Free Press Release Template in Google Docs with Notes
How to write a press release in 2020 with Press Release Template in Google Docs.
Public Relations is an important part of any marketing initiative. It’s also probably the most miss-interpreted, and miss-understood tool marketers use on a regular basis. Many people have asked the question “Why doesn’t my press release get picked up?”. I’m going to be very honest about this, someone told me this and I found it very freeing. You’re not as interesting as you think you are. For the most part, in entertainment news, for instance, people are interested in stories about people, brands, and current affairs they are familiar with. So the first step in writing your press release is finding a hook.
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FINDING A HOOK
Finding a hook for writing a good press release is honestly either very easy because it’s a good story, or as more often the case, tricky and even sometimes downright hard. The first thing to realize is that if you’re doing backflips to line your subject matter up with current affairs, or reaching incredibly far from your core subject to find a good hook, it might be time to reconsider if a press release is even necessary. That all said, you should in no way be discouraged writing a good press release for a niche subject intended for publications dedicated to that niche. Which brings us to the next tip.
FIND YOUR AUDIENCE
We’re all incredibly different people and interested in incredibly different things. That means if you’re passionate about something then someone else is probably passionate about it too. Regardless of your industry, there are likely trade publications dedicated to it. Find those email addresses and add them to your press list.
REMEMBER WHO YOU’RE WRITING FOR
I mean this both literally and figuratively. You should be writing press releases with two people in mind. The reader and the reporter you’re sending it to. That’s a very big mistake that most people make when writing a press release. A good press release is not a letter to a reporter telling them why they should write about you. A good press release is a finished article itself. Think about it, if you’re a reporter (or anyone) and you have a few dozen or more articles to write in the day, wouldn’t it be nice if some of those were already done for you? Reporters are very busy and very underpaid, so if you can slide a great article into their inbox that’s ready to go, they might just give it a bit more attention than a formal letter that involves more work on their end.
REMEMBER THE W5
The ‘who, what, where, when, why, and how’ questions are the cornerstone of a good news article. Remember, that’s essentially what you’re aiming to write. Your press release should cover all the basis of who is involved, what the subject matter is, where it happened or will happen, when it happened or will happen, why it happened or is happening, and how it happened or will happen, and what action people should take as a result.
We’ve created a Press Release template in Google Docs you can access here. The document itself contains notes on each section and how you should think about it when constructing your release.
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