Press Release Tips

Keeping these few tips in mind when writing and submitting your press release will increase your chances of news coverage.

Headline

Be creative. Using a catchy headline will compel the reader to continue. Keep it to one sentence and capitalize the first letter of all words but do not use all caps.

Opening Paragraph

The opening paragraph should include the 5 W’s and an H: who, what, where, when, why and how, but not necessarily in that order. Your first paragraph should give the reader as much information as possible in as short a space as possible. Provide a brief summary of the press release and include a hook to get your audience attention.

Second & Third Paragraphs

These paragraphs make up the body of the release and provide more detailed information for the reader. Pick up the information provided in your first paragraph.

Include quotes from key staff, customers, or subject experts. Use short quotes to evoke emotion about the service. Never release a PR without first obtaining permission and approval of any quotes you've included.

Try to keep these paragraphs short and sweet. Limit paragraphs to about 4 sentences and the body should be fewer than 400 words.

Final Paragraphs

The final paragraphs wrap up the press release and should include:

Agency acknowledgment, event timelines, availability, etc.
A brief history section that provides background information about the company featured in the release.

Acknowledging InforME as a Partner

There are several ways to mention InforME as a service/website development partner. You could simply start this paragraph with:

“The (name of website or service) is a service of (agency name), in partnership with InforME, Maine’s private-sector partner and official web portal provider. All online services and official State of Maine web pages can be accessed from the state portal: www.Maine.gov”

You may also want to include:

About Maine.gov
Maine.gov is the official web portal of the State of Maine (www.maine.gov) and is the winner of the Center for Digital Government’s 2004 Best of Web competition. Maine.gov is a service of the Information Resource of Maine (InforME), a collaborative effort between the State of Maine and New England Interactive, LLC that helps Maine government entities Web-enable their information services. Maine.gov was built and is marketed, operated, and maintained by New England Interactive, LLC.

Closing

Type a ### at the end of your release to indicate there are no more pages.

Example Press Release

Use MML Phase II PR_Final

InforME Solutions

InforME INFORMATION