When you hear the phrase press release, what do you think of? Maybe a stuffy, stodgy memorandum that details a few technical points about an announcement. It probably doesn’t have flair, though, whatever you think of. Which is what we want to talk about today. If you include a press release in your marketing strategy, you can get cheap and widespread publicity from a number of different outlets and media.

What is a Press Release?

Before you can integrate a press release into a marketing strategy, you need a solid understanding of what the document entails. To quote our own article^[1] on how to write a press release,

A press release is a summary of important news related to your company. You’ll essentially write a press release, then send it to several news organizations so they’re aware of what’s happening. If they’re interested, they’ll write about the news in their publications.

To be more specific, press releases aren’t normally written for page copy. Instead, they catch the attention of the people who do write the news, so they can decide if they want to pursue the lead.

With this in mind, press releases tend to be a lot shorter than regular articles, and focus on facts primarily.

The important takeaways from this quite are that aren’t normally written for page copy, their length is shorter than similar articles, and that their focus tends to be on facts, rather than commentary. These are recognized across the board as reasons why press releases are of a particular (and perhaps limited) use.

However, we want to take this opportunity to give examples of how you can lean into these particular elements to help your business grow and get the word out to markets and demographics that you might not be able to otherwise reach.

Effectively Using a Press Release

When you write a press release, remember that it is about the facts. You don’t want to include extraneous details about anything except the topic of the release. If it is about a new product launch, you shouldn’t include mention of your last quarter’s earnings. Basically, you need to stay on point.