Writing a press release is actually a professional activity. The steps involved in writing a news article are somewhat very easy to follow but they do not really guarantee that in the end a good release will be produced. The importance to produce news worthy article cannot be emphasized more than it has now. The following are some of the characteristics of a good release.
A good press article should be straight forward and relevant to the story – get straight to the point as directly as possible without beating around the bush.
Good news worthy writing also must be objective from the first word to the last – objectivity in the sense that whatever news is carried in that writing is verifiable.
Releases should be easy to understand – easy and normal language should be used, idioms and metaphors unless from quotes should be avoided as much as possible
A good PR should deliver its message strongly – the focus of the article from the start to the end should be to get the message out as strong as possible.
Steps to take in writing a good press release
Start strongly – it is very important to make sure that you start with your message. The reader’s attention should be grabbed by whatever message that news release is giving. You can do this by putting the message on the headline. For example if you are reporting a drop in oil prices in New York, you should put the term oil prices drop in NYC in your headline.
Be precise – you should get your news out clearly without any contradiction. Any contradicting reports are best left out until they can be independently verified or confirmed.
Use ordinary and easy to understand language – the reason why you are writing the press release is because you want news to reach certain people. That should motivate you to make sure that the language is as easy to understand as possible.
Stay focused to the facts of the situation – the purpose of a news article is to report. In this regard you should cover every fact that is relevant to your news. Making personal sentiments in your release may dent its credibility considerably.
Write with the right format – News release formats are important because they will allow the intended reader to know that this is news the instant they see the news article.
Make your writing news worthy – making the news article news worthy simply means that your coverage should be based on current events and not historical.