The press release is one of the most important and versatile tools a company or brand can use to dialogue with the media. Whether in newspapers, magazines (online or offline), radio, television or podcasts, it is the first point of contact to convey strategic messages and reach a wider audience. However, to be effective, a press release must be carefully designed, adhering to some basic characteristics that vary depending on the objectives and the news to be communicated.
Every press release, in fact, must start from a clear and defined focus, to immediately capture the recipient's attention and ensure that the main message emerges strongly and unmistakably.
The main angles and focuses of a press release
When drafting a press release, it is essential to start with a clear understanding of the message you want to convey. Indeed, each type of news story requires a specific approach, with a structure and language appropriate to the content and the target audience.
Here are some examples of the focus a press release can have:
- The launch of a new product: perfect for presenting a novelty to the market, explaining its added value and benefits to the target audience.
- The announcement of a partnership: an opportunity to highlight strategic collaborations, showing how they strengthen corporate positioning and vision.
- The opening of a new location: ideal for communicating growth, geographic expansion or new investments.
- The implementation of market research: an opportunity to position oneself as an expert in a field by providing exclusive data and insights.
- The communication of a new hire: useful for introducing key figures, such as executives or experts, who strengthen the company team and know-how.
- A capital increase: strategic to demonstrate financial soundness, attract investors or highlight confidence in the project.
- Sharing an opinion on a hot topic.: a way to assert one's authoritative position on an issue relevant to the target market.
Each angle requires a different approach, but they all have one thing in common: they must be built on a clear and immediate message that is relevant to the audience and the media.
The right method for every news story
A press release is not just an informational text, but a real strategic tool. Therefore, it is important to adapt structure, tone and language To the type of news to be communicated. Here are some key aspects to keep in mind:
- A tone appropriate to the audience and the industry: The choice of words and communication style should reflect the context of the news and the brand identity.
- an informative title: It must catch the reporter's attention immediately and make the value of the news obvious.
- a clear subtitle: serves to add a key detail or perspective, creating immediate context.
- a strong incipit: The first paragraph is crucial in providing an effective summary of the news and prompting the reader to continue.
- a consistent and direct message: each communiqué must maintain a precise focus, avoiding digression or overloading the text with unnecessary information.
Some examples of communiqués
Opening of a new location
When you want to communicate the opening of a new location or venue, it is essential to encapsulate all the key information, such as the location and opening date, in the first paragraph of the press release. The focus should remain geared toward the goal of providing detailed information to the journalist. In fact, it is essential to highlight the unique features of the project and explain the company's reasons for opening a new location, including a narrative about the positive impact this can generate in the area.
New product launch
For the launch of a new product, it is important to specify what aspects make it unique and differentiate it from others, thus explaining the specific features, new features and changes that have been made (if it is, for example, a new version), and what to expect.
In addition, it should be remembered that the statement should remain as objective as possible, avoiding words such as. "best," "unique," "awesome." and those adjectives that can make the statement sound like a promotion of your product.
A capital increase
A company may present multiple elements of newsworthy relevance, such as a capital increase, planned new hires, or a narrative of economic growth experienced over the past year.
This kind of communication is particularly useful for telling the story of the organization's future goals, providing supporting data and numbers. In this way, the next steps the company intends to take can be clearly explained.
Market research
Sharing market research that the company has conducted internally, perhaps in collaboration with others or institutions, is crucial to building a stronger reputation in people's eyes and reaching audiences not only with news of launches, but also with a narrative more in an informational perspective.
In this case it is important to include in the first paragraphs of the press release the objective of the survey, the most relevant data that emerged and what can be inferred from it, as we did for example with UNGUESS.
There are, on the other hand, some press releases, as in the case of Reviva, which in addition to sharing the results of their report regarding the real estate auction market, aim to announce an online event to present the survey.
Obviously, the two news items must emerge immediately from the first lines, so that the focus is not lost on either one.
New partnership
In the narrative of a partnership, key elements must include an explanation of why two entities are united, and the goals of that union and the object of the collaboration, which may be, as in the case of xFarm and Granlatte, a new technology, cannot be missing either.
To be mentioned among the first information are all the actors involved, in addition to the two main companies, such as researchers, institutions, universities and collaborators who contributed and who can give more credibility and prominence to the news.
The company's point of view
Finally, we bring you another particular example of a press release, which is intended to bring out the voice of a company. This is content that reports the company's point of view about trends and dynamics in its target industry. Expressing a company's opinion helps to create more solidity in that company's reputation and authority, helping it position itself as a benchmark in its industry.
This is what we did with press releases from Reverse and Wikicasa. In the first case on the topic of minimum wages, also including quotes from the CEO of the headhunting company Reverse.
And in the second case, on the news of the M6 line in Milan, from the perspective of Wikicasa's real estate experts. These news stories, in addition to positioning the company, offer readers practical and useful insights and thoughts for their daily choices.
So what are the key points of these examples?
Let us try to summarize 3 central elements:
- a press release should never represent a promotional communication, but should contain relevant and useful information for the target audience. For example, telling the impact and real usefulness of a product or service, without blurring into a "commercial" approach allows it to provide readers and listeners with useful insights in the purchase decision-making process;
- each focus of communiqué require specific language and structure, depending also on the objectives of the strategy;
- journalists receive hundreds of communications: in order to stand out among the crowd of content, it is essential to respond to their needs, which represent the "information needs" of their readership, listeners, and users. For example, a release regarding a capital increase will not be addressed to a media outlet such as Vanity Fair, but may be sent to a media outlet such as MF Dow Jones. (In this case, it is essential to proceed with a media analysis before any communication is sent.)
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