10 Do's and don'ts for writing today's news release

Scott Van Camp, PR News. More journalists than ever before are now using social media to source, research and write their stories. As PR News reported in June 2012, a survey of 600 journalists by Oriella found that more than half (55%) use social channels such as Twitter and Facebook to find stories from known sources, and 43% verify existing stories using those social platforms. That's why it's important to have a social media-ready press release, so journalists will take notice of your news.

Keeping in mind this sea change from traditional releases of yore - which are more than likely ignored, deleted or never seen by today's journalists and other important stakeholders - here are 10 Do's and Don'ts for crafting news releases:

1. DON'T: Write long, verbose sentences telling the story. Get to the heart of the matter in both the headline and first graph. Think of the headline as a good Twitter pitch.
2. DO: Include a main image that tells your story. A reporter just might take that image and post it on their news site or blog.
3. DON'T: Use "inside baseball" jargon, unless your release is aimed at a highly targeted audience (in which case you probably should use another platform other than a news release to get the story out).
4. DO: Use quotes in your release from key influencers pertaining to your story. These can be linked to search engines and posted via Twitter and Facebook.
5. DON'T: Use clich's, generalizations or superlatives. Check out this PR News article on the "25 Most Overused Words and Phrases in Press Releases," at the bottom.
6. DO: Add links to research, facts, statistics or trends that could be helpful to the journalist writing the story. Take it from a PR News editor/reporter: Fresh, compelling data gets our attention.
7. DON'T: Use news@yourcompany.com as a contact. Use a real person, and add their social profiles.
8. DO: Make the release available in an RSS news feed. Most savvy reporters depend on feeds for story ideas.
9. DON'T: Leave out links to supporting materials like charts, slide decks, PDFs, infographics or whitepapers.
10. DO: Include case histories and/or human interest stories, and link to their sources for more information.

Finally, a bonus "do": Stay current on social media trends and tools, because there's a good chance reporters will discover them and use them.


25 Most overused words and phrases in press releases


Danielle Aveta. One word can best describe "new", "unique", "innovative" and the other 22 words and phrases on the list below: predictable.

These words and phrases pop up so much that they tend to lose their value and meaning. By using "cutting-edge" or "groundbreaking" in press releases or other copy when a product is neither, you are doing a disservice to yourself and to the product or service you are promoting.

Holly Arthur, assistant VP, media and public relations at the Association of American Railroads, recommends sticking to the facts and skipping the hype. "The key is to remember that a press release is only as good as the facts presented and news value they represent," she says.

Avoiding stale, overused words and phrases in press releases and other copy will remain a perpetual challenge for PR pros. Staci Perkins, director of marketing and communications at the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, says that lately she has been focusing more on her writing style. "Even with our subject matter - foster care adoption, child welfare, policy updates and so on - there's a way to write without sounding stale, and a way to tell a compelling story from the heart, without those overused press release words and phrases," Perkins says.

Here are the 25 words and phrases the PR News staff and our community have deemed to be overused to the point of being almost meaningless. Keep in mind, the point is not to avoid these words entirely, but to use them with discretion or find case-specific substitutes. As Arthur says, these words have become overused because "they are so effective in quickly setting the tone or context for the information being conveyed in a release."

1. Announced
2. Authentic
3. Award-winning
4. Best of breed
5. Cross platform
6. Cutting edge
7. Exciting
8. Exclusive 
9. Groundbreaking
10. Impact
11. Improved
12. Innovative
13. Launched
14. Leader/leading
15. Leverage
16. Next generation
17. New
18. Proactive
19. Proud to announce
20. Revolutionary
21. Solution
22. State of the art 
23. Unprecedented
24. Up and coming
25. Unique