May 16, 2024 / by Erin Payton

The opportunities to promote your organization and get your brand in front of a new audience of potential customers open up once you identify newsworthy reasons to send a press release. As part of this Cision series, we have covered press releases related to company news, employee news, product and service offerings, events and more.

Sharing helpful, relevant and educational original content can help better position your company as an expert in your field or industry and gain new customers.

 

Four Types of Content to Share Via Press Release

1: Survey or study results

A well-crafted press release – sent to the right audiences across the right channels – can help amplify the efforts of your organization’s new and unique information and educate wider audiences and effectively establish your organization as an industry thought leader.

Original Content Examples:

 

2: Executive thought leadership

Build on your internal subject matter experts’ knowledge and reputation with a press release. A press release can extend a story's reach and increase its relevancy. It can also resonate longer when contextualized around your SME's content such as books, speeches and media appearances.

Examples:

 

3: Tips or expert advice or guidance

Publishing press releases with tips and tricks in the body copy is more common than you might think. If you send this type of content to a targeted industry newsline, you’re more likely to reach a relevant audience.

Examples:

 

4: Free training or educational resources

Build a rapport with your target audience by providing no or low-cost training and resources. If your organization is offering to provide information and education to an audience at no cost, we have found that organizations can gain additional loyal followers.

Examples

 

Four Tips for a Standout Content-Related Press Release

While your original content press release should follow the same general format and best practices as any other press release, events-related press releases require special attention in specific ways. When creating your press release to share original content, consider the following:

  1. Avoid clickbait by crafting a truly compelling headline:
    While your headline should be eye-catching – offering a surprising finding or opinion that invites the reader to learn more. Press release headlines that include action words see more engagement on PR Newswire than those that don’t. Action words like “reveals,” “announces” or “unveils” (see examples above for more inspiration).  Avoid the most over-used press release words, according to journalists, which include words like “unique,” “innovative” or “ground-breaking.”
  2. Create a can’t-miss call to action: Make it easy for readers to engage with and share content. Include a clear and compelling call to action. In other words, go beyond the standard “click here” and provide relevant context. Perhaps something like “Download the full report” or “Visit our website to learn more.” Put your CTA “above the fold”  as a standalone line from the rest of the text to ensure readers (and scanners) see it right away.
  3. Add authority with an expert quote: Quotes make it easy for journalists to quickly “grab and go” when producing their stories. Including a quote from a trusted and impactful subject matter expert also adds credibility.
  4. Show and tell: Our research has shown that press releases that include visual aids like photos, videos, charts or infographics more engagement. 54% of journalists surveyed for the 2022 State of the Media Report say they are more likely to cover a story if the pitch or press release includes relevant multimedia assets.

About Erin Payton

Erin Payton is an Integrated Marketing Manager for Distribution at Cision. In her role, she develops multichannel marketing campaigns, drives demand generation, fosters brand awareness and creates thought leadership. Away from the keyboard, she is an unabashedly enthusiastic cat mom to Mia.