5 press release mistakes PR pros should avoid

There’s no glamour in writing press releases.

It’s not sexy. It’s not terribly exciting, either. And there’s no fame and fortune waiting for a press release writer. But make no mistake; there absolutely is an art to writing great press releases.

When you’re competing against hundreds of other press releases trying to grab a reporter’s attention, you’d better hope you didn’t make any of these annoying mistakes when writing your release:

1. Taking way too long to get to the point. There’s not a reporter out there who isn’t pressed for time. If your press release takes three or four paragraphs to get the point, your story has zero chance of getting covered.

You need to be able to explain the key takeaway of your story in the headline and first couple of sentences before diving into the specifics.

2. Not explaining why the news is important. Context is incredibly important when writing a press release.

You can’t just assume the reporter will understand why your news is so significant, because it may not necessarily fall under his or her main area of coverage. You need to make it clear not just what the news is, but also why it’s important and needs to be covered.