This guide shows you how to write a press release that grabs attention, gets media coverage, and reaches your target audience to increase brand awareness.

At the end, you'll find some examples of new product launch press releases to help spark ideas.

Looking to create a new product press release?

Use Prowly's AI press release generator or templates that you can use for free to easily create your own in a format that journalists expect to receive.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists and send out your press release to them directly from the platform.

How to write a press release for a product

Writing and pitching a press release for a product launch follows the same principles as any effective PR piece. Here are a few key things to remember:

• Keep the standard press release format
• Pitch to relevant journalists & bloggers interested in your topic/industry.
• Establish a human connection with journalists
• Do not send your press release to everybody–personalize your outreach

Here are 5 tips for writing an effective announcement for your product launch

1. Stick to a standard format

Include the following in your press release:

• Headline: An attention-grabbing headline about your product. Make it count!
• Lead: A brief overview of the story, including answers to the questions: Who? What? When? Why? With what effect?
• Dateline: To confirm that you’re providing the most up-to-date information
• Body: An explanation of the information provided earlier in the lead, the first paragraph should include the most newsworthy information about your product and finish with secondary details
• Company details: A short paragraph including your company name, spokespeople, and background information on your company and its products to help journalists understand the nature of the business and make writing about it easier, this is your company's boilerplate
• Media contact information: The author's or company’s/agency’s contact information

👉 Want to make your press releases look better? Check out these articles: “How to Design a Press Release (w/ Tips & Examples)“ and "A New Way to Make Media Briefings More Engaging".

2. Find journalists interested in your new product

To get media attention, it's important to pitch your announcement to the right journalists and bloggers - those who cover your type of product and can help bring it to the spotlight.

An easy way to find relevant media outlets interested in your product is by using a media contacts database, which also include a journalist’s contact details so you can get in touch.

You can refine your search by filtering where a journalist is located, or what topics/industries they cover.

PR tools like Prowly can suggest relevant media contacts based on your launch announcement.

This is far more effective than the "spray and pray" approach used by many distribution services, hoping for random interest.

If you're using a tool like Prowly, the quickest way to identify relevant journalists is by using the keyword search. Simply enter keywords related to your product or industry, and you'll find a list of reporters that wrote about similar products in the past.

Media lists often have an extensive list of topics that journalists are focused on, ranging from beer or cosmetics to cloud computing.

If you have a bit of time, it's worth doing some more in-depth research.

For example, if you’re writing a press release for a new product line of natural beauty products or cosmetics, check which journalists you found are actually interested in natural and organic products, and not just cosmetics in general. It’ll improve the chances of your product press release getting picked up and published.

And don’t forget to follow up.

3. Write a press release headline that grabs attention

The headline of your press release (and also the subject of your media pitch email) is crucial to getting your press release read or even email opened.

I recommend spending a bit more time on it and making sure it’s attention-grabbing and mentions your main points, i.e. your product’s USP (unique selling proposition).

Add exciting features and benefits that'll make people stop what they're doing and read what your product has to offer. Try including numbers in your headline/pitch subject line – they're proven to improve open rates.

Remember – your headline needs something that'll get your audience's news outlets intrigued. Stay away from boring titles such as [Company] Launches "New Product" or [Company] Stakeholders Profit.

If readers are asking themselves "So what?", then you're doing it wrong.

4. Focus on the unique features and benefits of your product

It doesn’t make sense to write a news story about a product that seems just like every other, does it?

Focus on making your product stand out from the rest by emphasizing its unique features and benefits. Depending on your product and target audience, you’ll want to focus more on one or the other.

If you’re targeting a very particular and specific audience, especially in the B2B or small business sector, it can be a better idea to focus on the technical features of your product. Stick to the point and mention the objectively superior qualities of your product.

Otherwise, it’s best to bring attention to your product by showcasing how it’ll benefit your customers and improve their day-to-day lives. Think about how using your product can be easier, simpler, or more enjoyable than what the competition has to offer.

Here’s a list of questions to help you create a winning product press release that’s more beneficial for journalists:

• Why is it worth writing about this particular product?
• What are its unique features?
• How will it contribute to the consumers’ lives?
• What makes it different from other products?
• Can you somehow compare it to the products offered by your competitors?
• Does your product come in different varieties and sizes?
• Is there a formal product launch event?

5. Be visual - use high-quality photos and videos to showcase your product or service

Adding images and videos to your product announcement is essential for getting noticed and gaining media attention. 

Visuals make your product stand out, whether it’s photos, videos, logos, or even animated GIFs.

However, avoid sending attachments. Large files can clutter journalists' inboxes and make your email harder to open.

But what if you want to include high-quality images or videos to make your product stand out more to the press?

Instead, try this approach:

• Create visuals with press release software like Prowly or WordPress.
• Embed your media directly into the release, including product photos, videos, and other rich content.
• Optionally, post it to your brand’s newsroom for easy access.
• Share the press release via a link, allowing you to track opens and clicks.

💡If you're seeking more exposure for your press release, explore these 10 ideas on how to effectively promote a press release.

Create a new product press release with AI

AI-powered tools for PR can help you create high-quality press release drafts, provide advanced editing suggestions, and even recommend who to send your press release to.

While it's worth knowing how to create an effective press release from scratch, using tools can help speed up the process and ensure you've ticked all the boxes regarding the format and content that journalists expect to receive.

Read more: Mastering AI Press Releases: Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Sending + Practical Examples

Here’s how to create (and send) a new product press release using a tool like Prowly’s AI-powered Press Release Generator.

Step 1: Enter basic details about your press release

1. Start the process by entering the type of your press release.
2. Once you select the type, Prowly's AI will ask you to pick your target audience. There are predefined options, such as industry players, customers, or local communities, but you can also add your own.
3. Choose the language of your press release draft.

Step 2: Enter key messages of your new product press release

Here, you'll want to be as specific as possible and ensure that whatever you choose is the most relevant information about your new product announcement.

You can use the list of questions provided in the "How to write" section of this guide to help you get started.

Here are three examples of key messages that you can provide for your new product press release:

• The Problem Solved: Clearly articulate the specific issue or need that your product addresses. Demonstrate how it provides a solution that is superior to existing alternatives.
• The Unique Value Proposition: Highlight the unique features and benefits that differentiate your product from competitors. Explain why customers should choose your product over others.
• The Target Audience and Benefits: Identify the specific group of people who will benefit most from your product. Clearly articulate the advantages and value they will gain by using it.

Step 3: Answer the follow-up questions

Once you’ve entered the basic information about your new product press release, Prowly’s AI will ask you more in-depth questions designed to mirror a natural conversation with the journalists you’re targeting.

You’ll receive ten questions tailored specifically to the content you shared earlier. This will complete your press release draft and reduce the need to answer many follow-up questions from the person you're pitching to.

Step 4: Customize and edit the press release draft

Whether you've generated a press release draft or written it yourself, you can adjust header font styles, fine-tune the content just like you would in a regular text editor, adjust your press release length, and cater it into a format you're happy with.

An AI Assistant trained in PR writing best practices reviews the draft and suggests improvements based on 11 key criteria, indicating exactly where to edit.

Step 5: Get contact recommendations for your press release

Prowly’s AI will start suggesting journalists you can pitch to based on the keywords found in your press release.

As long as you have contact information for the people you want to pitch to, you can always do deeper work and find out about what kind of products they've covered before, or what they're writing about at the moment.

New product press release examples

Below you'll find 4 different types of new product announcements examples to inspire you to create your own.

Each press release was created with Prowly's Creator, which lets you easily create visual pr pieces (great for showing off your product!) with drag & drop elements and add photos, videos, call-to-action buttons, and social media threads to your press release.

Feature launch press release example

New product press release example 

Book launch press release example

Get to know more about why this example of a book launch press release is well-crafted from the dedicated guide "How to Write a Book Press Release (Example and Template)."

New product line press release example

Cosmetics product launch press release example

Food product press release example

New product press release template

If you’re looking for a way to speed up the press release creation process, Prowly has multiple templates that you can use inside the platform, including one for a new product launch.

The templates include all the most important elements to make sure your story gets noticed by journalists and results in media coverage.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists for your product launch and send out your press release directly from the platform.

Ready to create a product launch press release?

By now you should know the basics of creating an effective product press release and new product announcement as well as pitching it successfully. To sum up, every product launch press release should contain:

• An attractive headline that features unique benefits & features of your product
• The standard elements of a press release: headline, dateline, lead, body, company info, media contact information
• A specific audience that it’s targeted to and the news articles they read
• Information on why your product is worth talking about and why anyone should be excited about it
• Attractive photos and/or videos of your product added directly to the press release (if possible, avoid attachments!)

The post New Product Press Release Writing Guide (Examples & Template) appeared first on Prowly.

The format of a press release has a huge impact on its efficiency.

Yet, this is a rare topic, as most guides focus on the writing aspect. We're happy to add our two cents and broaden your press release skillset!

Stay with us and we'll share all the secrets about press release formatting we know!

Why should you follow the standard press release format?

The short answer: that's what journalists expect. And by making their job easier, you get a better chance of being published.

Yet, there are more reasons to stick to the standard format.

Press release examples that follow it:

• are widely accepted. When in doubt, go with the standard option. It ensures your press release isn't rejected because of looking unprofessional.
• arrange information. That's helpful for you, too! By following the standard format for press releases, you can be sure you don't miss out on any important detail. And journalists can easily extract what they need.
• open the door for journalists' stories. A good press release gives out all the important pieces and suggestions for a story, but not the story itself. That's where the journalist takes over and puts the story together.

There's one exception to this rule — when your target audience has other needs. We'll cover that in a moment.

How to format a press release?

Let's jump straight into the details. Here's the standard way to format your release — and a sample of a press release format.

Press release structure:

1. Headline
2. Subheader / Lead
3. Dateline
4. Body
5. Quote
6. Company info (boilerplate)
7. Logo
8. Media contact information

Time to look at each element and get a press release sample format. 🔎

Headline

The headline can either convince journalists that your press release is worth their time — or make them skip it. That's why you need to give those few words a lot of thought.

Looking for tips on writing catchy headlines? Check out our guide on writing press release headlines!

From a formatting point of view, your headlines' length must fit how it will be displayed. For example, you can check your online newsroom or link previews on social media. You want to make sure that your audience can see the entire headline.

This way, you won't waste the effort you put in coming up with that perfect headline.😉

💡 Here is an excellent guide on How to Write a Great Press Release Headline.

Lead

The lead shows what's crucial in the press release and why it is worth reading. It works as a confirmation that your headline (aka, the hook) will deliver the value it has promised.

You can opt for a standard paragraph formatting or make it slightly different. Here's an exemplary press release coming from Epignosis:

They highlight their lead by choosing a bigger font size than they use for the body paragraphs. This helps organize the information visually.

Dateline

Press releases are about news — and datelines help journalists assess its relevance. The most important piece of information in this is, naturally, the date. Yet, optionally, you can also provide the city from which you share the information.

Let's talk about various approaches in a press release format example.

Universal Music Canada represents the most traditional approach, adding date and city at the very beginning of their press release text. That's the go-to format you'll find in most PR guides, and it comes from the tradition of newspapers.

As seen in this example coming from Apple, the date and place can be presented apart. The PR team from Apple opted for a blog-like layout, with the date placed above the headline and the city at the beginning of the news release text.

