Amy Hennessey of McNeil Wilson Communications held a press release writing workshop on November 10 hosted by UH PRSSA. Hennessey went over the basic structure of a press release such as the inverted pyramid and its components.
Those in attendance also learned about media alerts/advisories, calendar listings, and pitch e-mails, which are variations of press releases. Hennessey also gave those that were present some tips and simple rules to follow when writing a press release. First, the press release must start strong with an attention grabber that will automatically grab the reporter’s attention in a matter of seconds. A press release must be written professionally, concise, and proofread multiple times before it is sent out. A press release should have an angle that ties in with current events, studies, or trends to give it social relevance or importance.
In addition, the workshop went over social media optimization. Other than print or news media, press releases can also be sent through e-mail, posted on blogs, sent as links to websites, and as RSS feeds. When social media is used, search engine optimization must be kept in mind. Keywords must be mentioned in the press release at least 3 times to ensure the appearance of the press release on the first page of a search engine. Additionally, videos with links and photos with links should be embedded to avoid the possibility of the contents being stuck in the recipients’ servers.
Hennessey ended with sharing her experiences and advice, reminding everyone to push out press releases throughout the year as a single press release per year won’t do much.
