10 Press Release Best Practices That Will Skyrocket Your PR
This is one of our most popular posts. We updated it Feb. 26, 2019, to make it even more relevant. We hope you enjoy it!
PR has seen many changes in the past few years — including technology, distribution of news, and the challenges facing journalists[1]. Do these changes signal a shift away from the press release? Not at all! When crafted correctly, press releases[2] are valuable PR tools[3]. Learn what press release best practices[4] for 2019 can make your news and announcements more effective in today’s competitive world.
10 Press Release Best Practices That You Can Take to the Bank
1. Make Your Headline Pop
Your press release headlines[5] may be a relatively small part of your release, but play a huge role in its effectiveness. Your headline, or press release title, sets the tone for what to expect.
These few words can make the difference between an open or a pass. Make your headline count with following pointers.
Use action words that capture the reader’s attention, and empower your message.
Take diction into consideration. The rhythm of your headline can play a large role in how it appeals to readers.
Keep it short and sweet to please the search engine powers that be, as well as prospective readers. The optimal length for a press release headline should be 100 characters or fewer. This also helps if people later want to tweet your press release.
Extra tip: If you would like your press release to be effectively indexed by Google, fit all your essential information in the first 65 words (which is all will show up in Google search results).
Use well-known abbreviations in your press release headline to keep it short. For example, instead of ABC Corporation, you could use ABC Corp.
Make it stand out among the dozens of press release titles that journalists read on a daily basis.
Use human language — in other words, skip the hype. Avoid stuffing your title with keywords, slang, idioms, or industry jargon. Use simple, every-day language. Search engines favor such human-sounding headlines over exaggeration or word-play.