For those of you who are unsure of what a news release is it is basically a written or recorded message that is aimed directly at the members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something that you are claiming is news worthy. Keep in mind that a news release4 can also be called a press release, media release or even a press statement. But regardless of what it is called it still serves the same purpose and is written in the same manner. With a news release once you have written or recorded it you are going to need to get it delivered to the news media, which can be a newspaper reporter, television reporter or even a radio disk jockey, just as long as they work in the media in some type of fashion. When it comes to delivering the news release you can mail it, fax it or even email it, but the key to delivering it is to make sure that you deliver it to the assignment editor at the newspaper, magazine, radio stations, television stations, or television networks.

One of the most important things that you are going to need to know when it comes to a news release is the format that you are supposed to use. This is actually a key piece of information because if you want your news release to be read by the people that you are sending it to you are going to need to follow an acceptable format, also known as a standard press release format. The good news is that you can find examples of news releases all over the internet, which will give you a clear picture on how it should look when you are finished. But in the meantime here are some tips that you can follow for the format of your news release to help get you started.

Tip one:
If you are going to be talking about other companies in your news release it is all too easy to include their ticker symbols rather than the full name of the company. This is often done because it saves time from typing and helps to keep the news release shorter. But no matter what you do make sure that you do not include another companies ticker symbols unless you have their permission.

Tip two:
If you are writing a news release and only have about a paragraph or maybe two paragraphs you should quit while you are ahead. This means that your news release is going to need to be longer than a paragraph or two. In fact if it is that short then the chances are probably high that you do not have an item that anybody would consider news worthy. The reason for this is that if your story is news worthy it is going to take a lot more than just one or two paragraphs to tell the entire story.

Tip three:
Make sure that you include a summary paragraph for your entire news release. This is important to do because when your news release is handed out to the various media personnel not all of them will receive your entire news release. Some points will actually only receive your headline, summary, and a link to your press release. So in order to get these people interested you need to let them know what is going on in your summary. Not including the summary can reduce the effectiveness of your press release because some key players might fail to receive it.

Tip four:
Many people find it tempting to put their email addresses into the actual body of the news release, but this is going to want to be something that you avoid at all costs. The reason that you want to avoid this is because of spammers. When you put your email address into the body of the news release all of that information is made available to the public, which increases your chances of receiving spam. So you only want to include your email address in a certain place during the submission process, which is pretty much routine everywhere you go.

Tip five:
Because of how many different sources are going to be viewing your news release you are going to want to avoid embedding HTML or any other markup language in your news release. The reason for this is that when your news release is distributed across the various networks having that kind of formatting can affect the readability of your news release and not in a positive way either. What this means is that having markup languages such as HTML embedded in the news release can make it impossible for some people to read it because of the format.

Tip six:
When you are writing the actual press release you are going to want to make sure that you use a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, rather than just typing the new release directly online. Many people do not think that there is any difference but you can actually tell by the formatting and the errors that are made how a news release was composed. Make sure that you use the correct grammar and you want to make sure that you use mixed case, which means avoid all caps and all lower case letters. So you also want to make sure that you take the time and do it right the first time around which means write, print, and proof read. Once you have done those rewrite the news release and then edit it again. This will show how professional you are and will attract more positive attention from the media in general.

So now that you understand the basics about the formatting of the news release you are probably wondering what should be included in the news release. When you are writing a news release what you are trying to do is to grab the attention of the media so that they will give your story a closer look and hopefully run with the story. Here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to writing your news release:

• Make sure that your news is what the media refers to as newsworthy. The reason for this is that the main purpose behind the news release is to inform the world about your news item, it is not intended to help you make a sale. In your news release you want to avoid sounding like an advertisement and you want to ensure that you answer all of the "W" questions which include who, what, when, where and why. You also want to include useful information about your organization, product, service or event that the media can use.
• Your headline and first paragraph should give the overview of the entire story. But you want to continue on because the rest of the body of the news release is going to include all of the details. You just want your opening to be strong and attention grabbing so that you can hook your readers from the start.
• Because more often than not your news release is going to be used as a starter for a larger story or in some cases it will simply be reprinted with no modification you are going to want to make sure that you are writing the story the way that you want it to be told.
• Just because you are excited about what you think is news doesn't mean that everybody else is going to be considering it to be newsworthy. So before writing your news release you are going to want to make sure that it is something that others can get excited about. For example if you are opening an online story don't focus on the fact that it is another online store but talk about what you have to offer them that other places can't offer them.
• Avoid what writers like to call fluff. Fluff is the stuff that doesn't need to be in the news release but you have added just to help fill up time and space or you have written it to help something sound better than it is. What you want to do is stick strictly to the facts. A good rule of thumb to follow is if it is too good to be true than it probably is. Remember that journalists are naturally skeptical so you want to write something that they can believe, even if you have to tone it down because it sounds way too good.
• Rather than using a passive voice you are going to want to use an active voice. The reason for this is that it will help to bring your news release to life. You also want to choose which words that you are using carefully as well, stick to strong words that bring pictures to people's minds. Make them feel like they are living the story rather than just hearing about it. But make sure that you stay away from the exclamation point, it can actually be your enemy because it creates nothing but hype more often than not.