This last case is from Spotify, where the PR team completely skips the city. Their dateline consists only of the date, which is the most important information. As long as your news isn't local, the decision of whether to add or skip the city is up to you.

Body

The body of your press release is where you expand on your story, providing key details and background information. This section should focus on the newsworthy angle of your announcement, making it easy for journalists to pick up and develop.

To keep your press release clear and readable, follow these best practices:

1. Keep paragraphs short — aim for two to four sentences per paragraph, ensuring each one covers a single idea.
2. Use a logical flow — start with the most essential details, then add supporting context, quotes, and relevant data.
3. Highlight key points — use the bold font strategically to emphasize crucial details and make scanning easier.
4. Maintain readability — stick to a standard, non-italicized font with single spacing for a clean, professional layout.

💡 Pro tip: Use AI to streamline press release writing

AI-powered PR software, like Prowly, can help structure your press release by providing:

• AI-generated press release drafts — get a solid starting point in seconds.
• Pre-built templates — ensure all the key details are included effortlessly.
• Smart recommendations — reach the right journalists with AI-driven insights.

How to effectively use AI for press releases

Use Prowly's AI Assistant to quickly draft press releases, get helpful editing suggestions, and find relevant media contacts — making it easier to share your story with the right audience.

We’ve created two step-by-step guides to help you get it right:

📌 How to Use an AI Press Release Generator — learn how to create effective press releases with AI assistance.

📌 Writing & Sending Press Releases with AI — get expert tips on crafting and distributing AI-powered press releases for better media coverage.

Quote

Quotes are gems for journalists, as they show the personality of your story’s heroes. And that's why your press release needs at least one.You could opt for putting them directly into the text, just like Under Armour did with their new CEO press release:

Yet, for increased visibility, you can use a separate section for quotes. For a proper press release format, make sure they are distinct from the body paragraphs.

This opens a few possibilities for different formatting choices.

You can use the LEGO approach, as seen in this sample press release format:

They used bold to highlight the speaker and italic to make the quote stand out.

Or, you can opt for an entire quote section, just like Prowly does:

With a quote marker, larger font size and attribution text, your quote instantly calls attention. This way, your press release layout becomes more interesting.

Easily add quote sections in Prowly's Press Release Creator.

Company info (press boilerplate)

Hopefully, your press release gets so much traction that it attracts people who haven't heard about you yet.

To make sure they learn enough about your company or organization to get the full context, you should include a boilerplate below each press release. Find out more about this content in our article 'How to Write a Press Release Boilerplate'.

Let's talk format. Usually, you add a header "About [company name]" and a body paragraph — just like in this Prowly example:

In the Prowly Press Release Creator, you can automatically add your boilerplate to your press releases. One click, up-to-date info — what's not to like?

Logo

Your press release makes perfect branding material. After all, it can reach people who don't recognize your brand. To help build brand recognition, make sure your materials include your logo.

This is way easier if you use an online newsroom to share and store your press releases. Then, the logo is visible on all your materials, and you don't have to add it manually.

A great example comes from Spotify, where they play with the newsroom's name. A music streaming service that names the newsroom "For the record" — just a perfect example of wordplay.

Media contact information

This section helps interested people find out more about your story — or opens a door to cooperate with you.

Add a simple CTA like "Please direct all the media inquiries to..." to indicate where to ask additional questions.

The format of sharing your contact information depends on you. Here's a shortlist of options:

• a personalized email address (like, johnblack@yourcompany.co)
• a phone number
• email addresses to your PR representatives
• social media handles

Remember that while a lot of professionals use social media, you should always give out at least one email address.

Additional press release elements

These additional elements won't appear in all press releases, yet each of these can seriously upgrade your document.

Think about them in terms of making your press release more useful to journalists. Anything you add that they can use to make their story more attractive increases the chance of it getting published.

Let's start with the most obvious non-obligatory element of a press release: visuals!

Basically, they make your press release more versatile. Most stories that appear online have at least one image — and it's better to have control over that.

Among visuals, you can find:

• photos and images (events, people, products, or anything you mention in your press release)
• videos (also with additional story elements, for example, a CEO commentary)
• infographics (for example, summing up the key points from your report)

In some cases, you can even think about having a separate part of your online newsroom complete with visuals.

If you have simply too many images to share neatly, you can follow in the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team's steps. They share photos from each race event in an easy-to-browse-and-download way.

Make sure you choose your visuals like a pro! Read our tips on images in press releases.

Another interesting element is a quick preview — close to a TL;DR section. For example, LEGO included it in their press release.

Why is it worth it? If your press release is fairly long, this is another way to quickly show why your story is newsworthy. Think of it as support for your headline and lead.

In terms of formatting, bullet points and short phrases are your go-to solutions.

The last element we'll cover here are tables. They are great for visually displaying and comparing important information. As a result, journalists can quickly pick up some data points of interest.Let's take a look at a table from a press release that announced Lewis Hamilton would leave his Mercedes team.

The table is fairly simple — a few categories like starts, wins and podiums, divided into the two teams that the racer was a part of. And that's the key — it's all about readability.

Types of press releases by format

Usually, you divide press releases by the topic or area you cover. In this article, though, we'll take press release layout as the main factor and show you the most important exceptions to a standard format for a press release.

You'll find links to press release templates here as well. As much as they're focused on the press release content, feel free to treat them as a press release format template resource.

When and why should you follow a different format for a press release?

In our approach, it boils down to the audience’s needs. Your press release should make journalists' jobs easier. They'll be very eager to cooperate with you in the future if you're known for quality press release materials.

Standard press release format

Most press releases follow the format we talked about in previous paragraphs. Usually, journalists need a quick way to assess and extract information so that they can work easily on their stories.

Go with the basic press release format for:

• event press releases
• new hire announcements
• new product releases
• rebranding press releases
• crisis press releases
• partnerships press releases
• concert press releases
• restaurant press releases
• CEO resignation press releases
• art exhibition press releases
• nonprofit press releases

In case you have doubts, the best way is to look online for benchmarks and examples.

In need of templates? Check out our 13 press release templates for any occasion — for free!

Particular press release formats

Let's analyze two special press release format examples, where the audience demands particular solutions.

1️⃣ The first one has already appeared in the text — it's the sports press release. Let's analyze the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 press release formatting:

• they put the most important facts in bullet points
• most of their press release is made of of quotes
• they add lots of images from different moments in the race

This way, sports journalists can get into the story they need quickly.

To go deeper into writing a sports press release (and examples), check out our handy guide.

2️⃣A social media press release is a different topic, as there are two main differences: the audience and the way you share it.

Let's start with the latter. A social media press release is shared via social media channels. That's why each channel can come up with its own format requirements, influencing:

• the length of your content
• multimedia elements
• link sharing options

The most important difference is that your social media press release reaches everyone. Including non-journalists, like stakeholders and your audience. It's definitely a topic for a separate article — and we'll cover it soon.

As it requires a special approach, read our guide on social media press release.

FAQ about press release and formatting

Let's quickly answer some more common questions around the press release area!

What are the 7 steps to a press release?

1. Choose an appropriate story angle
2. Set your goal
3. Work on a catchy headline
4. Write your story
5. Remember about the call to action
6. Add a boilerplate
7. Choose the right images

You'll find more details in our guide on writing a press release.

What format should a press release be in?

The short answer is to use an online version and share links.

When you reach out to specific journalists who would be interested in your topic, you increase your chance of getting published and lower the costs of press release distribution. Check out our article on tips for contacting journalists!

Prowly's Media Database helps you identify matching journalists and establish relationships with them.

Yet, if you opt to send your press releases as files, a PDF document is the safest option. You can then be sure that anyone can open and view it exactly as you intend. With other file formats, like .docx, there's a chance your journalist won't be able to open it correctly.

Where can I find free press release templates?

A press release template helps you keep high standards for each piece — without putting in additional hours. You can find quality examples in our free press release template database from Prowly.

How to make it look good?

The best press release format also makes for a great design. For a deep dive into this topic (and examples!), check out our article: How to design a press release.

7 key takeaways on press release format

If you need grounds for a standardized press release layout, you'll find them here:

1. When formatting a press release, take into account the needs of your audience: whether it's about additional elements or opting for a different display.
2. Usually, reinventing the wheel and unconventional approaches to formatting diminish the efficiency of your press release — think twice before you try it.
3. Common press release elements make sense to journalists — make sure you cover them.
4. Additional press release elements widen the range of stories that journalists can prepare — and make your press release more valuable.
5. Look for online examples to get inspired — they make great learning resources (for free!)
6. A press release template is a great way to keep your formatting consistent.
7. And a Press Release Creator makes it even more efficient!

The post Press Release Format and Structure (w/ Tips and Examples) appeared first on Prowly.

A book launch press release follows similar rules to other press releases, with a few caveats. Let us walk you through exactly how to write a good book press release.

Looking to create a book press release?

Use Prowly's AI press release generator or templates that you can use for free to easily create your own in a format that journalists expect to receive.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists and send out your press release to them directly from the platform.

Why write a book press release?

Book promotion is an ongoing process, so PR for books is relevant whenever a book is launched, even if it's a new edition of a timeless classic. The key to excellent press releases, though, is to provide much more than a summary of a book. Instead, you'll want to entice potential readers with the benefits of reading the whole piece.

Like most great press release writing, it's all about excellent storytelling.

And if you're looking for insights and book press release examples, you've landed in the right spot. Just keep reading.

What are the 3 main goals of a book press release?

As you write your press release, keep these main goals in mind:

1. Show the journalist why their readers will find the book exciting.
2. Provide the main points of the book while leaving the reader wanting more.
3. Include specific details like the release date and book signing dates.

When to write a book press release?

You can write a book launch announcement whenever a book is newly-published and will be available for purchase within a few weeks. You may even wait until the book is officially available online or in stores, as long as the date of the release is very recent.

Protip: Write a new book press release several weeks before the book launch date, ideally when a pre-order sales channel is set up.

How to write a press release for a book launch?

The best book press releases are concise but exciting. They provide a taste of what the reader can expect without giving away any spoilers.

To hit the sweet spot, try combining storytelling with providing only pertinent information.

Book press release format

When writing a book launch press release, remember that there's a standard expected format for press releases.

While you might get creative when it comes to the content, the structure you use to present it should follow some basic rules to be properly formatted.

Craft your press release with crystal clear clarity about your target audience and speak directly to them. Tailor your press releases for consumers, bloggers, journalists, and even the Google search algorithm.

To get to know the details of each element, read How to Write a Press Release (With Tips From PR Pros). You will find more than just generic press release tips there.

As a refresher, the common elements of a standard press release are:

• A great headline
• Subheader / Lead
• Dateline
• Body
• Quote
• Company info
• Logo
• Media contact info

Don't forget the importance of including contact details in a press release! They play a vital role in fostering effective communication and making it easier for media inquiries to reach out and follow up.

And if you're looking for more inspiration for product launch press releases, check out 6 more examples in the "Writing a New Product Press Release" article.

The Prowly press release creator can guide you through this process and assist you in covering all the key information on one page.

Other things to include

Find an interesting news angle

Identify your hook and connect the book to current events, viral topics, Google Trends, and popular topics on social media. That way you can grab major media outlets', audiences', and journalists' attention with your news story.

