The Art of Effective News Communication, Part III

This is the final part in my series on the components that make up a news release. The reason I spent so much time on these building blocks is because the first step in effective news communication is knowing how to properly prepare a news release. When editors have to rewrite your release or have to dig through it to figure out what they need to know... chances are they won't. While knowing how to put together a good news release helps, the most important things to remember are: Make sure that it's newsworthy in the first place, and make sure it is well-written with accurate information.

In this final installment, I'll cover the components that comprise the body of the release.

5W's & H: If you ever sat through J-101, you know all about the 5 W's and H. There's a lot more that goes into good news writing, but it all starts with answering these basic questions:

For our purposes, the 5 W's and H serve as checklist to make sure we don't miss any information that a journalist and the public needs to know. It's best to cover these in your lead paragraph. Remember that journalists, editors and news producers have a lot of material to review. So the faster you can convey your message, the better. The rest of your release can expand on your lead with more details, quotes, etc. But please remember to always keep your releases to one page (including the photo caption and your boilerplate).

Call to Action: When I can, I like to incorporate something in the news release that gives readers a sense of urgency; that they need to act on this now, especially when you have registration, tickets to sell, or event deadlines.

Public's Contact Info: It's a good idea to let the public know where they can go for more information and it's a good excuse to promote your website too.

End: End your release with three pound signs (###) centered. This is standard and  shows the journalist that there aren't missing pages.

Photo Caption (cutline): Please, please, please never include a photo embedded in the news release. (I'm talking about Word documents.) It should be sent as a separate attachment. What IS appropriate for the news release is the photo caption. This is where you identify anyone in the photo or tell the public what the photo is about.

Boilerplate: If you are asking yourself "What is a boilerplate?" you're not alone. Even experienced marketing professionals don't always know or understand the term. It refers to how print got stamped onto the newspaper. Boilerplate copy was stamped on steel plates that could be reused over and over again. For our use, the boilerplate is a statement that tells anyone reading it, who you are and what you do. It should be short. Brevity is key. On a news release, the boilerplate is the last thing that appears on a release, appearing under the END symbol and (if you have it) the cutline. A boilerplate is one of the most effective tools in branding, and, if you're not using yours on every communication, you are passing up a golden opportunity to tell the media and public about your company.

Well, that's the end of this series on the components of a news release. If you take nothing else away from this series, please take this one tip:  Before you write a news release, ask yourself, "Is this newsworthy? Is this something that the public will want to know?" If the answer is "no," then don't do it. As you know, there are a lot of other components to effective news communications: knowing when and where to send them, establishing good media relationships, knowing the jargon, etc. I'll write about some of these in future articles.

What are your must-have components? Let me know what you think.