What is a press release?
A press release is the formal way an organization announces something: a launch, a partnership, a hire, results, an event, a response to a situation. It follows a familiar structure: a headline, a dateline, an opening paragraph that answers who, what, when, where and why, supporting detail and quotes, a short boilerplate about the organization and press contact details. Releases are sent directly to journalists, distributed through wire services and posted in the company's online newsroom.
The format has been around for more than a century and has outlived many predictions of its death, because it does one job well: putting the official facts on the record. There are several kinds, from news and product releases to event announcements, financial results and statements responding to a situation, but they all follow the same basic shape.
Why it matters
Why a press release matters
It creates a single, approved version of the news. Journalists, partners, investors and employees can all refer to the same facts and quotes, which reduces errors and confusion. For public companies, releases are also part of disclosure obligations. And releases posted online become a permanent record that people can find through search.
On its own, a release rarely creates coverage. Journalists receive hundreds of them. Its value is in supporting a well-targeted pitch and giving reporters the details they need once they are interested.
In practice
How a press release works in practice
- 01
It starts with the news. The communications team confirms the story, its timing and what can be said, then drafts the release: a clear, specific headline, a first paragraph that would stand on its own, the most important information first and quotes that say something rather than repeating the facts. Legal and leadership review it, and assets such as images, video and links are prepared alongside.
- 02
The release is then sent to targeted journalists with personal pitches, sometimes under embargo, distributed on a wire service if broad reach is needed, and published in the brand's newsroom and on its social channels. Coverage and pickup are tracked, and questions from reporters are answered quickly. Search matters too: a release posted in an online newsroom is often one of the first results for the news, so the headline and first paragraph should use the words people will actually search for.
Watch out
What people get wrong about press releases
Burying the news. Releases that open with background, mission statements or adjectives make journalists hunt for the story, and most will not bother. The news should be clear from the headline and the first sentence.
The second mistake is writing quotes nobody would say. "We are thrilled to announce" tells a reporter nothing. A good quote adds opinion, context or feeling that the facts cannot.
Finally, many brands issue releases for things that are not news. Every release that is ignored makes the next one easier to ignore, so save them for announcements that matter. And sending the release as a locked PDF with no images makes a reporter's job harder; paste the text into the email, link to the assets and make everything easy to copy.
