I think that when writing a press release, there’s really one key principle that rules them all: Write what your intended audience is interested in reading.

It’s a bit tricky, of course, because any press release will really have two sets of audiences: 1) the reporters and bloggers who you want to pick up your press release, and 2) the people who read what the reporters and bloggers write. Hence, you have to keep these two different groups in mind when writing.

For the reporters and bloggers, it’s important that your release is actually communicating news. If it’s not new (an event, a new product, results, new staff, etc), then they won’t use it. Secondly, it’s my impression that it’s important for reporters that the press release comes in the standard format, which is easy and quick to process. Adhering to the standard format also gives you some credibility and makes the release seem professional.

I have found this post from Taming The Beast useful in terms of outlining the standard format of press release.

The final tip on getting your release picked up by reporters or bloggers is more technical: SEO. It doesn’t necessarily take a long time, and it pays off to spend some time optimizing your release for search engines. Google’s Keyword tool is helpful in this process. Add links, photos with ALT text, meta-tags and custom URLs and you further increase the chances of coverage.

Writing for your second audience, the people who will read what the reporters write, is mostly a matter of spinning the content of the release the right way.

Imagine two overlapping circles: One represents the news you have; the other represents your intended audience’s interest. As an example, let’s say that your news is a new product, a mobile phone. Your audience, in this case, will be potential buyers of the mobile phone. It would be in their interest to know details such as pricing, network coverage, available providers, features, speed, battery time, etc. Where the two circles overlap – your news and your audience’s interest – is the content of your release.

All this to say, write what your intended audience is interested in reading.