How to write a press release journalists will actually read
A journalist deciding whether to read your release will usually look at the subject line, the headline and the first paragraph, then move on. That’s the job of a press release: to get a busy reporter to understand your story fast enough that they want to know more. Here’s how to write one that does that, step by step.
If you’d rather start from a structure, our free press release template and checker follows the same order as this guide.
Step 1: Pass the news test before you write a word
Most weak releases fail here, not in the writing. Before drafting, answer these honestly:
- What is new? A launch, a result, a hire, a finding, a decision. “We’re passionate about customer service” isn’t news.
- Who outside your company cares? Name the readers of a specific publication, not “everyone”.
- Why now? A date, a change in the rules, a seasonal moment, a number that has just been published.
- What can you prove? Figures, documents, named people, a product someone can try.
If you can’t answer the first and second questions in a sentence each, you probably have a blog post or a social update, not a press release. That isn’t a failure. It just needs a different channel.
Step 2: Write a headline that states the news
Journalists aren’t looking for wordplay from you. They’ll write their own headline. Yours should say plainly what happened, ideally with a concrete detail.
- Weak: “Acme Ltd revolutionises the future of logistics”
- Better: “Leeds courier firm cuts van deliveries in city centre by switching to cargo bikes”
Use an active verb. Lead with the most specific noun you have. Avoid “leading”, “innovative”, “revolutionary” and similar words. They tell a reporter nothing and suggest you have nothing more concrete to say. A short subheading underneath can add a second fact.
Step 3: Add the dateline and release status
Above or at the start of the first paragraph, state where the news comes from and when it can be published:
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, or EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 BST, Tuesday 13 October 2026
- Dateline: LONDON, 13 October 2026 –
Always include the time zone and day of the week on an embargo. “Tuesday 13th” with no month has caused more than one awkward phone call.
Step 4: Write the lead paragraph in about 40 words
Your first paragraph should answer who, what, when, where and why in roughly 40 words. If a journalist only reads this paragraph, they should still be able to write a news-in-brief item from it.
A useful test: read the paragraph aloud to someone outside your industry. If they can’t repeat the news back to you, rewrite it. Cut the company boilerplate out of the lead (“Acme, the award-winning provider of…”) and put it at the bottom, where it belongs.
Step 5: Build the body in order of importance
The second and third paragraphs add the supporting detail: the numbers, how it works, what it costs, when it’s available, who it affects. Each paragraph should be less essential than the one above it, so an editor can cut from the bottom without losing the story.
Keep the release to one page where you can, roughly 300 to 500 words. If you have a lot of supporting data, link to it or attach it rather than packing it into the body.
Step 6: Use quotes that add opinion, not repetition
A quote is the only place in a release where someone can say what they think. Use it for that. The most common mistake is a quote that restates the facts with added excitement:
- Weak: “We are delighted to announce this exciting new partnership, which demonstrates our commitment to excellence.”
- Better: “Most of our city-centre drops are under five kilos. Putting them in a two-tonne van never made sense, and the council’s new loading rules just made it expensive too.”
The second quote gives a reason, takes a position and sounds like a person. A journalist can use it. One or two quotes is plenty, and each should come from a named person with a real job title.
Step 7: Add notes to editors and the boilerplate
After the main text, mark the end of the release with ENDS, then add:
- Notes to editors: methodology for any data, background facts, availability of images or interviewees, and links to supporting documents.
- Boilerplate: two or three sentences about the organisation. Who you are, what you do, where you’re based. Factual, not promotional.
- Media contact: a named person, a direct phone number and an email address that someone will actually answer on the day.
If you include survey or research figures, say in the notes who ran it, when, how many people took part and how they were chosen. Journalists will ask, and a release without this often goes unused.
Step 8: Use embargoes sparingly and precisely
An embargo is a request not to publish before a set time. It lets journalists prepare a story properly, and most respect it. But it’s an agreement, not a law, so:
- Only embargo news that genuinely benefits from preparation time, such as results, reports or announcements with a fixed date.
- Ask before sending embargoed material to a journalist you don’t know. Don’t assume they’ll agree.
