Stephanie Burke of Highwire PR explains the reason for the five W’s in the first paragraph is: “Most people’s attention spans are incredibly short. It’s key to get the most important information at the top of the page; that way, the reader takes away a solid understanding of your news.”

Why is a solid opening essential to having media outlets pick up your press release? David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision Public Relations, told Business News Daily small businesses would be foolish in thinking that a press release will be picked up in its entirety. Johnson further explained, “Usually what is picked up, if anything is the first paragraph. That paragraph needs to pass the ‘smell test’ of the reporter. If it doesn’t, the press release won’t receive coverage.”

Johnson also recommends including a short description of your company and its products, social media platform links as well as contact information for reporters.

To help give some actionable advice for you today – we have compiled 10 quick tips to best leverage the press release in 2015.

Ten Tips to Write the Best Press Release

Newsworthy

Is the topic of your press release really newsworthy? To be newsworthy, it should, of course, be “new”. Ask yourself what you are doing in your company that is new. Perhaps, you have undertaken new research. What the media really loves is reports of things that are the fastest, biggest, smallest, and exciting. If you don’t want your press releases to end up in a trash folder of a reporter, you should write about major announcements such as new products or services, special events or recognitions. You should include all these newsworthy claims and back up each of them.

Concise

A press release should be only one page. It certainly must never go over two pages in length.

Be Personal

Communicate your key messages in a dynamic way. A quotation might be a good way to accomplish this. Most importantly, you should sound excited or thrilled about what your company is doing. Don’t bother to write a press release that is not about something very interesting, new, or exciting. It won’t be read if it isn’t.