How to Write a Great Partnership Press Release

Writing a good partnership press release is not easy. So many releases use vague (or made up) terms, fail to identify what the partnership does, or worse, leave out the benefits to the industry or consumer.

I found a great example of a well-done press release that I'm going to walk you through. I prefer working with a good example versus a bad one, since I assume if you're reading this, you have a release you have to create. (Besides, it takes too much time to delete all the names and change the industries and products to protect the guilty.)

Key elements of a press release

1. The title

The title should contain the names of both companies involved:

CoCreate and TechnoStar Announce Integration Partnership Streamlining the PLM Process by Interconnecting Design and Simulation

How do you decide which company to list first? If one company is much bigger than the other, one rule is to list the larger company first—the company that's most likely to get picked up off the press wire. (Since we are talking to small business owners here, I'm not going to go into the protocol for publicly held firms). If both companies are small businesses, then the company that has created and/or is distributing the product should go first.

Looking at our example press release, CoCreate and TechnoStar are announcing an integration. CoCreate is the more established firm and is the creator of the product; TechnoStar is distributing the product. CoCreate has two reasons to be front and center, TechnoStar's has one reason, and therefore CoCreate gets listed first.

2. First sentence

The first sentence of the press release establishes what the partnership does:

CoCreate Software, Inc., a leading provider of 3rd generation PLM software applications for high-tech electronics and machinery, and TechnoStar Co., Ltd., today announced the availability of an integration between the two development environments to streamline exchanges between design and simulation within the product lifecycle management (PLM) process.

In our example, this sentence offers a perfect blend of the "When" (the availability of) . . . the "What" (an integration between to the two environments) . . . followed by the "Benefit" (to streamline exchanges . . .).

3. Second paragraph

The second paragraph offers a more detailed explanation:

"The direct connection between CoCreate's 3D CAD software, CoCreate OneSpace Modeling, and TechnoStar's simulation environment, TSV-Solutions, allows companies to quickly optimize product designs through rapid design and simulation cycles."

Once more, notice the "What" is included, but also notice that this time the product names are used. Releases are typically written for the press in mind: the title, the details, and then spoon-feeding more information, bit by bit, if the reporter is interested in the story. The paragraph then ends with another user benefit.

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4. Show market impact/state of the industry

Now the release does something particularly smart: it takes two paragraphs to summarize the state of the industry, which makes the case for why the product integration is necessary in the first place.

Digital simulation software is growing on the desktop as more engineers analyze products for real-world conditions while they design. This trend toward everyday analysis - where digital simulation occurs as part of the daily design process - benefits companies by providing better product quality, reduced physical prototyping time and costs, and faster realization of optimal designs.

For companies in time pressured industries, moving from stage gate processes to lean and concurrent efforts helps to shorten development timelines. The integration between CoCreate OneSpace Modeling and TSV-Solutions allows the easy exchange of information so design and simulation run in parallel.

Why would they include this? Wouldn't the consumers in this space or the media already know this? Some would. But remember that media change beats all the time, and someone covering Lifestyle yesterday might get shifted to covering manufacturing tomorrow, or technology—they don't have the time to become an expert on this topic.

First rule of PR: "Help the media out." Do some of their work for them, or at least make their work easier by including this information. Regarding the consumer end user, potential buyers also change roles—from marketing to product management—and they need to get up to speed quickly as well.

The secondary benefit for the media (and consumers) who know this industry is that you have the floor to set up your company and product the way that benefits you the most. My only complaint with the first sentence in the above paragraph is that it makes a statement ("Digital simulation software is growing ..."), but fails to include supporting data.

Another rule of PR: Never miss an opportunity to position your company or product.

5. Quotes are a must-have

A press release should contain two quotes, from the two CEOs if the companies are small, or from VPs or managers of larger companies. However, if the release is deemed "strategic" to the business, then quotes should come from the CEOs, as they are in our example:

"It is my pleasure to announce that CoCreate's 3D CAD application, CoCreate OneSpace Modeling, can now be accessed from TSV-Solutions. CoCreate is known for their strength in the electronics and high technology industries, and this partnership offers strong support for our business," said Masaru Tateishi, President of TechnoStar Co., Ltd.

"CoCreate's 3rd generation approach to PLM advocates open and connected systems throughout the enterprise. That extends to integrations with other engineering applications on the desktop as we and our partners look to streamline the overall process of product development and lifecycle management," said William M. Gascoigne, CoCreate CEO.

I'm under impressed by the quotes in this release, but one never knows the parameters surrounding the quotes. When writing quotes, you must be sensitive to existing partners, liability issues, and if the company is public, the exacts words used as not to artificially inflate the stock price.

6. Conclusion and contact information

The last part is a round up of the release and contact information:

The integration, developed by TechnoStar in support with CoCreate, is part of the TSV-Solutions product suite. TechnoStar will offer the integration starting with version 1.3 of TSV-Solutions and the 2006 release of CoCreate OneSpace Modeling. The integration is available for purchase from TechnoStar.

For more information ...

Create your own press release

This release can be modified for any industry and used for your own partnership announcement. Just don't make up any new partnership words or phrases, please. That is the biggest mistake newcomers make when issuing a partnership announcement.

Press release FAQs

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