Tips on crafting press releases that cut through and how AI can play a part
A cornerstone of any PR strategy is the press release, serving as a vital communication tool for organizations to share their news and updates with the media. And as technology continues to evolve, AI-powered tools are changing the way PRs approach how press releases are crafted, distributed, and analysed.
Brandon Tourle and Cally Skinner, Account Managers here at Stir, share what they do to create top-tier releases and what AI's role in this process could be.
For Brandon, the key is conciseness, as journalists are too busy to read fluff. For every sentence in your release, you need to think about how you can convey the same message in fewer words, utilising creative and punchy language to hammer home the point. He says this is particularly relevant for your headlines and subject lines. How can you encapsulate the key message of your release into a maximum of maybe 10 words that's really going to grab a journalist’s attention and encourage them to keep reading.
Adding how AI can be a helpful tool for getting the bones of a piece of writing pulled together. However, with it often making grammatical mistakes and misusing tense, he'd only recommend using AI-generated copy as a starting point. Take the copy and add your own creative flair, as AI copy is often a little lifeless and cannot replicate a human's touch. The robots aren't replacing us just yet!
Cally’s one tip for creating the perfect press release comes directly from the mouth of a retired journalist. It all comes down to a pyramid. Small at the top, increasing in size towards the bottom. The key is to deliver the most important message within your release at the very top. Keep it concise and keep it simple.
If you are looking to use AI, her main tip is don’t let it write the release for you. Having read some attempts, it really isn’t hard to spot when AI is used, mostly by the fact it looks like it’s had a dictionary thrown at it. Simple isn’t always bad and not every word needs a synonym check. My tip would be to use AI to mock up a killer image of your idea in your pitch, secure the win, and then be given a reason to write a press release.
So, what is the key to a great press release? Certainly, one aspect is striking that delicate balance between succinctness and substance. Next time you reach for the AI think, will it help you capture the attention of that busy journalist? Or will it just be another jargon-filled press release that will be ignored?