Press Release Essentials

In addition to the news itself, your press release should indicate where your company is headquartered and who to contact for more information or to set up an interview. Both of those things, along with the date of the news, should be close to the top of the press release.

The main body

of a press release should state your company's news and answer the classic who, what, when, where, why, and how questions. If you are announcing a key hire, for example, include the person's new title, what he or she will be doing in that position, the person's past experience, and how it will help your company move ahead. If the purpose of your press release is to introduce a new product or service, the press release should include a description of the product or service, where it fits into the marketplace — e.g. Is it the first product of its kind? — and how it can be purchased.

Quotes, from the new hire or one of the company's top-level employees involved in the product launch, are helpful to journalists on deadline. While any employee mentioned in a press release should be easy to reach for an extensive interview, meaty quotes in a press release can often suffice.

Finally, the end of each of your press releases should include a paragraph describing your company — its core business, the locations of its offices, an approximate employee count, its stock symbol when applicable, and the date when your company was founded. The summary paragraph also offers the chance to explain why you deserve coverage: "As the premier provider of ..." or "With $3 million in funding from Intel ...," for example.