Write Better Press Releases

Course review:

Write better press releases that will catch the journalist's eye and get your story into print. Structure your news release exactly as a journalist would write it. In one intensive day you will learn how to produce tightly written copy that will give your story the best possible chance of being published. This course will help you write faster with more confidence and greater ease.

It will enable you to develop stories relevant to the different media and help you avoid the editorial waste bin. We will examine the different types of press release, and help you enliven them with appealing headlines, sharp intros and telling quotes. Learn how to find new angles for the same old products and services, inject human interest and discover what journalists are really looking for.

As well as tips, techniques and all the writing theory, there will be plenty of exercises and an opportunity to practice your new skills on your own-choice project. We’ll look at delegates’ own releases and analyse how they might be improved. And we’ll study a variety of releases from a journalist’s post bag (and email) so you can assess what other PRs are putting out, and how you can do better. This is an opportunity to see things from the journalist’s perspective as the workshop is run by a journo who has been on the receiving end of press releases for over two decades.

Key training areas:

- Characteristics of news and features

- The importance of the different writing styles

- Structuring your intro for maximum impact

- Eye catching headlines

- what works and what doesn't

- Targeting and timing

- and when not to use embargoes

- Use credible quotes that add value to your message

- Every picture tells a story

- caption writing that counts

- The must-have-list every press release should have