A Publicist's Guide to Writing Basics

Press releases have long been a staple of publicity, as written communication plays a large role in influencing attitudes within the public sphere. Since public relations articles are often featured in print and don’t cost anything to get published, these pieces can build great reputations for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. As a publicist, your job is to represent your clients in their best light, and that includes crafting factual, proofread press releases that speak to audiences with the right vocabulary, correct spelling, and appropriate tone. A successful press release will highlight the positive attributes of a client while appearing trustworthy.

Incorporating the right diction into your press release can help you get your points across clearly and concisely. Since press releases only allow for a limited amount of space to engage readers, present your ideas, or make announcements, choose strong action words that inspire excitement or curiosity. Keep your press release’s text simple with easy-to-understand language that can be understood by a student in middle school. Avoid using curse words or slang: These words can reflect negatively on an individual, business, or organization.

Once you’ve finalized the first draft of your press release, proofread it for errors like grammar mistakes. Ensure that your message comes across successfully. Verify that all of the claims made in the press release are factual, make sure that contact information is correct, and check the functionality of all links. Consider printing out your press release, reading it aloud, and/or sending it to a confidant for feedback. If you find that your press release can be revised for clarity or that you need to add or remove particular sentences, take the time to craft a second draft of your press release.

Correctly spelling each word in the text helps impart the right message to readers. After finishing your piece, run your word processor’s spellchecker. Then, read your press release to check for homophones. See to it that all of the names in your press release are spelled correctly, especially if your clients have unique surnames. Take your time when checking your spelling; spelling mistakes can negatively impact your clients’ images and may call into question your competence as a publicist.

Sometimes, the job of a publicist requires creating documents that closely mirror research papers. In these types of pieces, research findings, analyses, and conclusions may be offered to the public. While the technical research may have been conducted by organizations or scientists, publicists have to find ways to compile all of their work into a simple form that can be easily understood by the public. To achieve this, you can take cues from the basic elements of research papers. Make potentially dense research more exciting by crafting a dynamic headline, lead your document with your conclusion, and use memorable quotes from experts.

Writing a great press release that gets complex ideas across and garners maximum attention can be a fine art. For this reason, it can be important to follow the tried-and-true tactics of publicists who have successfully written press releases for a variety of industries. Adhere to the accepted format of press releases to achieve a streamlined presentation. Tie your press release to relevant current events, try to keep the text under 500 words, and keep important information near the top of your piece. Work to establish relationships with journalists and people in the media so that your press release can reach as wide of an audience as possible.

Visit the following websites for more information on how to write clearly and concisely in press releases:

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A Publicist's Guide to Writing Basics

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