1. Press Release

2. Guidelines For
Good Press Release
• Getting good press coverage is the easiest thing in the world if it is
done in the right way and in the right time
• . So what’s the best way to do it?
• One of the major communication tools that you can use when
publicizing your project :
• Press Releases

3. Press Release
• A press release is a short concise statement detailing the
main points that you want to get across to the journalist.
• A press release should usually be no longer than one side of
A4.

4. Press Release
• Hints & Tips
• On average journalists receive hundreds of press releases
per day, most of them don’t even get opened.
• For example, the News editor of The WAFA NEWS AGENCY
receives on average 150 emails a day. She does not have the
time to open them all so she will delete the email before
opening it if the title doesn’t interest her!
• If the press release is lucky enough to get opened, the
journalist will decide from reading the first paragraph
whether the story is interesting, if not it gets deleted or in
the trash .

5. PRESS RELEASE
The key to getting your press release read is to make it
standout, be different, be interesting, be creative.
• Your press release should be a story, not simply a list of
information.
• Journalists thrive on ‘human interest’ stories and as the
majority of projects include people, this is something
that you should strongly focus on.

6. Press release
• Your press release should be a story, not simply a list of
information.
• Journalists thrive on ‘human interest’ stories and as the
majority of projects include people, this is something
that you should strongly focus on.
• If it’s about people, people will be interested.

7. Press Release – the Title(headline)
• The most important parts of a press release are the headline
(title) and the introduction.
• Equally important is timing.
• Short –less than 10 words
• Lively attractive
• Factual and with figures if possible

8. Press release head line
• Make your press release relevant. Link it to popular themes. For example,
• “ I have learned to tame fire ”
• (Feature – PPRD South civil protection project)
• “ Breaking the wall of silence ”
• (Feature – Masarat film project)
• “ Masarat: a journey through Palestinian women’s lives ”
• (EuropeAid case study – Masarat film project)
• “ A food recipe for farming – trading pesticides for owls) ”
• (Feature – Partnership for Peace project)
• “A movie from Gaza to London: Awatif’s mission impossible”
• (Feature – Euromed Audiovisual project)

9. Press release – theme
• If you are aiming your story at the local press make sure
you emphasize the local theme.
• Regional media have to place a certain amount of local
interest stories and people are nosey, they like to know
what people in their area are doing! So, for example,
• if your project was running a football game for the
special need youth in Gaza and free use of hands
was your theme your press release title could be:
• “free hands football in Gaza special needed Football
Tournament”

10. PRESS RELEASE – THE INTRO
• Intro is the hook
• It should answer the five Ws & HOW
• Who was involved in your project, other partners
• ✓ What happened your story
• ✓ Where the place
• ✓ When the time
• ✓ Why the reason it took place

11. Press release - content
• somehow link your press release to that, it is more likely to get
coverage as the public are interested.
• Reliability/credibility – a few “mistakes”, people will stop trusting
you
• Consistency – be consistent in: visual identity: logos and colours
(graphics), project name, key messages, style of text
• Quotes (statements) - make a text more lively, real, interesting,
human
• Language – write in a clear and precise way: don’t try to impress
with difficult words, don’t try to cover up something you don’t
know, don’t use five words when you can use three!
• Photos – it is best to accompany press releases with a good
quality, publishable photo to which you will add a caption

12. Your press release should look like this
• Headline
• The date
• The hook .
• Details
• Quotes , case study
• statistics
• Back ground and
history
• Contacts

13. Press release- targeting
• So you’ve written your press release, how do you know who to
send it to?
• National Press – It is probably unlikely that you will want to get
national coverage but if you do want to you must first find the email
or postal address of the relevant editors. Then simply send them
your email and wait and see if you get coverage. However, don’t be
disheartened if you don’t get coverage, remember you are up
against a lot of competition.
• Local / Regional Press – Again do the same as for the national
press. Generally local journalists have more time so it would be an
idea to ring the journalist after you have sent the press release as a
follow up to see if they are interested or if you can help them
further in any way. This is good to make contact and could lead onto
further things.
• Specialist Magazines /social media / international media

14. Exercise – press release development
•
• Press release checklist
•
•  Have you identified your target audiences?
•  Have you determined your messages?
•  Have you chosen the best angle to make them care?
•  Are you targeting the right media?
•  Will they consider it news?
•  Have you put the news in context – the big picture?
•  Is all the important information at the top?
•  Are your messages consistent throughout the press release?
•  Is the headline catchy and shorter than 10 words?
•  Does the headline have a strong and active verb?
•  Does the first paragraph tell the whole story?
•  Does it answer the “so what” question?
•  Can you speak every sentence comfortably? Does it sound right?
•  Are your sentences all shorter than 30 words?
•  Are your paragraphs all shorter than 3 sentences?
•  Are there any dull words that you could strengthen – especially verbs?
•  Are there any complicated or flowery words that you could simplify? Is it interesting?
•  Is it written with energy?
•

15. Press release checklist-continued
•  Can you avoid repeating any words or phrases? Would synonyms help?
•  Have you used any jargon or unexplained acronyms?
•  Is the tone appropriately businesslike and balanced?
•  Is the language objective? Are you over-selling the message?
•  Have you backed up your assertions with evidence?
•  Have you left any holes or unanswered questions?
•  Have you given sources for any external statistics?
•  Have you checked every number and the spelling of every name?
•  Do your quotes use strong, natural, spoken language?
•  Are the spelling and grammar 100 percent perfect?
•  Do the format and layout conform to your template specifications? Are all
appropriate logos
• present and displayed correctly?
•  Is the date correct?
•  Are the contact details present and correct?
•  Are the notes for editors present and correct?