't laugh, it's easily done!)
  1. A letter can be just as good
    Don't forget the Letters Page as a way of getting your message over, or correcting inaccurate reporting.

FILL IN THE BLANKS!

This is all very well … but what if you've got to write something NOW and you don't know where to start?

Easy! Just use this framework, and fill in the blanks with the details of your story.

Framework for media releases

Heading: a simple label to identify the content
Opening paragraph – or “intro”
· Summary of the story in one or two sentences
· How would you tell it to your Gran in two sentences?
The rest of who, what, why, where, when, how
A quote. Think of a couple of sentences you could hear yourself saying in real life.
- End -
Mark the end of the story like this. It looks very professional!
Date
More information from: name, telephone number, email and other contact details (including availability).
Notes to editors:
Appropriate if there is background material which will help journalists to see the context. For instance, you might want to talk about the history of a development site and the campaign so far.
Photo-opportunity:
Your news release may give a venue, time and date for a photo-opportunity. Or you may invite news editors to call you to arrange one if you can be flexible about it.

This is intended as a basic guide. It should be enough to help you issue a basic news release and make the most of the media coverage it generates.

Fiona Cowan, August 2007

Fiona Cowan has 20 years' experience in PR, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. She's worked with big business, community groups, museums and art galleries, entrepreneurs, campaigning charities and public sector organisations. As well as giving talks and training courses on creativity, writing, business networking and PR, Fi writes websites and works as a publisher and editor of books.