📣 #012: How to write a press release

The next edition from the 52 PR Tips challenge: prompts, tips & templates to help you Hype Yourself.

Hiya 🌊! I’m Lucy from Hype Yourself. If you are new to this page, pop your email below to ensure you receive my posts sent every Sunday. You will receive a selection of posts from the 52 PR Tips challenge, personal essays and other good things on self-promotion and creative living.

WELCOME TO THE 52 PR TIPS CHALLENGE - TASK 12

Do you know what to put about your business in a press release?

Do you know the difference between using a press release and a pitch?

Be Press Release Ready 

Write your press release. Even if you never send it, writing on eis a useful exercise. Be clear on the five W's: Who, What, Where, When & Why?  

🚨Disclaimer: I hate press releases 🚨

Press releases for me are up there with arrogant business owners who used to ask me to, “Just whip up a press release about *it and send it out to your little black book”

*it usually being really dull to anyone outside the business, like a new brand positioning with a website

A well-written press release or great contacts can’t negate a crap story.

I understand that press releases are a necessary evil. The problem is that most people don’t understand what they are for, and even publicists don’t use them properly.

A press release is not

❌📇 A document that you write and then wang out to a list of journalists and call it PR. (That it is called spam babe).

❌🕶️ An advert or opportunity for you to say how great you are. It is meant to be for facts, not opinions.

❌💵 Something you should pay to get placed. (If you are paying for coverage, it is not editorial, publicity or PR - when you pay for coverage, that is called advertising).

A press release is great for

✅ 📆 Telling a breaking news story with facts and contact information for further information

✅ 🧹 A cost-effective way to market your business IF written appropriately

✅ 🤷🏻‍♀️ Best used as background information to go alongside a tailored pitch

This week, we are going to take a look at the following:

• How to write a decent press release

• Different types of press releases

• The difference between a press release and a pitch

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