Press releases are a very misunderstood form of marketing content. They often have no clear audience or purpose, fail to convey exactly what the news they’re releasing is, and substitute showing the reader why the company is worth their attention for vacuous braggadocio.

With that said, let’s dive into three tips to help you write better press releases that will get the point across and influence your audience (which is the real goal).

Clearly State the News Up Top

All press releases should convey some form of hard news. Two companies are partnering to help publishers generate more revenue from direct ad buys. A new executive is coming aboard to move the firm in a different direction. The company has secured a fresh round of funding to propel it into a new market. The headline and first paragraph of the press release should clearly state these salient facts.

This may seem obvious, but many press releases fail to meet this objective in one of two ways. The first sort of error is to go too big and abstract. For example, you might say, “Company x and company y partner to secure the future of free expression on the open web” — when what they’re really doing is helping publishers keep more of each ad dollar by optimizing supply paths. Start by saying the latter, not the former. You have five seconds to get the reader’s attention. Don’t incite confusion — or an eye roll — when you should be earning that attention. You can explain the big picture in paragraph two or three.

The second failure to state the news lies in saying some adtech gobbledygook that most people, even adtech insiders, will not understand. Consider this press release headline: “IAS announces campaign sync solution with Xandr’s Invest DSP to match advertisers’ pre- and post-bid settings.” I don’t know, man. There are probably plenty of people who immediately know what that means. There are also probably plenty of people (like me) who consume a lot of adtech content and don’t. So, in these technical cases, focus on the outcomes (IAS and Xandr partner to help advertisers with x) instead of the literal technical change, and demystify the jargon later.

Articulate the Impact of the News

What matters most isn’t even the hard news. It’s the impact of the news on any affected parties. As a journalist, that’s what I always wanted to discern when I read a press release. How will this affect publishers, advertisers, adtech companies, and/or consumers? And that’s what most readers will want to know, too. So, the second paragraph should articulate that impact.

For example, let’s say the news is an executive hire. Very few people actually care about the hire itself unless the person in question has a significant public profile. What they might care about is how the hire will shape the future of the company — and, in turn, the publishers and/or advertisers with whom it works.

Tired: Company hires Ellen Smith as CEO.

Wired: Company hires Ellen Smith as CEO to facilitate expansion into CTV.

AdSomething, a mobile advertising company, has hired Ellen Smith, a TV veteran, to spearhead the company’s expansion into CTV. Smith brings a wealth of experience with the silver screen, having recently held leadership positions at Comcast and CBS, where she led the advertising division. Under the helm of Smith, AdSomething will bring its experience unlocking the mobile ad market for independent agencies to CTV, where it will leverage technical advantages a, b, and c to help agencies accomplish x, y, and z.

Clearly articulate the impact of the news. Don’t just state the news.

Show, Don’t Tell, Your Reader Why They Should Care

Companies write press releases in self-congratulatory language that would sound absolutely insane if they used it at a cocktail party. Why? Do all social norms cease to exist when crafting marketing content, and does chest beating suddenly become an effective means of customer persuasion?

It’s basically mandatory that all press releases begin with the company calling itself the leader of its category: “AdSomething, the leading mobile ad company.” I once participated in a debate over whether a company should italicize “the” in its boilerplate, as in, AdSomething, the mobile ad company. If I went up to someone at a cocktail party and said, “I’m the CEO of Sharp Pen Media, the leading adtech marketing agency,” they would make a face, run away, and tell their friends what a clown I am. So, why is this an almost unquestioned adtech marketing practice?

Remove any stilted language, and replace it with an effort to show, not tell, your customers that you’re the best option to solve their problems. For example, let’s say you’re going after indie agencies, and you’re the best DSP to serve them because you have a simple UI and no minimums. Say that — Company, the sleekest, no-minimum DSP purpose built for indie agencies — not “Company, the leading DSP.” If you’re the best option for a certain segment of customers, show them why. Don’t just tell them you’re the best.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

In short, state the hard news (exactly what has changed), clarify its impact on affected parties (e.g. publishers and advertisers), and show the value instead of proclaiming it, and your press release will be in the 90th percentile of releases in our industry. The bar for this form of marketing content is low. And that low bar is your opportunity.