Developing an effective press release is an art form. The content must be creative, eye catching, and somehow moving to the reader. Though this sounds much like the creation of a successful marketing campaign, the idea here is to assemble a final release that
communicates ideas and features in a manner that makes the copy of
interest to the news-hungry.

One of the most important things to be aware of is that writing press releases is all about developing a persuasive message within the framework of a traditional news story format.
Editors will quickly trash media releases that make outlandish promotional promises -- "the best ever", "everyone wins", "one-of-akind", "changing humankind forever". Instead, you must think like a reporter. Media releases must follow journalistic style in order to be given any kind of consideration. How do you accomplish this task?

Collate and Organize Your Facts Contrary to what most people think, a journalist actually spends the bulk of his or her time collating facts. When everything is ready, it is not uncommon for journalists to write the story in just half an hour.
How should we go about collating all the information and facts surrounding a particular event? A simple rule of thumb is to find answers to questions pertaining to the who, what, when, where, why or “5 Ws” of the event. And we do not stop at just the absolute facts
and figures. These must be presented in the right perspective relative to some industry norms, trends and statistics. You may have to undertake some research by going through past industry and newspaper reports.

Identify Your Story's Angle
Now that you have collated all the relevant facts and figures, the next step is to identify the "angle" or headline of your story. A good
story angle must have the following three attributes:
It must be the most important fact in your story.
It must be timely.
It must be unique, newsworthy or contrary to industry norms and trends.
This story angle must be presented in the first paragraph as well as the headline of your press release. Most newspapers employ an "inverted pyramid" format that presents the most important information in the opening paragraph, follows by other information that support or develop the key points raised in the first paragraph.

Create a Catchy Headline
By all means, keep your headline short and simple using less than ten words. It should convey the key point raised in your opening paragraph in a light-hearted manner that catches people's attention and imagination.

Write in Third-Person Voice
Unlike an email newsletter written in a personal voice, a press release must be presented objectively in a third person point of view. The reason is obvious. Every journalist has a duty to provide his readers with impartial facts and figures. He must not be seen as endorsing a company's products or services.
Some of the guidelines are listed below:
afqam from using any sales pitch in your press release.
Remove "you", "I", "we" and "us" and replace them with
"he" and "they".
Provide references to any statistics, facts and figures raised in the press release.
afqam from expressing personal opinions, unless they are done in quotes.
Draw conclusion from facts and statistics only - not general opinion.
Provide "quotes" from the newsmakers.
As a newsmaker, put your most important message down into a quote. Reporters always use quotes from the newsmakers to add an authority voice to their reports. If your press release contains quotes that are important and relevant to the story, chances are high that they will be replicated in full in the published article.
Provide Additional Background Information You should end your press release with an appendix that provides brief background information on your company, newsmakers as well as
who to contact for further information.

Identify Your Readers
Do you understand your consumers well? As marketers, it is important for you to recognize the profile and buying behavior of your consumers. Information such as their age groups, interests and preferred media would come in handy when you want to reach out to them effectively.
The key to an effective communication, whether verbal or written, lies in presenting your messages to interested readers. Whenever possible, you should only send your press releases to those media whose readers' profile matches that of your target consumers.

Relate Message to Readers
What you want to say about your product or service may not be the same as what your readers want to know. You and your readers may look at the same event from totally different perspectives.
To kindle your reader’s interest, you must present your intended message from their perspective. If you’ve done a good job understanding your readers, you should have no problem empathizing with their view and interest.
Remember that practice makes perfect and the best way to learn how to write an effective press release is to observe how business news is reported in the business section of your local newspaper.