Press Release Writing – Making News Out Of No News

An article by Muhammad Farhan Bashir    5 Comments

Press release writer’s worst nightmare becomes a reality when clients themselves have no idea about what news they want to propagate; they just want a press release.

Trust me, such nightmares happen quite often. As a ghostwriter, I have plenty of horror stories to share. Most of the details I receive from my clients read;

‘I have a website watevertheurl.com for which I need a newsworthy press release. I don’t have any idea or news right now. ’

What a clueless client! But beware! Sometimes the details are in a language, you just can’t interpret, so this one is still among my not-so-scary ones.

As a matter of fact, such projects used to be quite frustrating for me in the beginning, but with time I have learned exactly how to handle them, not like a press release writer, but like a news reporter. As I am here to share my experience with you, here is a thing you must first understand about press releases.

‘While bad Press release is one which reads like a sales pitch, one which reads like an article is the worst.’

Too much information on various aspects of a niche will make your release sound like an article. Always remember that a press release should focus more on the news rather than the specific product, service or company the release is about. That doesn’t mean you should completely totally overlook them either.

So, first of all you need to find the news and craft out a headline. Here are a few tricks to do that.

• See if the website is newly launched. If it is then ‘BAAM’… Problem Solved!  Tell them some thoughtful and considerate person has launched a new website to solve their problems regarding ‘whatever the website does’ or something related to that.
• Check out the website to see what is so unique that they are offering and their competitors are not. The websites are usually bragging about loads of ‘unique’ services and offers which set them apart. Make a headline out of such unique offers and services, and you are good to go.
• Find out if your client is catering to a particular customer base or area. Check for some stats about needs or problems faced by that customer base related to whatever your client’s niche is. Your headline can work as a ‘good news’ heralding the end of customer’s particular problems.
• Think about the benefits of your clients business on a broader level, for instance, economy, environment, technology or social ties. I guess nothing else can make a better news than a small business focusing on bigger benefits.

Now remember one thing, news is good enough to get you started with the headline and the first paragraph. You can later start to add details about features and facts about the product or service of your client, but even that has to relate to the news somehow. You can find details, regarding how you can achieve that, in my blog which describes the difference between article and a press release.