In short
- A press release is a text a company sends to newsrooms to pitch a story: a new fact, who tells it, the data behind it and whom to ask for more. The journalist decides whether to publish it, rewrite it or ignore it.
- It works when it is about something the publication's readers care about. The company's product enters the story as expertise, never as an offer.
- It is written in this order: headline, subheading, opening with place and fact, data with sources, a quote from a real person, two lines about the company, contacts.
- The example in this guide really ran: Serpac's release on Christmas gifts that can catch fire in transit, picked up on 13 December 2023 by six daily newspapers of the same group and, rewritten with new data, by Sky TG24 on 14 December 2024.
- No calls to buy in the text, no purchased lists, no sites that publish anyone's releases: they are the three fastest ways to end up in the bin.
A press release is a short text a company uses to pitch a story to journalists. It is not a finished article: it is working material for someone in a newsroom who has a few seconds to decide whether there is a story for their readers.
The examples come from the work of the Deep Marketing press office, which prepares releases with clients and takes them to newsrooms.
What is a press release?
A press release is the official communication with which a company, an organisation or a person announces a fact to the media: a launch, a figure, an event, an appointment, a position. It contains everything the journalist needs to write the piece and to check it.
The difference from a media statement is one of scale. A statement is usually shorter and responds to something that has already happened: a clarification, a comment, a reply. A press release brings new news and develops it.
A press release has a limit worth accepting from the start: the newsroom can change it, cut it or leave it where it is. Anyone who wants to decide headline, space and publication date buys an advertising page, which is a different thing and is read in a different way.
When do you need a press release, and when not?
You need one when there is news. The release does not create it: it puts it in order and takes it to the right people.
The question to ask before writing is simple. Would a reader of that publication, who does not know your company, find what you are about to tell interesting? If the answer is no, the release will not run, however well it is written.
Often the news is there, but not where the company is looking for it. Two cases from our work:
- A bearings distributor wanted to become known. A text about bearings would have been read only by insiders. The release started from the passion for cycling that was filling the roads in those months, moved on to safety and only at the end reached the performance of the components: that way the client spoke as an expert on a subject everyone cares about.
- For a marketing book, our press office wrote that books get little space in newspapers, and built the text on one of the book's strongest ideas. The book enters the story; it does not open it.
A press release is not the tool when the news is your offer: a discount, a new price list, an extra service. That is advertising, and newsrooms send it to the paper's sales department.
How do you write a press release, part by part?
You write it from the most important fact to the least important, because the journalist reads the beginning and decides there. Here are the parts, in the order they appear.
| Part | What it contains | The most common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | The fact, in one line | An advertising claim instead of the news |
| Subheading | The figure or detail that shows why it matters | As long as a paragraph |
| Opening | Place, date and the five Ws: who, what, when, where, why | Three lines of context before the fact |
| Body | Data with its source, concrete examples, context | Figures without a source, adjectives instead of figures |
| Quote | One or two sentences from a real person, with name and role | A sentence nobody would say out loud |
| About the company | Two or three plain lines at the end | A list of awards and superlatives |
| Contacts | Who answers journalists, phone and email | A generic address nobody reads |
Five rules our press office repeats to clients, and that almost always make the difference:
- The headline is a draft. The journalist almost always changes it, for their publication and their readers. It is there to make the news clear at a glance, not to win an award.
- The subheading fits in two lines. If it needs four, the news is not yet clear to the person writing.
- Keep it short before someone else cuts it. The newsroom shortens a text that is too long on its own, and not always where you would.
- Introduce the company in measured doses. A company has to come across as credible, but if the first lines read like a brochure the release is discarded unread.
- No call to buy or to sign up in the text. A release that ends with «sign up here» or «discover the offer» is read as advertising. The invitation, dates and practical details go in the email that accompanies the release: the journalist decides whether to include them.
A real example: the Christmas gifts that can catch fire
Serpac makes UN-approved packaging for transporting dangerous goods. Put that way, it is a topic for a logistics magazine. The Christmas release took it to national newspapers by starting from a question everyone asks in December: how do you ship a gift.
The reasoning was this. Perfumes, aftershaves and cosmetics are among the most bought gifts, and for transport many of these products are flammable liquids, so dangerous goods. People who ship them from an online shop or pack a parcel at home usually do not know it.