Book title

Include the book title right away. Don’t bury it in your great press pitch!

Book release date

Provide details on when and where the book will be made available for purchase. Give links to pre-order channels if they’re available.

Summary of the book

Provide a brief introduction to the book that focuses on high-level points like genre and themes. Then include the benefits to the reader, whether it’s learning something new or being taken on an escapist reading voyage.

Quote

You have two choices: you can either include a quote from the book or use an endorsement quote. Additionally, this is a great spot to showcase book reviews.

Author bio

There is no need for a separate author press release. Instead, a brief bio is expected in your book release announcement. Give a little background on the author, including their expertise on the topic, especially if it’s a self-help title. 

Publisher

Place the name of the publishing house prominently.

Awards or accolades

If available, list the awards and accolades the author or the book have received (if it’s a new edition release).

Call To Action

What do you want to happen after someone reads your press release? Purchase or pre-order it, of course! Don’t forget to include the preorder and order information.

Protip: Include a visual for the journalist to use in their article. Provide a high-quality photo of the author or the book cover.

How to write a press release for a book signing tour?

Your book signing press release should include all the event details, like the dates and locations, plus any pre-signing readings or interviews. Name all special guests.

Writing press releases for a book tour separately is recommended because each event is a potential local news story and can be pitched to a new list of local journalists. In this article, you can find more about connecting with local media that might help you promote your new book.

Questions to answer in a book press release

Sometimes it’s best to write your press release with some guiding questions. Here are a few to consider:

How is the author qualified to discuss this topic?

This is especially important if the book provides advice. Readers need to know why they should trust the source rather than relying solely on the emotional angle.

What benefits does the book provide to the reader?

Explain what the reader has to gain from the book. Is it laughter, education, or a new outlook on life? This point is where potential readers make their decision to buy the book.

What problems does the book solve?

Again, think from the reader’s perspective, and make it clear how this book will improve their life, whether through knowledge or entertainment.

Protip: If the book is a guide, focus on describing the current problem readers might have or their aspirations. Then explain how the book addresses them.

Create a book press release with AI

AI-powered tools for PR can help you create high-quality press release drafts, provide advanced editing suggestions, and even recommend who to send your press release to.

While it's worth knowing how to create an effective press release from scratch, using tools can help speed up the process and ensure you've ticked all the boxes regarding the format and content that journalists expect to receive.

Read more: Mastering AI Press Releases: Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Sending + Practical Examples

Here’s how to create (and send) a book press release using a tool like Prowly’s AI-powered Press Release Generator.

Step 1: Enter basic details about your press release

1. Start the process by entering the type of your press release.
2. Once you select the type, Prowly's AI will ask you to pick your target audience. There are predefined options, such as industry players, customers, or local communities, but you can also add your own.
3. Choose the language of your press release draft.

Step 2: Enter key messages of your book press release

Here, you'll want to be as specific as possible and ensure that whatever you choose is the most relevant information about your new book announcement.

You can use the list of questions provided in the "How to write" section of this guide to help you get started.

Here are three examples of key messages that you can provide for your new book press release:

• Unique Selling Point: Clearly articulate what makes your book stand out from others, such as a compelling storyline, unique perspective, expert insights, or timely topic.
• Author's Credibility: Highlight the author's qualifications, experience, or relevant expertise that lend authority to the book.
• Target Audience and Appeal: Identify the intended audience and explain why the book will resonate with them, based on genre, themes, or relevance to current events.

Step 3: Answer the follow-up questions

Once you’ve entered the basic information about your book press release, Prowly’s AI will ask you more in-depth questions designed to mirror a natural conversation with the journalists you’re targeting.

You’ll receive ten questions tailored specifically to the content you shared earlier. This will complete your press release draft and reduce the need to answer many follow-up questions from the person you're pitching to.

Step 4: Customize and edit the press release draft

Whether you've generated a press release draft or written it yourself, you can adjust header font styles, fine-tune the content just like you would in a regular text editor, adjust your press release length, and cater it into a format you're happy with.

An AI Assistant trained in PR writing best practices reviews the draft and suggests improvements based on 11 key criteria, indicating exactly where to edit.

Step 5: Get contact recommendations for your press release

Prowly’s AI will start suggesting journalists you can pitch to based on the keywords found in your press release.

As long as you have contact information for the people you want to pitch to, you can always do deeper work and find out about what kind of books they've covered before, or what they're writing about at the moment.

Book press release example

Now that you understand the key elements, let’s take a look at a new book press release example from Simon & Schuster.

There are a number of things we really like about this book launch press release example:

• The storytelling! It begins right in the first paragraph and immediately captures the reader's attention.
• The book is described in a way that goes beyond a plot summary, with short, engaging paragraphs that build up the reader's interest.
• The developed sense of intrigue by explaining the process for writing the book.
• How it ends with a thought-provoking question that leaves readers curious and wanting more.
• Its clear structure, with the author's bio included in a separate paragraph below.

If you want to see more examples of press releases, we've discussed over twenty of them in this article.

Book press release template

Prefer to start with a press release template for book launches?

Prowly's press release creator is exactly what you need. Its templates are tailored to cover various press release types, such as product announcements, new hires, and event announcements, making it convenient for the media outlet to utilize your release.

The best part? The press release creator is only one piece of Prowly’s complete PR software solution. It will take you through the next steps too!

Start your free 7-day trial to access Prowly’s press release templates.

Distributing your book press release

Now, where to send press releases for books? Let’s look at the 3 options that you’re probably considering.

Pitching your press release with a high-quality media database

This is the ideal scenario with the highest likelihood of capturing media coverage. 

Using a PR software tool like Prowly gets you access to over 1 million media contacts that can easily be sorted by beat and location. By meticulously filtering your database contacts, you can distribute press releases to promote your book yourself. This way, you can ensure it reaches the right audience and target niche audiences more effectively, increasing the likelihood of book sales.

In the case of a book release, Prowly's media database currently boasts 1,819 journalist contacts and 1,295 contacts to media and news outlets that cover U.S. book releases. That's a lot of potential news coverage.

Protip To effectively reach your target audience, share the press release of your book with local businesses or nonprofit organizations that align with its mission statement. This will help create meaningful partnerships and expand your reach.

💡If you're seeking more exposure for your press release, explore these 10 ideas on how to effectively promote a press release.

Buying a media contact list

You may be tempted to buy a media list from a company that focuses on creating them for a wide array of topics, but we don't recommend it for one main reason. These one-off media outlets lists are notorious for being outdated, leading to nothing but frustration when half of your emails bounce back.

Using a wire service

You could use a wire service to distribute your press release, but the fact is that this is too broad of a pitch. You're much more likely to get results by curating your media list to the best media outlets fits for your story, then reaching out to them individually with a pitch tailored just to them.

Protip: When using a PR software tool, don’t forget to add new press releases to your online newsroom.

Recap

Writing a good press release yourself is a solid start to getting the word out about your client's latest work. With a book announcement needing a highly-targeted media audience, it's also a great opportunity to test out an automated PR software solution like Prowly.

You'll benefit from press release templates, targeted media databases, and media pitching tools that track your open rates and allow for team pitching. Did we mention it includes media monitoring and custom reporting too?

The post How to Write a Book Press Release (Example and Template) appeared first on Prowly.

But what should a press release include? How to end a press release? And what about the press release format? Luckily, we have all the answers. 

There are specific guidelines for writing a press release—covering everything from news angles to press release structure. All of them you will find in our complete guide on how to write press releases that get attention (and results!), along with expert comments.

Use Prowly's AI press release generator or templates that you can use for free to easily create your own in a format that journalists expect to receive.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists based on your press release and send it to them directly from the platform.

While creating press releases with AI or templates is a great way to speed up the process, it's still crucial to know the ins and outs of writing a press release to ensure it's correct and effective.

Read on to find out what makes a good press release.

What is a press release?

A press release is a tool made to announce something that is newsworthy in the most objective way possible. The whole purpose of a press release is to get coverage and get noticed by a target audience.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, the problem is that the press release is tricky and often misunderstood by both PR specialists and the audience. To be able to write an effective material, it is necessary to understand its structure:

Press release format

If you’re building a press release on your own, remember that there is a standard, expected format for press releases.

These are the elements of a standard press release:

1. Headline
2. Subheader / Lead
3. Dateline
4. Body
5. Quote
6. Company info (boilerplate)
7. Logo
8. Media contact information

While you might get creative and unconventional when it comes to the content, the format where you present it needs to follow the rules. This is not the time to get experimental—remember that you’re writing for an audience that is used to a particular format because it works. 

"By following a standard press release format, you’re ensuring that a journalist knows how to find what they’re looking for in your release and allow them to quickly determine if they want to cover your announcement. It also shows them that you’re a seasoned PR pro who knows the ins and outs of a press release, and signals that you’re likely easy to work with." – Cassie Scher, Nahigian Strategies

Let’s go through the boxes you need to tick when formatting a press release so you can make just the right impression on media contacts and provide them with everything they need to take your conversation to the next level.

How to write a press release in 9 steps

Now that you know the correct press release format, let's dig into the details of writing a press release.

1. Choose your target audience

Before you get to the actual press release writing—the most important thing to start with is choosing your target audience and the angle that matters for them.

Remember that the angle (a perspective that the story will take, in other words) that will interest the readers of a specialist publication will be very different from the local newspaper.

Keep in mind that you’re not only targeting potential readers but also journalists. If you don’t do your research and target the wrong journalists, writing good press releases won’t get you anywhere.

By using a PR tool like Prowly, you can access a media database to find relevant journalists and also get recommendations based on your press releases. This way, you’ll always pitch relevant media contacts who are more likely to be interested.

2. Craft an attention-grabbing headline

No surprises here. Your headline needs to communicate the essence of what follows at a glance. Recipients of your press release are going to scan the headline in a fraction of a second, so this is the place to make your point. Convincing media contacts that your message is newsworthy can be a challenge when you have a limited number of characters to work with, so focus on the main takeaway. 

Pro tip: Don’t use all capital letters or exclamation points in your headline. A reasonable font size and bolding, combined with the fact that it’s the header, make it obvious to the reader that your news is somehow important. 

Humans have a shorter attention span than goldfish. So saying less is best in the headlines. Focus only on adding value, making it catchy, and creating a hook for your target audience. Avoid using clickbait in the headlines, you may lose trust among the journalists as well as will attract the wrong readers. - Mehdi Hussen, Head of Marketing @ ZoomShift

💡 Read more: How to Write a Great Press Release Headline (w/ Examples & Tips)

3. Add more information with your lead

This is optional but recommended since it gives you a chance to pack some extra information right at the top. As a de facto extension of your headline, use your subheader or lead to expand on what makes your announcement worth the time and attention of media contacts. 

As you write your subheader or lead, think of which aspects of your announcement are most likely to impress, inform, or spark curiosity about the details. If your header is a high-impact message limited to just a few words, your subheader is an opportunity to expand on it with the top one or two ways that it’s important or consequential. 

Remember about the five W's: what the news is about, who is involved, when and where it happened, and why it is important. 

Pro tip: Your header and subheader are not the places for mysterious, “read more to see…” references to what’s in your press release. Don’t make readers “work” by teasing what’s further down the page. Stick with the facts and use the time and attention the reader gives you to convey the most information possible. 

