The Online Press Release: A Complete Guide From Drafting to Publication

What a press release is, and when you need one

A press release is a short, factual announcement written for the media. It says that something has happened or will happen, who is involved and why anyone outside the organisation should care. Unlike an advertisement, it is written in a neutral voice so that an editor can publish it, or turn it into a news item, with minimal changes. This press release guide follows a text from the first idea to a published, documented result.

Not every piece of company news deserves a release. A press release is justified when there is a genuine event: a product or service launch, a new location, a partnership, an award, a research result, a major hire, the start or end of a project, or a public event. If the only news is that you exist, an article that gives readers useful information is usually a better fit.

A useful test is to ask what changed. If you can complete the sentence “As of [date], [something] is different” with a fact, you have news. If you can only complete it with an adjective, you do not. The question also keeps expectations realistic: editors choose from many releases, and plain, well-explained news has a better chance than inflated announcements.

Press releases are also common where publicity is a project obligation, as with EU-funded projects; those have their own requirements, which are covered in a separate article on press releases for EU-funded projects.

The standard structure of a press release

Editors expect a familiar shape, and a familiar shape speeds things up. A typical release has six parts.

1. Headline. One sentence that states the news. See the dedicated article on the press release headline and first paragraph for length, verbs and examples.
2. Lead. The opening paragraph, answering who, what, when, where and why in two or three sentences.
3. Details. The facts that support the lead, in descending order of importance: figures, dates, locations, prices or conditions where relevant.
4. Quote. One or two quotations from a named person with a role, adding perspective that facts alone do not. The quoted person must have agreed to the words.
5. Company description. A short, neutral paragraph, often called the boilerplate, saying who the organisation is and what it does.
6. Contact. A name, an email address and a phone number for follow-up questions.

Add the date and place of issue at the top, and mark the end of the text clearly. If you include images, state their source or licence and send them in the file formats the recipient asks for. For a worked, annotated example of all these parts in the context of a new product, see our product launch press release model.

Writing the press release, step by step

A reliable writing sequence helps even when you are short of time.

1. List the facts first. Gather names, dates, places and figures before you write a sentence. Remove anything you cannot verify.
2. Write the lead and headline together. If you cannot state the news in a sentence, the release is not ready.
3. Add the details in order of importance. Put the least critical information last, so that cutting from the bottom does no harm.
4. Draft the quote. Make it say something a person would actually say, with an opinion or a reason, not a rewrite of the facts. Get approval from the speaker.
5. Write the company description. Two or three factual sentences. No slogans.
6. Check the language. Short sentences, active verbs, no jargon, no unexplained abbreviations.
7. Get a second reader. Ask someone outside the project whether they understand the news in 30 seconds.

If you prefer a guided approach, the press release builder on this site walks through the same pieces, from the five Ws to the contact line, and checks the structure and length at the end.

Tone and language: what editors expect

A press release is read by people who have limited time and no obligation to publish it. The language should therefore be plain, specific and impersonal. Use the third person (“the company said”, not “we are delighted”), prefer active verbs and keep sentences under about 25 words.

Avoid the vocabulary of advertising. Words such as “exclusive”, “revolutionary” and “amazing” add nothing an editor can verify. Replace each adjective with a fact: not “a large team” but “a team of twelve”, if that is true and you can document it. Explain technical terms the first time you use them, and spell out abbreviations, because the reader may not work in your sector.

Think too about the reader of the final page, who may be a customer, a partner or a public authority, not only a journalist. Write so that a person with no background in your field could still repeat the news accurately. If the release will be published in Romanian, have it written or checked by a native speaker; machine-translated text is often easy to spot and weakens credibility.

A minimal skeleton you can adapt

The skeleton below uses invented details to show proportions. Replace each bracket with your own verified facts.

The proportions matter more than the words: a lead that does the main job in two sentences, a few lines of verifiable detail, one human voice and one neutral description. When you add anything beyond this, ask whether the reader needs it to understand the news.

Press release or advertorial: the differences that matter

The two formats are often confused because both are published online and both can contain a link. They serve different aims.

Deciding between them depends on your goal, and we explain how in press release or advertorial: when to use which. In many campaigns they work together: a release announces a launch, and an article a few weeks later explains how to use the product.

How to distribute a press release online

Writing is half the job; the release also has to reach readers. There are several routes, and they are not mutually exclusive.

• Direct to journalists. A personal, short email to the right person at the right outlet, with the release in the body or as an attachment. Check what each journalist covers before sending.
• Your own website. A news or press page, with the release as normal text, not as an image or locked PDF, so that search engines and AI assistants can read it.
• News and business websites that accept releases. These publish the text as an article, usually at a permanent URL. Rules about subjects, formats and images differ, so read them first. Our press release publishing places releases on sites in the portfolio, within the stated working hours.
• Social channels and newsletters. Useful for reaching customers directly, but they are not a substitute for a page that remains accessible and linkable.

Timing also matters. Avoid sending on the eve of long holidays or when a bigger story is dominating the news. For local stories, regional outlets may be more receptive than national ones, a point we explore in our article on local business advertorials.

Common mistakes in press releases

Most refused or ignored releases make the same few mistakes.

• No news. The text describes the company's general virtues without a dated event.
• Buried lead. The announcement appears in the fourth paragraph, after the history of the firm.
• Superlatives and unsupported claims. Claims of leadership or uniqueness need evidence; without it they are usually removed.
• Missing contact details, which makes it impossible for a journalist to follow up.
• Invented or unattributed quotes. Always attribute a quote to a real, named person who has agreed to it.
• Promotional language. Calls to buy or to hurry belong in advertising, not in a release.
• Excessive links. One or two links to relevant pages are enough.

Subjects such as health, finance and gambling are also covered by extra rules on many sites. Our publishing rules list what is not accepted and what is restricted. As the advertising framework in Romania is Law 148/2000, which covers matters such as hidden advertising, it is wise to avoid anything that could be read as concealed promotion; this is general information, not legal advice.

After publication: keep the evidence

When the release goes live, your work is not finished. Record the URL, the date and time, and a screenshot or PDF of the page. Check that the links work and that the text appears as you submitted it. If the release is part of a funded project, the publisher's page is often the evidence a grant manager will ask for, so see our article on proof of publication for EU projects for a practical list of what to keep.

If you want to see how the release performs, note any referral traffic in your analytics and watch whether other sites republish it. Avoid conclusions from a single week: results build slowly, and a release is one part of a communication plan rather than the whole of it.

Next step: from draft to live URL

With a clear lead, an honest tone and a short list of facts, a press release is a practical communication tool for a small organisation. When you are ready to publish, you can submit your finished text through our press release publishing service, or browse the portfolio to see the categories and sites available.

If you are unsure whether your news is strong enough, write the single-sentence version and test it on a colleague. If they can repeat it back accurately, you have something an editor can use.

Frequently asked questions