WHAT’S THE BEST FORMAT FOR A PRESS RELEASE?

WE’VE talked previously about the validity of press releases, what to include and what journalists and the media expect however there’s one practical way that you can ‘turn’ off’ any journalists. How the press release lands in their inbox.

In the distant past, press releases came as letters which were often fully branded with embedded pictures and most of them were poorly written and spiked as on a busy news day, you don’t have time to read through a load of tripe to find the story. Sometimes a press release would be faxed back in the day which meant they were ‘plainer’ but actually much better for a busy journalist or news editor.

Now it’s all via email and even that requires thought. A journalist – depending on who they work for – can have up to 1,000 emails a day, many of them being press releases. While the strength of a story and the angle will help you to stand out, there are some practical tips which will help too. A great story whic his hard to unpick may simply be deleted if a journalist is under time pressure.

You can have a strong story and still lose coverage because your press release arrives in the wrong format, loads badly on a phone, or won’t copy cleanly into a newsroom system. If that happens, you’ve handed a journalist extra work, and they’ll usually move on. This doesn’t mean they are stupid, it means they are busy and have other deadlines to meet. Sometimes they will make a mental note to come back to it but when they do the moment has passed and it’s old news.

In this guide, we break down press release Formats: PDF, Word, so you can choose the right one for the job, protect your credibility, and make pickup easier.

What About A PDF?

Choosing the right press release format—PDF, Word or email – depends on your primary goal, whether it’s fastest pickup, authority, or long-term visibility.

Word format is ideal for quick journalist editing and collaboration, enabling easy copying and fast pitching with minimal formatting hurdles as is just putting the story into an email from a Word document. It requires the journalist to do less ‘clicking’ and more thinking on a busy, busy day.

PDF is usually a no-no. It may look lovely with branding and embedded pictures but it’s an utter ‘sod’ to break down and to put into the systems used by newspapers and broadcasters. They often hate it. Also embedded pictures lose resolution and frankly they don’t care about your logo.

The only time to use a pdf is when you provide long form information which you don’t want distorted ie. a survey with data. Usually you would supply a press release with highlights and offer the PDF longer version if they want more information or want to dig deeper into the topic. That gives your data or survey credibility. Make it their choice not your assumption.

What About A Picture?

Photographs are often key to getting coverage. A good quality image which makes sense with the story will increase the chances of that story being used dramatically.

Some journalists will call this ‘having collects’.

This simply means suitable images which go with the story.

Examples include: a beautiful headshot of the person quoted in the story; a team shot which is thoughtful and not a line of people with their hands awkwardly in front of them; a narrative shot where there is some kind of ‘relevant action’.

If the story has a very clear beginning, middle and end, a group of images might be needed eg. Renovation of a building of some kind; weight loss story; anything where before and after pictures are relevant.

These images need to be in colour, jpeg format, at least 1mg resolution and, in most case, in landscape not portrait (unless you are asked for that). Also don’t attach loads of images. Just one and simply say that more images are available.

What doesn’t work are inappropriate pictures – a headshot of a CEO who is not quoted in the article, another person is quoted. A quote from a CEO but the image shows an empty office or an image of your office building even when the story isn’t relevant to that.

And if you can’t be bothered with all of this – that’s fine! We can save you the time and do it for you. Get in touch