4. Include the dateline 

Typically at the introduction of the main body of text, the dateline communicates basic info like the date and location of the announcement. Bold this information and separate it from the first sentence of the body with a dash. 

The dateline always contains the name of the city in capitals, with the state being optional. Despite the name, the dateline does not have to include the date.

Be sure to change and update the dateline with any changes or updates in the press release itself. 

Pro tip: Sure, the dateline is a very small piece of the press release but it’s simply part of the expected format. Don’t overlook this standard press release format element just because it’s just a handful of characters!

Read more: https://review42.com/resources/dateline-press-release/

5. Provide the details of your announcement in the body

Here’s where all the who-what-when-where-why basics get covered. Never forget that you’re trying to get media contacts interested in learning more, so the newsworthy angle should always be a priority. 

Use a strong opening sentence, which will likely be a paraphrase of your headline. Remember that journalists will think in terms of “How is this relevant to my audience”, so the body of your press release is where you answer that along with the top-level details that help them to start imagining what their story about you could look like. 

There’s nothing wrong with adding a second paragraph, as long as all the information you include helps to meet the goal of explaining why your announcement is worthy of media coverage. The focus is always on how your message is interesting, valuable, relevant, etc. to those who might read about it, not how media coverage would be good for you. 

Don’t let the length of the body of your press release push the total length beyond a single page. If you push things to a second page, there is a 100% chance there is some fat to cut out on page one. 

Pro tip: This is a press release, not a copy for an advertisement. Stay away from salesy language and remember that you’re trying to ignite interest in a story, not a product or service. 

6. Include a quote to add credibility or more details

Another optional but recommended component of your press release layout quotes help to add a touch of credibility or detail to your announcement. Depending on the context, quotes can help to illustrate how much of a breakthrough you’re announcing, how important your news is for the industry, how unique or game-changing it is, etc. 

Again, the same rule applies—be sure that the information in any quote you use helps media contacts create a more complete conception of the story they could write about your announcement.  Everything is about helping to facilitate the path from your press release to press coverage. 

Pro tip: If possible, use a quote from the most high-profile, credible source associated with your organization. Also, the rule about avoiding salesly language applies to quotes as well.  

7. Provide your company info in the boilerplate

The last paragraph of your press release will include a basic but flattering description of your company. This is the press release equivalent of the “About Us” section on your website. Keep it short, keep it complimentary by mentioning your position in the industry, awards, etc., and provide a link to your website. 

Like the press release generally, keep your boilerplate section limited to the most essential, high-level kind of information and use later follow-ups to expand on the details. This is no time for the complete history of your company!

Pro tip: This boilerplate section of your press release can contain information you might be tempted to include elsewhere, like the subheader or the body. If you are “California’s leading supplier of building supplies” or “The Southwest’s largest medical research facility” or whatever, say that in your Company Info section instead of repeating it. This will free up space in those other sections for additional information.  

8. Add your logo

Your company’s or organization’s logo is part of any professional press release. Search online and you’ll find that there’s plenty of disagreement of where exactly it should appear on the page but top-middle and bottom-middle are the two leading contenders. You can decide based on what you think looks best. 

Pro tip: Use a full-color logo and keep it down to a fairly small size. Remember, the logo is there for brand identity purposes, not to steal the show.  

9. Include your contact details for the media

You’ve put all this effort and planning into your press release because you want to generate interest among media contacts, so be sure that you make it easy for them to get in touch. This info will depend on who your contact is, of course—the person writing the press release, a Marketing or PR representative, an outside agency, etc. 

A simple “[Brand name] is happy to share more information…” or “Please direct all media inquiries to…” or some similar call to action is sufficient to make it clear that this is the person who will handle replies from the media. 

Pro tip: A phone number and an email address is all the contact information you need to share with anyone responsible for handling replies to your press release. While you may have reached out to media contacts via their social media, you want their replies to go through your phone or email. 

Common mistakes when writing a press release

1. The story isn’t actually newsworthy

First things first. Is your story actually a story? Is it new or interesting? Will people outside your organization really care about it? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you might be onto something. If it’s not new, not interesting and you’re not sure if anyone will really care, it might be a good idea to come up with something else.

Reserve press releases only for the most timely and newsworthy announcements about your client or company. So often business leaders and PR pros get 'release happy' and mistakenly believe that if they're not sending releases at a regular cadence, their media outreach is going stagnant. This simply isn't the case. - Robyn Ware, Principal, Robyn Ware PR

2. You’re beating around the bush

Nail the story in the first few sentences: get the facts out quickly and succinctly and the chances of a press release making it from an inbox to an editorial meeting will increase dramatically. Journalists are pushed for time more than ever before, so the importance of communicating the bones of the story in the first few lines of a press release is vital. Chances are, they’re not going to have time to read the whole thing, so the quicker you get to the point, the better.

I still get exceedingly long press releases that resemble a book’s chapter. A bad book's chapter with an excess of self-promoting adjectives. Anyone who works in media is always running against the clock with deadlines, so the best piece of advice I could give is to always remember to include the most newsworthy information at the very beginning of your press release. If you leave it to the very end, chances are that the journalist will not read that far, and a good story will be overlooked. - Marcio Delgado, Journalist, Digital Consultant and Producer

3. Press release quotes don’t come off as authentic

Whether it’s a young person talking about how happy they are to have secured an apprenticeship or a CEO analyzing the latest financial results, it’s a wise idea to make the people quoted in a press release sound real.

For example, the said young person is unlikely to use words you’d need a dictionary to understand, so remember to have your story feel authentic. Just try to make sure they’re not ‘delighted’, even if they are.

How to create a press release with AI

AI-powered tools for PR can help you create high-quality press release drafts, provide advanced editing suggestions, and even recommend who to send your press release to.

While it's worth knowing how to create an effective press release from scratch, using tools can help speed up the process and ensure you've ticked all the boxes when it comes to the format and content that journalists expect to receive.

Read more: Mastering AI Press Releases: Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Sending + Practical Examples

Here’s how to create (and send) a press release using a tool like Prowly’s AI-powered Press Release Generator.

Step 1: Enter basic details about your press release

1. Start the process by entering the type of your press release.
2. Once you select the type, Prowly's AI will ask you to pick your target audience. There are predefined options, such as industry players, customers, or local communities, but you can also add your own.
3. Choose the language of your press release draft.

Step 2: Enter key messages about your press release

Here, you'll want to be as specific as possible and ensure that whatever you choose is the most relevant information.

The key messages you'll want to provide will depend on the type of your press release and what it's about.

Here are three general key messages that you can include:

• What is happening: Clearly state the main event or announcement. This is the core of your press release.
• Why it matters: Explain the significance of the event or announcement. How does it benefit your audience or the public at large?
• What's next: Provide a brief overview of future plans or developments related to the event. This helps to maintain interest and anticipation.

Step 3: Answer the follow-up questions

Once you’ve entered the basic information about your press release, Prowly’s AI will ask you more in-depth questions designed to mirror a natural conversation with the journalists you’re targeting.

You’ll receive ten questions tailored specifically to the content you shared earlier. This will complete your press release draft and reduce the need to answer many follow-up questions from the person you're pitching to.

Step 4: Customize and edit the press release draft

Whether you've generated a press release draft or written it yourself, you can adjust header font styles, fine-tune the content just like you would in a regular text editor, adjust your press release length, and cater it into a format you're happy with.

An AI Assistant trained in PR writing best practices reviews the draft and suggests improvements based on 11 key criteria, indicating exactly where to edit.

Step 5: Get contact recommendations for your press release

Prowly’s AI will start suggesting journalists you can pitch to based on the keywords found in your press release.

As long as you have contact information for the people you want to pitch to, you can always do deeper work and find out about their interests, what they've written about before, or what they're hooked on at the moment.

Press release examples

Now that we've covered how to write a press release, here are two examples to help you get a better idea of what a press release should look like.

Find more examples in our post: 20+ Press Release Examples to Draw Inspiration From in 2023.

If you're looking for a specific guide to match your field of work, check out one of these how-to articles that cover precise tips and examples carefully selected by our PR consultant:

• How to Write a Book Press Release (Example & Template)
• How to Write a Music Press Release (Examples & Templates)
• How to Write a Sports Press Release (Example and Template)
• How to Write an Acquisition Press Release (Example & Template)
• Writing a New Hire Press Release (with Example and Template)
• How to Write a New CEO Press Release (with Examples & Template)
• How to Write a Social Media Press Release (with Examples)

Example #1: Apple

According to Nelson Jordan (and plenty of other experts, I imagine), Apple does a great job with its product announcement press releases. If you look at this press release example for a new product, Apple’s new walking audio program, you’ll quickly notice that it’s written in a way to make it easier for journalists to pull facts, details, and quotes for their stories. That’s precisely what makes it a good press release.

See the entire news release example

Example #2: TaskShift

As already mentioned, good press release examples are concise and to the point - and this new business press release sample from TaskShift is no different. It clearly states what the news is all about (new service launch), mentions the USP, mission, and vision behind it. There’s not much else to add there, really.

See the entire press release sample

If you're launching a new business and curious about how to write your first press release for a small business, here is the step-by-step guide.

Press release templates

As press releases follow a similar format, using templates can be an effective way to speed up the writing process.

In Prowly you can find free press release templates based on common announcement types, such as a product launch, book launch, or a new hire. In addition, the software can build a targeted media contact database based on the keywords in your press release.

The post How to Write a Press Release (With Tips From PR Pros) appeared first on Prowly.

In this way, you can share your new brand story and generate excitement for the changes.

We'll show you how to announce a rebrand with an efficient press release. Getting it right is crucial, especially when you share a business name change announcement.

Looking to create a rebranding press release?

Use Prowly's AI press release generator or templates that you can use for free to easily create your own in a format that journalists expect to receive.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists and send out your press release to them directly from the platform.

Why write a rebranding press release?

No matter if your business is small or big, a rebranding announcement gets anyone outside the organization who's impacted by the process into the loop. Think customers, investors, and competition.

A successful press release:

• spreads the word about changes and connects the dots in your customers' minds
• shares the reason for rebranding efforts
• builds interest in and anticipation for the upcoming changes

Also, you can see it reflected on your website - with a spike of visitors and searches in Google.

How to write a rebranding press release

Creating rebranding press releases can feel a bit overwhelming if you're unsure of where to start. But don't worry; with a little guidance, you'll be able to put together compelling releases without breaking a sweat.

A typical press release format includes important elements like the headline, lead, body, quote, and contact information. We'll touch on some of these here.

 Yet, for a more detailed breakdown of each component, check out our guide: "How to Write a Press Release (With Insights from PR Professionals)."

Let's see what makes a great press release - with rebrand announcement examples!

#1 A catchy headline in a press release

The headline makes your first impression. It should highlight the most important point and captivate the reader, encouraging them to read more.

One of the most discussed examples belongs to the Hootsuite rebrand: Hootsuite Breaks Free From the Sea of Sameness with Bold Vision for Social and New Brand System.

As you can see, even their headline is coherent with their new branding - and catches attention.

#2 A compelling lead sentence

The lead sentence serves as your hook, demanding brevity while delivering key information. When it's successful, your readers stay to delve deeper into the story.

