How to Write a Press Release

What do you need before you start writing?

One announcement. That is the whole raw material of a press release: a launch, an opening, a milestone, an appointment, an event — a single thing that happened or is about to happen. If you cannot state your news in one sentence ("We opened X", "We launched Y", "We reached Z"), you do not have a press release yet; you have a brochure. Write that one sentence first, because everything else in the release exists to support it.

You also need the facts a reader will check: exact dates, exact places, the correct spelling of every name, and one website link where readers can act on the news. Gather them before you write, not after.

Step 1: How do you write a headline that states the news?

Write the headline as a plain news sentence: company name, strong verb, the news, and the detail that makes it specific. "HarborView Residences Announces New Phase of Waterfront Homes" works because a reader knows everything essential without opening the page. "Exciting News From Our Team!" fails because it contains no news at all.

• Put the company or brand name in the headline — releases are filed and searched by name.
• Use a real verb: launches, opens, announces, appoints, reaches, completes.
• Add the specific detail — a place, a number, a date, a product name.
• Skip hype words you cannot prove ("best", "revolutionary", "#1"). Reviewers remove them, and readers discount them.
• Keep it to roughly 10–16 words; long headlines get cut off in listings.

More on this in our guide to press release examples, where real headlines from this wire are annotated.

Step 2: What goes in the first paragraph?

The first paragraph — the lead — repeats the headline with the essentials filled in: who is announcing, what is happening, when, and where. It begins with a dateline (city, and the date). Read any release on this wire and you will see the pattern: "NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Nov. 9, 2026 —" followed by one or two sentences that would still make sense if the reader stopped there.

That is the test: if only your headline and first paragraph were ever read, would the reader know the news? If yes, the structure is doing its job. Journalists and listing editors decide in seconds whether to keep reading; the lead is written for them.

Step 3: How do you write the body?

The body paragraphs add detail in falling order of importance: the facts behind the announcement, how it works, who it affects, and what happens next. Two to four body paragraphs is normal. Each paragraph should be able to stand alone, because readers skim and editors cut from the bottom.

• Paragraph two: the details — what exactly is new, included, or changed.
• Paragraph three: the context — why now, who it is for, what problem it answers.
• Paragraph four: the practical next step — dates, availability, where to go, what to do.
• Use plain numbers and dates instead of vague claims. "Serving 40 postcodes" informs; "serving a huge area" does not.

The full skeleton, with every part labelled, is in our press release format guide.

Step 4: What is a quote doing in a press release?

A quote is the one place a release is allowed to sound human. Facts go in the body; the quote carries the judgement: why this matters, in the words of a named person with a real role — a founder, a director, a project lead. "We're expanding because demand from the north side doubled this year" is a quote. "We are delighted to announce this exciting development" is filler wearing a quote's clothes.

• One quote is enough for most releases; two at most.
• Name the speaker and their title.
• Never invent a quote from a real person who did not say it — if a release is yours, the quote must be approved by the person named.

How long should a press release be?

Long enough to cover the news and its evidence, and no longer: 300–800 words is the working range, with around 400–500 right for most announcements. Shorter than 300 and a release usually lacks the facts a reader needs; longer than 800 and the news is buried under background. Length questions come up often enough that the format guide breaks down what each part typically runs to.

As for time: a prepared writer drafts a straightforward release in under an hour. The honest answer to "how long does it take to write a press release" is that the writing is quick once the facts are gathered — collecting dates, checking names and getting the quote approved is what takes the afternoon.

Step 5: How do you end a press release?

With two standard parts. First, the boilerplate: a short "About [company]" paragraph, 40–80 words, that says what the company does, who it serves and where it is based. It is the same paragraph on every release the company sends — our boilerplate guide shows how to write one. Second, a contact line: a name and an email a reader can actually reach. Some releases also add the traditional end marks (### or -30-) after the body; they are optional in online publishing.

How do the steps change for different kinds of news?

The skeleton never changes, but the emphasis does. Three common cases:

• A launch or opening. The news is availability: what opened, where, from when, and how a customer uses it. Dates and the action link carry the release; background about the company's journey belongs in one paragraph at most.
• An event. Journalists and listing editors need logistics before colour: date, start time, venue, ticket or entry details, in the first two paragraphs. An event release that makes a reader hunt for the date has failed at its only job.
• An appointment or milestone. The number or the name is the news, so it goes in the headline and the lead, with the evidence (what the number counts, who the person is) immediately behind it. Milestone releases live or die on verifiability — say what the figure consists of.

What does a finished release look like, sentence by sentence?

Putting the steps together, a complete short release reads like this. The company is fictional and the text is an illustration of the method — each sentence is labelled with the job it is doing:

Notice the length: under 150 words carries a complete announcement because every sentence has one job. Real announcements with more facts run longer — but the discipline is the same at 150 words or 600. Compare this against the real releases annotated in press release examples.

What should you check before you send it?

• Names, dates and numbers — every one, twice. A wrong date is the most common and most damaging release error.
• The one link: does it open the exact page the announcement is about?
• The quote: has the named person approved it?
• Claims: could you prove every factual claim if challenged? Wires, including this one, reject misleading claims — see the submission guidelines.
• Read it aloud once. Releases are written to be skimmed by strangers; if a sentence needs a second read, rewrite it.

When the release is ready, distribution is a separate job from writing it — covered in how to distribute a press release. On this wire, you email us the finished release from the Submit page and we review it before anything is published.