What is a Press Release?

Publish a Press Release on STL.News
Publish a PR on STL.News

What is a Press Release (PR)? A PR is a written or recorded communication directed to the news media to announce something newsworthy.

The Internet has popularized the press release (PR) distribution industry, making press release distribution more available to small businesses worldwide.  Once something that professional PR firms offered, many business owners did not know how to distribute them.  However, in today’s technologically driven business world, business owners worldwide have access to significant press release distributors online, making it easy and affordable.

PR’s usually are mailed, faxed, or emailed to assignment editors and journalists at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, online media, TV stations, and networks.

A standard format is believed to be efficient and increases the odds of getting the publicity desired.  In addition, such a structure will help journalists press releases from other PR communication strategies, for example, pitch letters or media advisories.

A PR body should consist of 4 to 5 paragraphs with 400 to 500 words maximum.  It is usual for PR’s to be 300 to 800 words.

Some more modern thoughts are to pitch the writer first with an approach specific to their beat.

Common structural elements include:

  • Headline – grab the attention of journalists and summarize the news.
  • Dateline – include the release date and the originating city.  If a date listed is after the date the information was actually sent to the media, the sender is requesting a “news embargo”; however, journalists are not obligated to honor it.
  • Introduction – the first paragraph should give the basic answers to who, what, when, where, and why.
  • Body – additional explanations made, statistics, background, or other details relevant to PR’s news.
  • Boilerplate is generally a short section about the topic, providing independent background on the issuing company, organization, or individual.
  • Close – “###” indicates the end of the PR.
  • Media contact information – name, phone, email, mailing address, or other important contact information for the PR or other media relations contact person.

STL.News distributes PR’s using Google News, Bing News, News360.com, shared to multiple blog aggregators, social media sites, and more.

Press releases are efficient and cost-effective.

  1. Submit a PR
  2. Video PR
  3. Submission & Distribution
  4. How to Publish a Press Release
  5. PR Distribution
  6. PR Writing Service
  7. View PRs on STL.News

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