If you struggle with defining the most important points, try the "5 W's" concept. It lets you organize your message even before you start writing. To get to the essence, answer these 5 basic questions:
• who
• what
• when
• where
• and why

By following this structure, you make sure your press release conveys a precise message. Thanks to this, journalists can easily publish a story centered around the most important points.

Make sure to get the definitive answers to these questions before you start writing your rebranding announcement to simplify the process.

Pro tip: A template like the ones you can use in Prowly’s Press Release Creator help you include all the crucial elements.

#3 A dateline vs. the effective date

The dateline commonly appears right at the start of the initial paragraph. It provides readers, including the media, with precise details about the news's source and its timeliness.

This reinforces the factual and up-to-the-minute nature of the release.

However, with a rebranding announcement, you can opt for the effective date. Instead of publishing a press release announcing changes when they go live, send it in advance.

This gives a heads-up and stirs curiosity, especially if your company is recognizable in the industry.

#4 Adding relevant quotes from stakeholders

Let the key stakeholders share their unique insights with rebranding quotes.

• Such a huge change influences business results, so transparency from the board sparks confidence.
• It makes both the investors and the public more likely to understand and support a different direction.

Quotes personalize your message and help journalists craft a more compelling, shareable piece. They also make a perfect Click to Tweet section. In other words, they increase the chances of getting published. And achieving better traction.

A great example comes from Kia's rebranding press release:

“Kia’s new logo represents the company’s commitment to becoming an icon for change and innovation”. It's part of a longer quote, yet this fragment is concise enough to be shared across social media platforms.

Pro tip: Highlight the quotes with a drag-and-drop section from Prowly Press Release Creator and save time on formatting.

#5 Adding visuals and assets

Visuals are key in the branding world, even if you're preparing just a website redesign launch announcement. Show your new brand colors and let images tell a compelling story.

Pro tip: Add various media assets right from the Prowly Press Release Creator with just a few clicks with building blocks. Make sure it displays the way you want.

#6 Boilerplate and logo

Your boilerplate and logo let unfamiliar readers understand who you are. It can include the company's main area of operation, history, and notable achievements or recognitions. You can also add how you can be found online.

For sure, it should already be in line with your new brand identity. Using services like Prowly, you can easily update your boilerplate for all media templates.

Key things to include in a rebranding press release

Share the most important info about the past (what happened, why are you changing?), the present (what's different?), and the future (how will it influence you?).

Rebranding changes + what is staying the same

Compare briefly your old and new brand identity so that the audience can see your current branding choices.

Reason for rebranding

Explain why the organization opted for crafting a different identity. Here's where you can reflect on the changes that sparked the rebranding process.

New impact and mission statement

As you've covered past and present, here is the place to shape expectations for the future. Let your readers know how this new identity will make an impact.

Types of rebranding press releases

Let's review some situations when you need a company rebrand press release:

• New Visual Identity Press Release
• Company Name Change Announcement Press Release
• Merger Press Release
• Acquisition Press Release
• New Partnerships Press Release
• New Company Announcement Press Release

Each of these types may require a different approach, so make sure to tailor your press release according to the specific situation.

Create a rebranding press release with AI

AI-powered tools for PR can help you create high-quality press release drafts, provide advanced editing suggestions, and even recommend who to send your press release to.

While it's worth knowing how to create an effective press release from scratch, using tools can help speed up the process and ensure you've ticked all the boxes regarding the format and content that journalists expect to receive.

Read more: Mastering AI Press Releases: Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Sending + Practical Examples

Here’s how to create (and send) a new rebranding press release using a tool like Prowly’s AI-powered Press Release Generator.

Step 1: Enter basic details about your press release

1. Start the process by entering the type of your press release.
2. Once you select the type, Prowly's AI will ask you to pick your target audience. There are predefined options, such as industry players, customers, or local communities, but you can also add your own.
3. Choose the language of your press release draft.

Step 2: Enter key messages of your rebranding press release

Here, you'll want to be as specific as possible and ensure that whatever you choose is the most relevant information about your rebranding announcement.

You can use the list of questions provided in the "How to write" section of this guide to help you get started.

Here are three examples of key messages that you can provide for your rebranding press release:

• Purpose and Vision: Clearly articulate the reasons behind the rebranding and the new vision for the company. Explain how the new brand aligns with the company's evolving goals and values.
• Brand Identity: Highlight the core elements of the new brand identity, such as the logo, tagline, and overall aesthetic. Explain how these elements reflect the company's values and resonate with the target audience.
• Customer Benefits: Emphasize how the rebranding will benefit customers or clients. This could involve improved customer experience, enhanced product offerings, or greater brand recognition.

Step 3: Answer the follow-up questions

Once you’ve entered the basic information about your rebranding press release, Prowly’s AI will ask you more in-depth questions designed to mirror a natural conversation with the journalists you’re targeting.

You’ll receive ten questions tailored specifically to the content you shared earlier. This will complete your press release draft and reduce the need to answer many follow-up questions from the person you're pitching to.

Step 4: Customize and edit the press release draft

Whether you've generated a press release draft or written it yourself, you can adjust header font styles, fine-tune the content just like you would in a regular text editor, adjust your press release length, and cater it into a format you're happy with.

An AI Assistant trained in PR writing best practices reviews the draft and suggests improvements based on 11 key criteria, indicating exactly where to edit.

Step 5: Get contact recommendations for your press release

Prowly’s AI will start suggesting journalists you can pitch to based on the keywords found in your press release.

As long as you have contact information for the people you want to pitch to, you can always do deeper work and find out about what kind of rebrandings they've covered before, or what they're writing about at the moment.

Rebranding press release example

We chose to share a rebranding announcement example from the Salisbury Zoo sharing insights on their new logo and slogan. Their story goes beyond announcing changes - it also proves the important role that the Zoo has in the local community.

Bonus points? Finding out how a bear and a bison ended up on their logo.

What we love about this press release

💬 Aleksandra Kubicka, PR Evangelist at Prowly, explains why she chose this compelling rebranding press release:

• It tells the story behind the new logo and slogan, showing how the creative process is grounded in recent changes in the Zoo.
• The story about the new brand strategy shows how important the link between the Zoo and the local community is. It's reflected both in the rebranding process and in the quote from the mayor of Salisbury.
• It adds updates about recent improvements for visitors to the Zoo that go in line with the brand changes.

Seeking more inspiration? Check this list of over 25 press release examples.

Rebranding press release template

Templates are great for streamlining press release creation, as this format follows a defined structure. You can either create your own document or save even more time! How?

Use our free company press release template database! Fill in the blanks in the Prowly Press Release Creator tool and you're good to go. And if you need other press release templates, check out these 15 examples.

Choose the best press release distribution service

You've got your press release nailed. Now it's time to reach your target audience. Let's talk about the factors that help you choose the best press release distribution service and get media coverage.

Use a good quality media database

A media database increases the probability of hitting the sweet spot - reaching the right audience with optimal effort. That's how you maximize the impact of your story.

In a media database like Prowly, you'll find a wide network of contacts, enabling you to directly reach out to over 5000 business journalists and 2800 news outlets in the U.S. alone. The entire database includes over 1 million contacts and it's really easy to filter down to the results that you need.

Don't forget about visual elements, as they are crucial in rebrand announcements. Make sure the distribution service allows you to easily add all the brand materials journalists need at their fingertips.

Pro tip: Filter your contact results and create your own contact lists right in Prowly.

Wire service and buying a business press release media contact list

A less efficient, yet still popular, approach is to reach out to a wire service or buy a media contact list.

Wire services give you quick and wide distribution to journalists. However, it lacks that personal touch, and costs quite a lot, while there's no guarantee you'll appear in the media you need.

A media contact list is usually curated, meaning you'll reach a precisely targeted audience. Nevertheless, they can be outdated. This means you run the risk of spending your resources on chasing inactive or irrelevant contacts.

If you're still not sure what solution best fits your needs, Prowly has a free 7-day trial, so you can try it out now.

Conclusion

A rebranding news release in well-chosen media outlets lets you share key details of your company's new identity. It's how your target market gets informed about the change.

Two elements make a successful press release: excellent content and proper distribution. Tools like templates, a press release creator, or a distribution platform can help you get more media coverage.

Using Prowly, you can handle everything, from creating a top-notch press release and reaching out to journalists to sending your announcement to the right audience—all within one app.

Discover for yourself how simple it is with a seven-day free trial!

The post How to Write a Rebranding Press Release (Examples and Template) appeared first on Prowly.

Some of the formerly sharp edges separating press releases and media pitches have melted and merged a bit, but we think a reminder of where one ends and the other begins is in order. A good understanding of their similarities and differences can be useful in fine tuning your own media strategy. 

Before we take a closer look at how they’re different but complement each other, let’s start with a quick review of the different boxes that press releases and media pitches should tick. 

• What is a press release?
• Press release examples
• What is a media pitch?
• Media pitch examples
• What's the difference?

What is a press release?

A press release is the written announcement of some newsworthy event in a company or organization. Typically, its purpose is to get interest from media that will rebroadcast and magnify the message to a large audience.

The clue is right there in the name—press release. That’s who it’s for and that’s who you want to get interest from. An effective press release is not only well written, but it provides all the context and information needed for a journalist to create informed, useful content for readers.

By “well-written”, we’re not just talking about spelling & grammar here, although it goes without saying that both need to be perfect. We also mean that some careful thought and strategy have to go into a press release’s content and construction. An effective press release will:

• Quickly and clearly communicate its primary message at a glance. No journalist is going to spend time reading through an introduction or long history. The point of whatever you’re announcing should be obvious right from the start. The who-what-when-where mentality applies here so stick with the basics. 
• Place the announcement in the context of a narrative. Ok, so your company has a cool new product but so what? Oh, wait, sales in this field are up by how much this year? And your market share has increased by what? And what famous names are endorsing your new product release? Now your announcement is much more interesting. Tell the story around your news that readers will find compelling. Make it easy for journalists to see why they should get more interested in what you have to share. 
• Include links to other materials, quotes, stats and complete contact information. So what if you do spark interest in a journalist? What are they supposed to do? To keep them focused on you and your message, include access to the kinds of background information that can help to provide context and flesh out the significance of your message with their readers. Keeping them on your press release means keeping them thinking about the story angle they can write about you. 

Press release example

To illustrate the limited focus and purpose of a press release, let’s say that Company X is soon introducing Product Y, which is so amazing that the world needs to know about it. Their press release might start like this:

You might not see a press release with this exact language but you get the idea. It would then go on to include a quote from someone in Company X, along with things like a detailed explanation of what makes Product Y so amazing, what its marketing campaign might look like, what reviewers are saying, etc. 

The press release would probably use bullet points to make it more quicky readable and highlight the most important aspects of the launch. It would conclude with a “If you’d like to learn more…” invitation along with contact information for their PR people. 

The point is that the press release is focused on the event that Company X believes is worthy of media coverage. 

Here's a real example of a new product press release from Cadbury that was made using Prowly:

What is a media pitch? 

A media pitch is an outreach to journalists with the goal of getting them to use your press release as the basis for media coverage.

Whereas press releases explain what happened, media pitches explain why it’s important and deserving of attention. 

