Press releases are more than just words on a page. They’re designed to tell a story – your story. And you don’t want audiences putting down your book halfway through the plot.
“The challenge lies in balancing style with substance,” writes Glenn Frates, Regional Vice President of Customer Content Services at PR Newswire, in 5 Rules for Publishing High Quality Press Releases. “Fortunately, with the right formatting, you can have your content cake and eat it too.”
Formatting your press release to be reader friendly plays an important part in telling your brand story effectively. Not only does planning your press release layout help organize your ideas, it also ensures audiences will be able to follow your information from start to finish.
The next time you’re sending a press release, look to these six formatting practices to improve your storytelling.
1. Varied Sentence/Paragraph Structure
Strings of long sentences can lead to reader fatigue and ineffective messaging. Instead, utilize different sentence and paragraph lengths to make your content more dynamic.
Changing the pace and structure can also help readers better understand your content.
Elaborate on certain points that may need clarification or a deeper explanation; summarize with a short follow-up sentence.
2. Bulleted Lists
Press releases that are giant blocks of text run the risk of being overlooked. Bulleted/numbered lists and section headings are great solutions because they:
- Make dense content easier to scan
- Draw the eye to essential stats and facts
- Reinforce messaging with bolding, italics and other font-based emphasis
3. Quotes
Including quotes from company representatives provides your audience with a more personal perspective on the topic at hand. Use quotes that are conversational and stand on their own, and don’t forget proper attribution so they’re easier to repurpose by journalists covering your news.
4. Visuals
Every press release you publish should include a photo or video.
Our most recent multimedia study showed press releases that include an embedded image receive 1.4 times more views than their text-only counterparts; releases with videos see double that engagement.
On top of this, social media users are more likely to share something with rich visuals.
Start with your company logo, but also include additional images where appropriate – like a headshot with a personnel announcement. Get creative with infographics, product demos, animation and other visuals to connect emotionally with readers.
5. Boilerplates
Your boilerplate may be the most underrated paragraph you write for your press release. Don’t overlook it just because it comes after the body of your text.
This is your opportunity to highlight your company’s mission and offer context. By placing company background information in a boilerplate, you can streamline other areas of the press release where it’s more important to focus on your announcement’s core message.
Keep your boilerplate concise and set it off with a heading (“About [Your Company Name]” is standard) so that readers can quickly locate it to learn more about the company issuing the news.
6. Calls to action
Calls to action offer audiences the next step. Before writing your press release, decide on what action you want them to take and provide clear instructions.
You want to provoke an immediate response; you don’t want to leave your audience confused. Make your calls to action count by following these 10 tips.
The Next Level of Press Release Formatting
Although mastering these tried and true practices will set your content up for success, you need to take your formatting a step further to really stand out.
Cue multimedia news releases and the continually evolving realm of branded content hubs.
For an example of the eye-catching, interactive formatting I’m talking about, take a look at Dove’s recent #LoveYourHair promotion.
Branded landing pages like this not only showcase press release text and downloadable multimedia on a larger scale, they can also include engagement-driving elements such as live social feeds, call to action buttons, click-to-tweet invites, and lead generation forms. Moreover, banner graphics, brand color palettes and fonts all help establish visual consistency, which is vital to brand credibility.
When considering your formatting in the grand scheme of things, try to put yourself in the shoes of the reader. What pulls you into others’ stories? What appeals to your eye when you’re the reader and not the writer?
Keep an eye out for new techniques and continue to evolve not just your press release formatting, but also your writing and distribution. Download our white paper Evolution of PR’s Role in the Marketing Funnel and learn more about PR tactics that drive bottom-line results.
Author Kelly Hoover is a Customer Content Specialist based in Cleveland. PR Newswire’s Customer Content Services team is available 24/7 to counsel brands on content distribution. Kelly enjoys running, walking her dog Mia, and talking anything Ohio University. Follow her on Twitter at @kellsmason and @PRNbiztech. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn.
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