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December 11, 2008

Role of a Press Release

Posted by : Ash Mehta

A Press Release is a public relations tool in the hands of small and big businesses. Most companies take out a Press Release when they want to share the information or news with the media and general public. Usually the news is of commercial nature. For instance; a Press Release issued at the launch of a new company, a new product, a new website, software upgrades, winning awards, company merger etc. It has been used as a Public Relations tool for over a hundred years to provide first hand information to the journalists and public.

A good Press Release should have a solid news angle, well written and followed by a targeted distribution. In the earlier times lengthy press releases were written mainly targeted to be distributed through mass media including newspapers, TV channels and radio stations. In the present day brief Press Releases are written in the reverse pyramid format, giving the most important information first followed by other details. Now Press Releases are distributed to the online media as well – News Sites, Niche Websites, Blogs, Online magazines, E-zines, Newsletters etc.

With the growing trend of publishing Press Releases on the Web, many sites and online businesses get the SEO benefit from it. The issuing website that distributes a Press Release gains Valuable One Way links, placement in the news search engines and increased traffic to the featured website etc.

Mainly due to the SEO benefit and popularity measure, many sites issue a Press Release.

Generally a Press Release is written in the following format:

Release Time: Mention the Release Time; e.g. For Immediate Release OR Embargoed until Date

Headline: It is the Title of your News Story.

Subheading / Summary: It’s a 2-4 sentence summary of your Press Release.

Dateline: It contains the date when the news is being issued and the hometown of the person / company launching the Press Release.

Opening Paragraph: It should answer the 5 W’s of Who?, What?, When?, Where? and Why?

Press Release Body: Contains the details of background information, statistics etc.

Boilerplate: It contains “About Us” information regarding the issuing person / company.

Call to Action: For getting complete information mention complete Contact details & Web Address of the media person at the end.

A Press Release can be distributed by following methods:

Manual Distribution: You will have to search for media contacts yourself.
Hiring a Professional PR Firm: If your budget allows then you can opt for a professional service.
News / Press Release Distribution Sites: Such sites are often free but some good ones charge you for distributing each Press Release.

Media Contact Databases:

Paid and Free Distribution:

An estimate of Press Release Viewership:

As reported by http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm there are 1,463,632,361 internet users around the world. Therefore you may well imagine the scope of viewership your Press Release has on the Internet.