An effective media pitch will:

• Be concise and direct. Just like the press release you’re sharing, your pitch can waste no time in getting to the point. Again, this is done for the benefit of journalists by simplifying the message you’re sharing and quickly explaining why it’s relevant to them. Remember—before you can share deeper, more detailed information you have to pass the “Should I spend my time on this?” test. 
• Personalize the content. We’re talking about more than just using names here, although that’s certainly an expected standard that effective tools will offer. One-size-fits-all doesn’t fit anyone these days, so don’t expect to impress with the same cookie-cutter message sent to everyone on your contacts list. 
• Use email to reach recipients. Survey after survey confirms that, by a huge margin, journalists prefer email as a communication channel for press releases. Sure, social media can come into play under certain circumstances but all conversations should start in an email inbox. 
• Place extra importance on the subject line of emails and messages. You’ve got a tiny window of opportunity to make your case and convince recipients to open your message. Writing a great subject line is key to taking full advantage to whatever time you’re given. The importance of subject lines is often overlooked so take the time construct the best one you can—it doesn’t matter how great your press release is if no one opens your mail. 
• Reach a targeted audience. This may sound like an obvious point, but any journalist will tell you about how they constantly get “spray and pray” press releases that they learn to automatically ignore. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a press release seen by every journalist on the planet will get great results. Being able to select relevant contacts as you construct your pitch in your PR app saves time while boosting open rates and engagement. 

Media pitch example

Let’s stay with the same fictional Company X and their amazing Product Y from before. Now, in their media pitch, the focus is on directing journalists to their press release. Their email to journalists will look something like this:

You can see that some points are borrowed from the press release to give a flavor of what the big news is all about but the media pitch has a fundamentally different purpose than the press release. 

The point of the media pitch is to engage journalists at their points of contact, usually email, and get them interested in the full version of your message, which is detailed in a press release.

What is the difference between them?

Strictly speaking, a press release is what you’re asking someone to take a look at in your media pitch. One directs to the other. The press release is the message, the pitch is an attempt at persuading someone that the message is something they and their readers will be interested in. 

The confusion between them arises because there is some crossover and some elements can be present in both a press release and a media pitch. 

Your pitch will refer to information in your press release. The underlying theme of a press release is that whoever issued it thinks it’s a good topic for press coverage, which is the same message as your pitch. They’re two parts of the same overall effort to get media coverage and that’s why they often perceived as being the same thing. 

It’s hard to describe one without referring to the other. 

If it helps to think of media pitches and press releases as two halves of a whole, that’s fine. Just remember that while there may be similarities where one takes over from the other, they still have different purposes, constructions, and strategies. 

And speaking of press releases vs media pitches...

While we’re on the subject, let us finish with a few words on a topic related to using press releases and media pitches. It’s a question that’s often asked by those who don’t recognize much of a difference between them:

Should your media pitch include your press release? 

It depends on what you mean by “include”. If you mean as an attachment to your pitch email, the answer is absolutely not. There are a few reasons for this:

• It’s challenging enough to get journalists to open your mail—asking them to then download something is doubling your chances of rejection. 
• Downloading is not only an extra step, it comes with concerns about viruses and computer safety.
• Using attachments on a media pitch email can trigger spam filters that keep a careful eye on messages that already have a “salesy” tone or subject line. The presence of an attachment can be enough to direct your mail away from inboxes and into spam folders, where it will never see the light of day. 

It’s true that you could paste the content of your press release into your media pitch, effectively merging them into the same message, but this presents its own problems:

• Different email service providers offer varying degrees of support for certain graphic elements and will render the content of the press release in different ways. Unless you’ve got a team of pro coders dedicated to satisfying the demands of a long list of email clients, the press release will not display in the same way to everyone. 
• Pasting the content of the press release into the mail will significantly increase the email’s “weight” as measured in megabytes. This in turn is a red flag for the spam filters mentioned above and increases your chances of being redirected away from inboxes. 
• By simply including your press release inside your pitch email, you’re diluting the power of both of them. Your pitch becomes weaker because it’s just reduced to “read everything below”. Covering the highlights of the press release seems odd when the full version is just further down the page. Your press release is probably shorter than it could be in order to satisfy attention spans and the technical limitations described above.  

But there’s a better way. It is now easy to include your press release in a media pitch email in the form of a link to your press release located on a fully branded online newsroom.

Using this option for sharing your press releases has a few advantages:

• It just looks more professional. The difference between “just click here” and “download file” is the difference between today and fifteen years ago. 
• Directing journalists to an online version of your press release allows you to make additions and corrections (yes, it happens) after you send your original mail. 
• Having a press release online supports your SEO strategy and can help in page positioning in search results.

The post Media Pitch vs Press Release—What’s the Difference? appeared first on Prowly.

Let’s face it: nobody cares if your company is the “largest homegrown retailer in the region” or the “best employer in the world”. 

On the other hand, when one comes across a headline that reads, ‘550,000 travelers used Airbnb on New Year's Eve’, it’s sure to catch their attention. 

It’s a great data-driven storytelling example: Instead of making a generic statement here, Airbnb used consumer data to tell an engaging story through an animated video which got them a good amount of media coverage.

This tells us that if you want to stand out in a noisy market, you need to start exploring storytelling PR and creating data-driven stories. 

Data has the power to establish authority, build trust, and inspire action, but how that data is communicated matters a lot. 

This is why data-driven storytelling can be pivotal in your PR strategy. It helps you use data to communicate insights and craft a powerful narrative that’s both persuasive and memorable. 

To unlock the full potential of your PR strategies, delve into the world of data-driven storytelling at PR Episodes 2024. Register now to watch the recordings and get ready to be inspired.

Let’s look at how you can use data to amplify your storytelling PR efforts and secure more coverage. 

• Find a story angle
• Gather data from reliable sources
• Build a compelling narrative
• Create visuals to present data

Storytelling PR in practice

1. Find a strong story angle

Before you start working with data, you must ask yourself what story you want to tell. 

As a MasterClass rightly puts it:

In public relations, the best angles highlight the unique qualities of the clients they represent. Journalists receive hundreds of (press) releases a day—to be noticed, there must be some kind of angle to intrigue the writer after they give it the briefest of cursory glances. Why should they care? Why do they need to write this specific story?

Here are a few ideas to get you brainstorming on story angles for your storytelling PR efforts:

• Offer solutions
• Highlight trends and patterns
• Present surprising facts or concerns
• Provide insights 
• Piggyback on a current news story (and tie it back to your brand)
• Share human interest stories

Remember: the story angle you choose needs to help you meet your brand objectives while being interesting to readers. 

Once you know what you want to achieve from the PR campaign, you can start finding data to build and strengthen that story.

2. Gather data from reliable sources

When we are dealing with a deluge of data, the real challenge lies in finding the right kind of data to tell an interesting story.

There are two types of data sources:

• External: data that is available to the public
• Internal: data that exclusively belongs to your company

While external data sources include government data, industry reports, and published studies, internal data is the most powerful asset because it is unique and exclusively yours. 

Here are some ways to gather internal data for your PR campaigns:

• Create surveys to gather interesting data and identify trends
• Perform market research
• Dig into consumer data to extract insights
• Check Google Analytics to study website behavior and identify patterns
• Repurpose customer success stories into data-driven PR stories
• Study company sales trends and release reports

Take the online dating site OkCupid, for instance. They used their consumer data to create a report titled ‘Future of Dating’, which talks about the biggest dating trends of 2021. Many leading publications covered this report. 

3. Build a compelling narrative

Raw data is meaningless. What’s important for data-driven storytelling is extracting value from that data and weaving a compelling narrative that helps people understand and digest that information. 

Start by grouping the data into categories. Check if any statistic stands out—sometimes, one startling statistic is all you need to build a story on. 

If nothing stands out on its own, see if you can compare categories or make correlations. 

The idea is to pick a few interesting data points, give them meaning, and create context. This comes from knowing who your target audience is and developing a story that would resonate with them. 

Then, before narrowing down the data points to include, ask yourself: so what?

4. Create visuals to present data 

If you think sending a text-heavy press release to journalists and editors is enough to get you coverage, you’re mistaken. It’s equally important to present your data in a visually appealing manner.

Data can be intimidating, and creating visualizations will help you:

• Make data engaging and digestible
• Identify trends and outliers
• Reinforce an argument
• Highlight important sets of data

Moreover, the fact that press releases with visuals garner nearly twice as many views as text alone proves that sharing visuals to complement your data-driven PR story is a must-do.

Depending on the data and target audience, you can create data visualizations such as:

• Infographics: to give an easy-to-understand overview of a concept
• Charts: to compare categories, show changes, or reveal relationships
• Diagrams: to map out processes or connect ideas
• Maps: to represent geographic or regional information

For instance, Venngage created an infographic to present the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment. 

After collecting data from multiple sources and plotting the narrative, we pulled out the key data points and designed a comprehensive infographic. We then reached out to journalists and writers who covered environmental issues. 

The infographic was well-received by nonprofit organizations who shared it with their audiences on social media platforms and blogs. It's a great data-driven storytelling example to draw inspiration from.

Boost your storytelling PR efforts with data

In addition to having good communication, creative writing, and media relations skills, today’s PR professionals must also be effective, data-driven storytellers. 

The ability to tell stories through data will help you boost your data-driven storytelling efforts and develop campaigns that will garner media interest and appeal to the general public. 

Cover photo by Alexander Sinn

The post Data-Driven Storytelling: How to Create Data-Driven Stories (w/ Examples) appeared first on Prowly.

Now that is the secret sauce to lifting your PR campaign from simply good to terrific - digital storytelling.

Sounds great, but how to rock it, to really stand out?

Get inspired by nine digital storytelling examples below and learn how to work with digital stories to make the most of it.

• What is digital storytelling?
• Why does digital storytelling matter to PR?
• 9 real-life digital storytelling examples of big PR campaigns
• How to track the performance of your digital storytelling campaigns
• Level up your PR with hashtag campaigns

Looking for a way to research your competitor's work stories? Check out Prowly's monitoring tool and keep your fingers on the pulse.

Telling your own digital stories requires you to follow a few rules. But first, let's focus on its core – what is it?

What is digital storytelling?

Digital storytelling uses technology and all of its advantages to share your story with a wide audience.

Instead of traditional methods like books or oral tales, digital storytelling combines words, images, sounds, and videos to create a more engaging and interactive digital story.

Digital storytelling examples and types

What type of content can you choose to create your digital story? The sky's the limit but below you can check out the several most common types:

• Brand Narratives through Visuals
• GIFs and Memes
• Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
• Podcasts
• Behind-the-Scenes Content
• Data-driven Stories
• Press Releases and News Updates

Why does digital storytelling matter to PR?

Emotional Connection

Via your digital story you can create deep emotional bonds, enhancing message retention and brand loyalty. When it comes to PR, it's all about connections.

Personalization

Craft stories customized to a particular audience to enhance relevance and resonance. Tailoring narratives to specific groups ensures a more personalized and impactful connection with more diverse audience groups.

Real-Time Updates

You can provide live story updates to promptly respond to unfolding events. Keep your audience updated, but in a fun and interesting way.

Interactive Experiences

Quizzes, polls, and virtual reality help make narrative and immersive journeys that invite people to actively interact with your content. By delivering quizzes and polls, you can stimulate real-time involvement, encouraging audiences to reflect on the narrative. All while virtual reality adds a layer of experiential depth, transporting them into a dynamic and memorable storytelling environment.

