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In a nutshell, the purpose of a press release is to inform the media and the public about noteworthy information that has the potential to entice readers to want to find out more.

Quick reference

The Purpose of a Press Release

In a nutshell, the purpose of a press release is to inform the media and the public about noteworthy information that has the potential to entice readers to want to find out more. It should make journalists want to contact you for a full interview or to write an article themselves. It must provide information about the latest trends, achievements or products of a business, organization, or high profile person.

When not to use

A press release should not be used when you want to tell a complete story, to advertise something, or update your social media status.

Instructions

It is appropriate to use a press release for any of the following topics:

  • A new member being added to the board of directors
  • Change in top management or restructuring
  • Moving office location or new offices
  • A new service provided by your company
  • Product launches
  • Business functions
  • New investors or partnerships
  • New projects
  • New brands added
  • New hires and promotions
  • Any honors or awards received
  • Market research results
  • New retail outlets
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  • 00:05 Great, so now I'd like to walk you through the purpose of a press release.
  • 00:10 Often, the best way to understand something
  • 00:13 is to actually describe what it is not.
  • 00:15 So here we're going to walk through a list of things of what a press release is not.
  • 00:25 So first of all, it's not a complete story.
  • 00:28 The full story will be told by the journalist who
  • 00:33 chooses to write the article or who will interview you for more information.
  • 00:38 Secondly, it's not an advert.
  • 00:41 A press release that disguises itself as an advert will be frowned upon and
  • 00:47 it will be sent to the trash folder with one click.
  • 00:50 So let's not waste our time and that of the media industry.
  • 00:55 If you want to advertise, rather do that instead of writing a press release.
  • 01:00 Thirdly, a press release is not a feature article.
  • 01:04 A press release actually is too short to be a feature article.
  • 01:08 Your story or your product may well get featured if you focus on
  • 01:14 writing something that is quite enticing.
  • 01:17 Finally, it's not actually a social media status update.
  • 01:21 If the content of the press release is irrelevant to both the customers and
  • 01:26 the media, then it will come across us a lengthy social media status
  • 01:31 update that's gonna be more suitable for Facebook or Twitter.
  • 01:36 So what then is the purpose of a press release?
  • 01:41 We can understand that by knowing what a press release is.
  • 01:44 A press release contains noteworthy information that has
  • 01:48 the potential to entice your readers to wanna find out more.
  • 01:53 And it should make journalists want to contact you for a full interview or
  • 01:58 to write an article themselves based on the information provided.
  • 02:02 So to do that, the press release must be well written and concise, so
  • 02:06 that it's easy to pick up and quick to read.
  • 02:09 It's more like a synopsis of a news article than an article itself.
  • 02:15 And it must provide information about the latest trends or
  • 02:19 achievements or the products or our business, the organization that we're at,
  • 02:24 or a high profile person who's contact details will be clearly stated.
  • 02:30 So if we look more at the purpose of the press release then,
  • 02:33 it's to inform the public, not only about the details of a new product, but
  • 02:38 also about a new member being added to the board of directors,
  • 02:42 change in top management, or when we move office location.
  • 02:46 Or a service that's provided by the company, or even product launches and
  • 02:51 we've got new products and other business functions that we might add or
  • 02:55 reduce over time.
  • 02:56 Now this can really go on.
  • 02:58 The main thing to remember is that your press release needs to be current and
  • 03:03 needs to be up to date and needs to be newsworthy.
  • 03:06 What we don't want to do is waste our time on
  • 03:09 yesterday's news that's already expired.

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