The text, in the version published on 13 December 2023, was built like this:
| Block | What it said | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Christmas, gifts, perfume among the most chosen presents | It starts from the reader, not from the company |
| Data | Surveys by Confcommercio with Format Research on gifts and by Cosmetica Italia on perfumery sales, with the source in the text | The journalist can check them in a minute |
| The news | For transport purposes these products are class 3 flammable goods | It is the fact the reader does not know |
| Quote | Ermanno Vicini, CEO of Serpac: many companies and many private individuals ship dangerous goods without knowing it | A real person, with their role, explains the risk |
| Advice | Approved packaging, marks and labels, the rules for road, rail, sea and air | The piece is useful to whoever reads it |
The company's name appears once, in the quote. The product is never sold: it is clear that Serpac knows what it is talking about.
The piece ran the same day in Il Gazzettino, Il Messaggero, Il Mattino, Leggo, Corriere Adriatico and Quotidiano di Puglia. They belong to the same publishing group: when one newsroom publishes a story, its sister papers often pick it up in other regions.
A year later the topic was the same, but the data was new. The December 2024 version cited a more recent survey, by the Klarma platform, on personal-care gifts, and ran on Sky TG24 on 14 December. After Christmas the angle changed: unwanted gifts that are put back up for sale, with the same risk in shipping. That is how it ran on the news agencies AGI and Adnkronos and on about fifteen local sites. A story that comes back every year works again if it brings something new.
The work for Serpac, with the coverage of the following years, is described in the case study.
Who do you send a press release to, and when?
You send it to the person in that newsroom who covers the subject, not to the publication's generic address. A release on logistics goes to whoever writes about business or consumers; one on a technical event goes to whoever covers the local area and industry.
There are three main routes:
- News agencies, such as ANSA, Adnkronos and AGI in Italy: a story picked up by an agency reaches dozens of newsrooms.
- Daily newspapers, national and local, which in Italy often belong to publishing groups: the Serpac example shows what happens when a group takes up a story.
- Trade magazines, the ones your clients actually read, even if nobody finds them at a newsstand.
On timing, the newsroom calendar rules: an event is announced weeks in advance, and a story tied to an occasion, like Christmas, has to arrive before newsrooms prepare their pieces on that subject. When time is short you can still work: for Ingegneria Italia's Convivium Padova the press office had ten days of preparation and secured 17 pieces of coverage.
The email that accompanies the release matters almost as much as the release. It says in two lines why that story interests that particular publication, and carries the practical information that does not fit in the text.
What should you not do with a press release?
Three habits that waste time and reputation:
- Purchased address lists. A thousand random addresses are worth less than ten people who really follow your subject, and people who receive off-topic releases learn to ignore your name.
- Sites that publish releases for anyone. They make the press review grow, but nobody reads them and they bring no credibility.
- Paid articles presented as news. An advertorial is advertising: it can make sense, but it is bought and labelled as such. It does not build the trust that comes from a journalist choosing to write about you.
Then there is a mistake of tone, the most common one: writing the release like a brochure. Superlatives, «industry leader», «innovative solution». The journalist takes them out, or takes out the whole release.
Frequently asked questions
What is meant by a press release?
It is the text with which a company or organisation announces news to journalists, with the data, a quote and the contacts for more. The newsroom decides whether and how to use it.
Who can write a press release?
Anyone with news to tell, including a company without a press office. A professional knows the newsrooms, knows which angle interests each one and takes the release to the right people.
What is the difference between a media statement and a press release?
A statement is shorter and usually responds to something already known, with a clarification or a comment. A press release announces new news and develops it with data and quotes.
How do you make a press release?
You start from the news, then write a headline, a subheading and an opening that answers who, what, when, where and why. Then come data with sources, a quote from a real person, two lines about the company and the contacts.
How long should a press release be?
As short as it takes to tell the news with its data. The newsroom cuts a long text, and not always in the right places.
Is the release's headline the one that will appear in the paper?
Almost never. The headline is there to make the news clear to the journalist, who then rewrites it for their publication.
If you would rather hand over the work
The Deep Marketing press office looks for the news inside your company, writes the materials with you and takes them to the right journalists. How it works, phase by phase, is on the press office page. To understand how to read a quote and what to expect from the service, there is the press office guide.
Sources
- Il Gazzettino, «Regali di Natale, uno su quattro può incendiarsi: ecco i prodotti che è meglio non spedire», 13 December 2023 (in Italian): ilgazzettino.it
- Sky TG24, «Regali di Natale, ecco come imballarli per evitare che prendano fuoco», 14 December 2024 (in Italian): tg24.sky.it
- Deep Marketing, Serpac case study: deepmarketing.it
- Deep Marketing, Ingegneria Italia and Convivium Padova case study: deepmarketing.it
PS: the cover image was generated with artificial intelligence.