Data-driven Storytelling

Improve your message’s credibility, tailor communication to your target audience, and measure its impact for strategy optimization. By integrating data into their narratives, PR professionals can build trust, tailor messages effectively, and demonstrate the tangible value of their efforts.

9 real-life digital storytelling examples of big PR campaigns

1️⃣ Rebuild the World by LEGO

Launched on September 20th, 2021, the LEGO Group's Rebuild the World campaign is all about celebrating kids as creative problem-solvers.

The heart of the campaign is a cute video showing a Knight's journey, where a diverse town works together to overcome challenges and bring friends together. The focus is on how playing with LEGO sparks creative problem-solving skills, teaching important life lessons like resilience and effective communication.

The campaign is full of funny visuals that showcase clever solutions using LEGO bricks, highlighting the awesome power of playing together. It's one of those digital stories that's enjoyable for both kids and adults!

Storytelling lesson: Use hashtag campaigns to engage social media users. Make a buzz about your story and let people create some of their own social media storytelling connected to your tale.

2️⃣ Monty the Penguin campaign by John Lewis

Have you met Monty? It is an adorable penguin, the best friend of a young boy, and the main character of the campaign. And an icon of John Lewis' storytelling.

The story unfolds as the boy observes Monty feeling lonely, leading him to realize that Monty needs a companion. The heartwarming tale culminates in a Christmas morning surprise when Sam (the boy) introduces a female penguin named Mabel, who is waiting near the Christmas tree, to Monty.

As if your eyes weren't watering enough yet, John Lewis decided to support the WWF's efforts in Antarctica, where they are trying to protect the home of Adélie penguins like Monty and Mabel.

John Lewis shoppers were also encouraged to help by either purchasing Tom Odell’s single (which is used in the ad), or by adopting an Adélie penguin with WWF. 

Storytelling lesson: Evoke emotions and create excitement around the wait. John Lewis knows how to make Christmas ads and now each year we impatiently wait for more.

3️⃣ #LikeAGirl campaign by Always

In 2014, Always rocked the advertisement world and launched the #LikeAGirl campaign which challenged gender stereotypes.

At the core of this awesome campaign was a video where people of all ages and backgrounds were asked to do things "like a girl." It showed how puberty can impact how girls see their own abilities. Younger girls rocked these tasks with confidence, breaking stereotypes, but older participants sometimes approached them with hesitation or a sense of weakness.

The whole idea was to change what it means to do something "like a girl" and boost confidence in girls of all ages. It raised a discussion – within 24 hours the #LikeAGirl hashtag was tweeted over 4k times.

The campaign touched the core of womanhood and girlhood and rang a bell about how stereotypes shape the world around us.

Storytelling lesson: Allow clients and users to share their own stories and embrace authenticity. When individuals see themselves reflected in characters, it creates a resonance within their minds and hearts, ensuring that the story and its message endure in their memories for longer.

If you are looking for inspiration or an interesting user story, use Prowly's Media Monitoring tool. Thanks to this, any intriguing story won't miss your attention.

4️⃣ Visit Norway storytelling and the #SheepWithAView viral video

Any fans of Scandinavia here? If so, you've probably seen a now viral video by Visit Norway – a digital story about sheep living their best lives in Norway.

It took only seconds to create some compelling digital storytelling that shows Norway in all its glory. With beautiful landscapes and nature – it shows the country through the eyes of its natural inhabitants.

The video consists of an introduction that presents four sheep guides: Kari, Lars, Erik, and Frida. Each has its video in which they present the country from a different angle.

There was also an official Instagram account, where you could follow each sheep's life, and an interactive map on a dedicated page to help you dig deeper into the topic and learn more about each sheep's region.

Storytelling lesson: Create suspense. The sheep were introduced to the public but in order to learn the digital stories of each, people were forced to wait. This built curiosity and engagement.

5️⃣ Spotify Wrapped 2023

Spotify is a great example of multimedia storytelling that works. They know how to engage people and make their digital stories interesting to their audience.

Each year people impatiently wait to see their Spotify Wrapped playlists. In 2023, Spotify decided to play a game and reveal The Global Artist piece by piece (literally, there were puzzles (banners) in different locations).

People got involved in this digital story. They united around the world, searching for clues while awaiting the big reveal.

P.S. Taylor Swift, congrats!

Storytelling lesson: Gamification and connecting digital storytelling with real-life banners. Mixing digital stories with real-life actions is a great way to engage people and boost their curiosity. This is one of the most popular and working digital story examples.

6️⃣ Spotify Only You

Spotify really nails the art of digital storytelling, and they did it again with the Only You launch.

This cool campaign celebrates each user's special music taste by using in-app experiences to show off their unique listening habits and connect them with fellow fans. The whole idea is to tell listeners, "You're one of a kind, but you're not on your own," making the bond between Spotify and its users even stronger. It's all about feeling special and part of a music-loving community!

Throughout the campaign, users engaged with their personal stats, such as Your Song Year and Your Topics, and shared these with others, enhancing the overall user experience. Only You is one of the most well-done and famous storytelling examples performed by Spotify.

Storytelling lesson: Put a spotlight on your users. Let them feel special and create something they can share with others. This is how a digital story is written.

7️⃣ Storytelling art: Wes Anderson for Prada

Wes Anderson's campaign for Prada is a perfect answer to "What is a digital story?" They not only created a great piece of art for a Prada commercial but also paid tribute to Federico Fellini at the same time.

It is an eight-minute film for Prada called "Castello Cavalcanti," which features Jason Schwartzman as a racecar driver crashing into an Italian village. It pays homage to Federico Fellini, showcasing Anderson's meticulous style and referencing Fellini's films. Despite being an ad, Prada's logo is subtly integrated, avoiding overt branding.

The film serves as a treat for cinephiles, blending Anderson's style with nods to Fellini. Prada successfully combines auteur artistry with advertising, engaging fans and generating goodwill.

Watch it here, you won't regret it.

Storytelling lesson: Mastering digital storytelling may also mean using classic storytelling in order to be remembered for years. Here, Wes Anderson has created art, delivering an interesting story, an ad and a work of art at the same time.

Want to keep up to date? Monitor digital media with Prowly. Be the first to cover interesting, fresh stories and join the conversation on time.

8️⃣ #HereForYou Instagram campaign

In 2017 Instagram launched the mental health support campaign, #HereForYou. It includes a video in which users of Instagram speak about their issues, like eating disorders or depression.

It highlighted how this social media platform took part in their journey of getting back on track – the community played a crucial role. As a public advocate, actress Troian Bellisario spoke about her battle and how vital it is to have people who understand this journey nearby.

This video includes highlighted hashtags commonly used in mental health-related topics, ie. #MentalHealthMatters, #RecoveryIsPossible,and #EndTheStigma.

Storytelling lesson: Instagram launched digital storytelling that created a positive online environment and supported a good cause. Moreover, from a purely business point of view, they nailed the leverage hashtags for the movement.

9️⃣ Patagonia "Don't buy this jacket" campaign

Patagonia’s storytelling is a well-known case. The "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign, launched on Black Friday in 2011, featured a full-page ad in The New York Times discouraging consumers from purchasing one of their best-selling jackets.

Sounds not very sales-y, doesn't it?

The campaign promoted conscious consumption by raising awareness about the environmental impact of consumerism. Patagonia, known for its commitment to sustainability, used this campaign to spark a conversation about responsible and thoughtful consumer choices.

Despite the counterintuitive nature of discouraging purchases, the campaign successfully aligned with the company's values and highlighted the importance of environmental awareness.

Storytelling lesson: Value-driven stories can make digital storytelling useful for good causes. Creating a buzz about important topics and your brand may be a win-win. If you want to monitor them, use Prowly's Media Monitoring tool.

How to track the performance of your digital storytelling campaigns?

Once you let your digital storytelling campaign shine, you should start following the metrics. What are people saying about it? Do they share, like, comment?

You can use a Social Media Listening & Monitoring tool to learn how your campaign is doing and see all the most important data in one place.

Monitoring the hashtags of digital stories campaigns

With Prowly’s “follow hashtag” feature, you can choose the hashtags you want to follow and keep your fingers on the pulse of what people are saying about your digital storytelling.

Follow the mentions that include your chosen keywords as a hashtag, eg. the name of your brand. 

Use cases:

👉🏼 social impact campaigns, raising awareness about certain issues, and promoting a hashtag

👉🏼 cooperation with Instagram influencers and brand ambassadors tagging their posts in a certain way

Although it’s very useful to track mentions of a particular hashtag in social media digital storytelling, you can take it one step further.

▪️ Follow variations of the hashtag, as people often make silly errors by mistake, such as misspelling your brand’s name.
▪️ It’s also good to follow related keywords in case users forgot to add the hash # sign.

Tracking the engagement and sentiment of your digital story

Even if your media coverage is excellent in important outlets, there's a chance that social listening might reveal less favorable comments and sentiments on various social platforms.

Consider social monitoring as a comprehensive approach to see the world from all perspectives.

When you have more information you can form more comprehensive conclusions and react in no time to prevent back flash. After all, that’s also what PR is about.

Level up your PR with hashtag campaigns

From masterful ideas to impactful execution, these cases show how organizations can effectively leverage the online space to craft engaging narratives. Each of them may provide a great benchmark while creating your own digital story.

If you want to learn about more up-to-date digital storytelling examples, check Prowly's Monitoring Tool and follow topics that may interest you.

The post 9 Digital Storytelling Examples You Should Know If You Work in PR appeared first on Prowly.

Crafting a music press release follows a similar structure to crafting a standard one, with a few additional considerations to bear in mind.

We’ll walk you through the steps for how to write a press release for music and point you to some music press release examples.

Looking to create a music press release?

Use Prowly's AI press release generator or templates that you can use for free to easily create your own in a format that journalists expect to receive.

Prowly also lets you find relevant journalists and send out your press release to them directly from the platform.

When to write a music press release 

Before writing a single word, you should check if a new music press release is warranted.

You should write a press release for music when:

• You're announcing a new album release: Whenever an artist or band releases a new album, a press release should be crafted and distributed to generate excitement and inform fans and the media about the new music.
• You're promoting a concert or music festival: Before a concert or music festival, a good press release can generate publicity, attract the audience, and provide necessary details like date, location, and line-up.
• You want to introduce a new artist or band: A press release can help launch new artists into the music scene, providing essential information about them and their music.
• You need to highlight a big achievement or milestone: Whether an artist wins an award, reaches a sales milestone, or celebrates an anniversary, a press release can share these achievements with the public.
• You want to share updates about a music project or collaboration: If an artist is involved in a unique project or collaboration, a press release can effectively keep fans and media in the loop.

However, while all of these events give you the go-ahead to write a press release, the key will be to give the announcement an angle that makes it more than a statement of details. It needs to tell a story. 

So, identify what the story is first. For example, it can be about how a personal event inspired the album or the challenges the musician had to overcome to record the album.

How to write a music press release

Music press release format

As we mentioned, don’t worry that a music industry press release radically differs from what you’re used to.

However, when creating a music press release, it is important to include additional elements specific to the music industry. These may include details about the artist or band, the genre or style of music, notable collaborations, release dates, and any unique aspects of the music production process. To learn more about how to do a press release for music, refer to the best practices we list below:

Step #1 — Include the common elements expected in a press release:

• Headline
• Subheader
• Announcement date and place
• 2-3 body paragraphs, with the most important details in the first paragraph 
• A quote from the music artist or record label spokesperson (Keep the language informal and natural, so the journalist can include it in an article without sounding like they lifted it right out of a press release).