- Put the embargo in the email subject line and at the top of the release.
- Don’t publish it on your own website or social channels before the embargo lifts.
Step 9: Send it one-to-one, not as a blast
A release sent individually to a reporter who covers your subject, with a short note explaining why it’s relevant to them, gets far more attention than the same release sent to a list of thousands. Before you hit send:
- Read what the journalist has written recently. Reference it if it’s relevant.
- Put the news in the subject line, not “Press release”.
- Paste the release into the body of the email. Don’t send it only as an attachment.
- Offer something specific: an interview, data, images, a visit.
- Follow up once, briefly, if there’s a reason to. Don’t chase repeatedly.
Wire and distribution services have their uses, such as regulatory announcements and reaching trade databases. We cover the options in our guide to press release distribution services in the UK. They complement direct pitching rather than replacing it. Our media relations work is built on the one-to-one approach.
Links in your release: brand names and plain URLs
Google’s spam policies list “links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites” as an example of link spam. In plain terms: don’t write “best affordable cargo bike delivery London” and link that phrase to your homepage, hoping it’ll help your rankings.
Instead, link your brand name or use a plain URL such as example.co.uk/report, and only where the link genuinely helps the reader find the source, report or product. If the release is published on a distribution service’s site, those links should carry rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". The spam policy says paid links are acceptable when qualified this way, and Google’s guide to qualifying outbound links explains the attributes. A press release is for informing journalists, not for building links. For more on where paid and earned coverage differ, see our guide to earned versus sponsored coverage.
Common mistakes
- Burying the news in paragraph three after two paragraphs of context.
- Superlatives with nothing to back them up (“the UK’s leading…”).
- Quotes that repeat the facts instead of offering a view.
- Survey figures with no methodology.
- No named contact, or a contact who is on holiday on launch day.
- Large attachments, or images embedded at full print resolution in the email.
- Keyword-stuffed headlines and links written for search engines rather than readers.
- Sending the same release to every journalist on a bought list.
A short annotated example
Fictional example. “Northgate Parcel Co.” and everyone named below are invented for illustration. Any resemblance to a real company or person is coincidental.
EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 BST, Tuesday 13 October 2026
[Release status with time zone and day: no ambiguity.]
Leeds courier firm moves city-centre parcel deliveries from vans to cargo bikes
[Headline: who, what and where, with no adjectives.]
LEEDS, 13 October 2026 – Northgate Parcel Co., an independent courier based in Leeds, will deliver all parcels under ten kilos inside the city’s inner ring road by cargo bike from 2 November, replacing six of its eight vans on those routes.
[Lead: about 40 words covering who, what, when, where. The “why” follows next.]
The company says the change follows new loading-bay restrictions in the city centre and will apply to around 1,200 deliveries a week. Its two remaining vans will handle heavier items.
[Body: the reason and the scale. In a real release, every figure must be one the company can prove.]
“Most of our city-centre drops are under five kilos. Putting them in a two-tonne van never made sense, and the new loading rules just made it expensive too,” said Priya Hale, operations director at Northgate Parcel Co.
[Quote: an opinion and a reason, in plain speech, from a named person.]
ENDS
Notes to editors: Photos of the cargo bikes and interviews with riders are available on request. Delivery volumes are based on the company’s own records for August and September 2026.
[Notes: where the numbers come from, and what’s on offer.]
About Northgate Parcel Co.: Northgate Parcel Co. is an independent same-day courier founded in Leeds in 2015, serving businesses across West Yorkshire. northgateparcel.example
[Boilerplate: factual, short, with a plain URL instead of a keyword link.]
Media contact: Sam Ortiz, 0113 000 0000, press@northgateparcel.example
Before you send
Run your draft through the press release checker. It flags long leads, missing contact details, unlabelled embargoes and keyword-heavy links. Then read the release once more as the journalist would: would you open it, and would you know the story by the end of the first paragraph?
If you’d like a second pair of eyes on a draft, or help working out whether a story is news yet, drop us a line. We’re happy to give an honest view.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search (link spam section)
- Google Search Central, Qualify your outbound links to Google