Writing a press release: how to build one that gets published

When is something news?

The first question isn't how you write, but whether you have something to say. Journalists judge a release on news value, and you recognize that by at least one of these traits:

• Timeliness: it's happening now or connects to what's happening now
• Impact: it affects a large group of people, a sector or a region
• Numbers: your own research or data that reveals something new
• Surprise: it deviates from what's usual or expected
• Human interest: there's a person with a relatable story behind it

The simplest test: do you ever read this kind of story yourself in the outlet you want to appear in? If not, it's not news but an ad, and those don't get published. No news on the shelf? The Personal Newsfeed in Presscloud shows daily news hooks your brand can jump on, and practical tips or research can still turn a quiet moment into a press moment.

The structure of a press release

Every press release follows the same structure, from top to bottom:

1. Label: the words PRESS RELEASE at the top of the document (never in your email subject line)
2. Headline: the news in one sentence, factual and compelling
3. Subheadline: a second line that adds context or names the sender
4. Lead: three to five sentences answering who, what, where, when, why and how
5. Body: five paragraphs at most with depth, numbers and quotes
6. Boilerplate: two to four sentences about your company under the heading "About [company name]"
7. Note to editors: contact details and a link to royalty-free images

Writing so it can be cut from the bottom

The most important writing rule: your release must survive being trimmed. An editor must be able to cut from the bottom without losing essential information. So the news goes in the headline and the lead, depth in the middle, and background at the bottom. Never the other way around.

Headline and subheadline

The headline is the first and often only thing a journalist reads. A good headline flags a problem or presents the news, without shouting. Example of a strong pair: "Not just a glass ceiling, a sticky floor also threatens diversity in the tech sector" with the subheadline "Female founder calls on women to show more ambition".

A lead that works: example

The lead answers the five W's in three to five sentences and creates urgency. This is the lead of the press release that helped Shypple get named Startup of the Year at the time:

Importers and exporters who ship their goods by sea freight face a huge amount of opaque services and the hidden costs that come with them. That's the finding of research by Shypple, the startup launching today, which wants to make the shipping market more transparent. The online freight forwarder wants to make it easier for Dutch SMEs to import and export goods.

Why this works: it presents a problem (SMEs pay hidden costs), backs it with original research, has a clear sender, a news hook (the launch today) and a mission. Five ingredients in three sentences. You'll find more examples per situation, from funding to product launch, in the press release examples.

Writing rules

• Objective. Write the way a journalist would write. "Best", "smartest" and "leading" belong in an ad, not in a press release.
• Short. One page at most, a page and a half tops. Writing is cutting.
• Jargon-free. Use the language of the outlet's reader, not that of your own field.
• With quotes. One quote from the founder or director and, where possible, one from a customer, partner or independent expert. Quotes are the only place where opinion is allowed.
• With facts. Numbers, dates and names make a story verifiable and therefore usable.
• Flawless. Journalists live off language. One spelling mistake undermines your entire release.

7 steps to a publish-ready press release

1. Define the news. Put into one sentence what's new and who it's relevant for.
2. Write the headline and subheadline. The news up front, the sender in the subheadline.
3. Write the lead. Answer the five W's in three to five sentences.
4. Build the body. Depth, numbers and quotes, ordered so it can be cut from the bottom, in five paragraphs at most.
5. Add the boilerplate and note to editors. Who you are, contact details and an image link.
6. Check language and objectivity. Have someone outside the project read along.
7. Arrange images. Royalty-free, high-resolution photos via a link, never as an attachment.

Common mistakes

From the thousands of releases sent through Presscloud, the same patterns show up in releases that underperform:

• The news is in paragraph three instead of the headline
• The release reads like an ad full of superlatives
• There isn't a single number or verifiable fact in it
• The sender is unreachable for questions after sending
• The release is longer than a page and a half
• Images are missing, which makes publishing extra work

Using AI for your press release

A language model writes a grammatically correct press release in seconds, but doesn't know your news. So the order is: first gather the news, the numbers and the quotes yourself, then generate. The Presscloud AI Generator is built for this: it combines your input with your website, social media and earlier publications into a release with the right structure, which you then sharpen yourself. It stays your story; AI just speeds up the path from idea to publish-ready copy.

Checklist before sending