→ Read a thorough explanation of each component in our post: How to Write a Press Release (With Tips From PR Pros).

Step #2 — Weave in elements that uniquely make it an album press release or musician press release:

• Brief band or artist history
• Release date for album or ticket sales
• Excerpts from past reviews that lend credibility
• Band or artist photo and logo
• All social media platform handles

Craft a compelling narrative, delving into the lives of the artists. After all, music is an art form that calls for creativity and emotional expression. By infusing your writing with these elements, you'll captivate readers and earn the appreciation of journalists who cover such topics. Embrace individuality and make your story a unique and engaging experience.

Protip: Don’t include attachments. Instead, add links to the artist’s music on streaming platforms. If the artist’s music isn't publicly available, attach links to a private SoundCloud or YouTube channel.

Questions to answer in a music press release

To pique the interest of journalists and music fans alike, it's important to consider a few key questions before putting pen to paper. 

• What makes this particular release stand out? 
• What inspired the artist to create this music? 
• What can listeners expect in terms of sound and themes?

Answering these questions can help ensure that your music artist's press release is informative and engaging, sparking the curiosity of potential listeners and ensuring that your message is heard loud and clear.

Create a music press release with AI

AI-powered tools for PR can help you create high-quality press release drafts, provide advanced editing suggestions, and even recommend who to send your press release to.

While it's worth knowing how to create an effective press release from scratch, using tools can help speed up the process and ensure you've ticked all the boxes when it comes to the format and content that journalists expect to receive.

Read more: Mastering AI Press Releases: Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Sending + Practical Examples

Here’s how to create (and send) a music press release using a tool like Prowly’s AI-powered Press Release Generator.

Step 1: Enter basic details about your music press release

1. Start the process by entering the type of your press release.
2. Once you select the type, Prowly's AI will ask you to pick your target audience. There are predefined options, such as industry players, customers, or local communities, but you can also add your own.
3. Choose the language of your press release draft.

Step 2: Enter key messages about your music press release

Here, you'll want to be as specific as possible and ensure that whatever you choose is the most relevant information.

Here are three key messages that you can include in your music press release:

• New Release Details: Clearly state the album/EP/single title, release date, and streaming platforms.
• Artist and Music Highlights: Provide a brief artist bio, unique selling points, and a description of the music's genre, sound, and themes.
• Upcoming Events and Call to Action: Announce any tours, events, and new merchandise, while encouraging social media engagement and streaming/purchasing the music.

Step 3: Answer the follow-up questions

Once you’ve entered the basic information about your music press release, Prowly’s AI will ask you more in-depth questions designed to mirror a natural conversation with the journalists you’re targeting.

You’ll receive ten questions tailored specifically to the content you shared earlier. This will complete your press release draft and reduce the need to answer many follow-up questions from the person you're pitching to.

Step 4: Customize and edit the press release draft

Whether you've generated a press release draft or written it yourself, you can adjust header font styles, fine-tune the content just like you would in a regular text editor, adjust your press release length, and cater it into a format you're happy with.

An AI Assistant trained in PR writing best practices reviews the draft and suggests improvements based on 11 key criteria, indicating exactly where to edit.

Step 5: Get contact recommendations for your music press release

Prowly’s AI will start suggesting music journalists you can pitch to based on the keywords found in your press release.

As long as you have contact information for the people you want to pitch to, you can always do deeper work and find out about their music interests, what they've written about before, or what they're hooked on at the moment.

Examples of music press releases

Looking for a press release example for music or a press release template for a music artist? Here are some recent examples we found online that we like:

Music event press release example

Music album press release example

Music artist press release example

Music single press release example

Music festival press release example

Music tour press release example

Sample album press release example

Starting with a new music press release example should get the ideas flowing. But, of course, when budget allows, there are music press release companies you can turn to for full-service press release writing as well (although we think you can achieve the same great press release easily with Prowly’s press release creator tool).

P. S. If you need a press release for an artist or art exhibition, here's a step-by-step guide.

Music press release template

No need to wonder how to write a music press release template when you're using Prowly — it's got you covered!

You can get your hands on a music press release sample, but you can speed up the writing process even more with a music press release template free in Prowly. 

It has multiple press release templates you can use. The templates include all the important elements that will get your story noticed by journalists and result in media coverage.

How to distribute a music press release

Once you've crafted your press release, the next step is to get it out there and ensure the media picks it up. There are several ways to do it, but some ways greatly improve your odds of securing media coverage.

Pitching your music press release 

Pitching relevant media contacts by email is the most effective method for sending out a press release.

While the approach might take a bit more time, it increases the chances of getting awesome press coverage in publications that matter to your industry.

Let’s look at a PR software tool like Prowly. Prowly's media database offers access to a media database with over a million contacts. On top of that, the software creates smart recommendations based on the content of your press releases. With this advantage, you’ll always pitch relevant journalists that are more likely to be interested in your news story.

Over 5000 journalists are covering music, and that's just in the US! You'll find famous media outlets like Rolling Stone Online, Billboard, and Spin. 

Why not take a chance and craft a music press release for your cause?

💡If you're seeking more exposure for your press release, explore these 10 ideas on how to effectively promote a press release.

Utilizing email personalization

Your chances of catching a journalist’s attention increase significantly when you write a custom pitch just for them. A personal pitch addresses their typical beat, past articles, and target audience.

That’s why Prowly offers 1:1 email personalization to address that advantage, allowing you to create campaign media lists and craft individual emails when needed. It helps to personalize every aspect of your pitch, from the greeting to the email content and attachments. This level of personalization enhances press coverage, ensuring your music resonates with the right audience.

Following up

That press release is now out in the world, but you wouldn’t be a PR pro if you weren’t focused on the follow-ups. Be considerate in your follow-ups, though, allowing journalists some time to read your first email and staying out of their inbox after a few follow-up emails go unanswered.

Alternative: Using a wire service

Wire services are another common way of distributing a press release, and compared to pitching, this method can be quicker (though more expensive). 

You may even find a special music press release distribution service or free music press release distribution website. However, the quality of media hits from a wire service can be lower. Your best bet will always be to contact your media contacts individually.

Conclusion

You’re all set! You know how to determine if a music press release is right for your announcement, what to include, and how to distribute it.

If you still need more support, you can always access the Prowly free trial for templates, a press release creator, and a media database.

The post How to Write a Music Press Release (Examples & Templates) appeared first on Prowly.

Somehow, though, irrelevant pitches and bad press releases are still among the most common peccadillos of modern PR practitioners. 

In this article, I’m going to explain why they are a bad idea, and how you can turn those dreary press releases into something a little more newsworthy.

• How to turn a press release into a news story 
  • Simplify your headline
  • Trim the fat
  • Be smart with your data
  • Include valuable assets
  • Personalize!

How to turn a press release into a news story 

Boring press releases take many forms, from award show announcements to product launches. But as PR professionals, it’s our job to advise against them or breathe new life into those we can resuscitate.

Ryan Morrison at Daily Mail Online once said: 

I don’t think I’ve ever run a story on a company winning an award, a new contract, or the promotion or appointment of a new executive.

…And it’s for this reason that we need to think carefully when pitching stories.

Journalists are constantly wading through an onslaught of boring press releases, so it’s important that we don’t add to their workload. Doing so won’t do our clients any good and can even get us blacklisted. 

So, when you’re ready, here’s how to turn a press release into a news story in a few simple steps. 

Simplify your headline

Press release headlines are very important. They are the first things your media contacts will see, and as such should convey the main cut and thrust of your story in an easy-to-understand way. To do this, journalists advise PR professionals to keep things simple by writing as if they are talking to a friend.

Take the following headline: 

Astrobiologists have found evidence of extraterrestrial bacteria.

This title is too long, overly complex, and is written in the past perfect. Now, compare it to:

Scientists discover alien life!

…And it’s easy to see how using the active tense and writing as if you are talking to a friend completely transforms how you would break the news.

Trim the fat

Think back to the last time you scrolled through social media or read the news. You didn’t read each story with equal interest, your eyes bounced from one story to the next till you found something interesting. 

The same goes for journalists. They don’t have time to read each press release critically. They need to be interested straight away and glean key points early on so they can work out if a story is right for their audience.

Keeping a press release succinct is a great way to maximize its impact. Putting the most important points at the top will give interested journalists a quick way to find everything they need while removing anything that isn’t strictly necessary, which will make your story angle clearer. 

Don’t forget that journalists read dozens of press releases every day, so simplifying yours will make it easier to parse and earn you valuable brownie points in the process.

Be smart with your data

Data can help you identify a story and demonstrate authority, but it does have its downsides. All too often, PR practitioners go overboard with data because they think incorporating everything in their press release will somehow improve their chances of catching someone’s eye. 

The truth is: journalists don’t want to scroll through thousands of data points to find a story; they want you to do it for them. And you’re much more likely to secure coverage if your press contact feels your story pertains specifically to them.

A good example of this is a UK burglary piece I did last year. Before contacting the press, I segmented my data into different regions, so I could reach out to targets separately. This allowed me to scale my outreach and build coverage over time. The result: over six weeks I secured coverage in both local and national press, with traction in Northern England, London, and more.

💡 Tip: If you're looking to amplify your PR efforts and connect with your community, consider if using local news coverage would be effective. For practical strategies, check out this article on how to get on local news.

Include valuable assets

Online newspapers and magazines aren’t just spaces for long articles. Today’s press is a lot more dynamic and makes use of a wide variety of media to engage users.

If your press release looks a little humdrum, think about spicing it up with videos, photos, or infographics. Journalists love to see that your press release is multidimensional. If you’re resource-poor, you can bring your press release to life using expert commentary or free online resources such as Google Data Studio to create exciting assets.

Personalize!

Personalizing a press release may not sound like a strategy for making it newsworthy, but you’ll be surprised how far a little personal connection can take you.

Press releases are a dime a dozen in the world of news, so writing one that genuinely connects with the recipient – perhaps by mentioning a recent article they published – can make a big difference to their perception of you. What’s more, if you grab their attention and get them to see you as a serious prospect, they may spot an angle you missed and come back to you with a related topic.

A good way to make sure your press release has that personal touch – particularly ones you send en masse – is to make sure your formatting doesn’t reveal they’re a copy-and-paste job. This means double-checking the bits you personalize. Use the format painter tool on Outlook and Word to make sure your copy is all the same font, color, and size.

Personalization allows you to build the reader's interest and goes beyond a simple summary of the news. Not to leave you with theory alone, we've covered a great example of tailoring content to the readers in the Book Press Release article.

Now that you know what makes a great press release…

Think about it. When you send someone an unsolicited email pitch with a boring press release, they will do one of two things: they will either read the subject line and want to learn more, or decide it’s not for them and dispatch it to the gloomy depths of their delete folder.

The process takes seconds – microseconds if you’re a harassed editor – so press releases need to make the most of this short window of opportunity. 

To turn your press release into a news story, make sure they are personalized, concise, and engage journalists straight away. You can then seal the deal with rich content and data that supports your topline. It’s exactly what makes a great press release.

Cover image by Clark Tibbs 

The post How to Turn a “Boring” Press Release Into a News Story appeared first on Prowly.