How to write a press release: the seven-block template that survives a newsroom

To write a press release, lead with one newsworthy fact, answer who, what, when, where and why in the first two sentences, then give the reader a quotable line, the supporting detail and a way to check it. Keep it to one page. A press release is a source document for a journalist, not a sales page for your product.

Most releases fail before the writing starts. The team has an announcement it wants to make, but no event a reporter can cover. The fix is to decide what changed in the world, not what changed in your dashboard. Once that sentence exists, the rest of the page has a job.

What makes a press release worth sending

A release is worth sending when it contains a fact a stranger could repeat without your help: a launch date, a funding round, a partnership, a published dataset, a price change, a regulation response or a measurable result. The fact has to matter outside your company. "We redesigned our homepage" is a product update. "We are publishing the first public dataset of X" is a release.

Write the fact as one sentence before you open the template. If the sentence needs a paragraph of setup, the release is not ready. If the sentence sounds like an advertisement, it is not a fact yet.

A press release is judged by what a busy reporter can verify in two minutes.

How to write a press release: the seven blocks

The seven blocks below are the whole document. They work for a product launch, a funding announcement, a report and an event. The order is fixed because it matches the order a reporter checks: is this new, is it relevant, who says so, and where is the evidence?

Two more items are optional and often useful: a second quote from a customer or partner, and a link to a page with images, data or the full report. Put them after the detail block, not before the lede. A reporter who has to scroll past your company history to find the news will leave.

The template you can copy

This is the working version. Replace the brackets, delete anything you cannot verify, and keep the line order. One page is enough.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Headline: what happened, no colon-stuffed slogan]

[CITY, Country] — [Date] — [Company] today [announced / launched / published]
[specific fact]. [One sentence on who is affected and why it matters now.]

"[Quote that explains the decision, not the excitement,]" said [Name],
[Title] at [Company].

[Detail: how it works, availability, price or eligibility. Two or three
sentences. Include one number only if you can source it.]

[Optional second quote from a customer, partner or independent expert.]

About [Company]
[What the company does, for whom, since when. No adjectives you cannot prove.]

Media contact
[Name], [email], [phone or contact page]

The template is deliberately plain. Fancy layout makes the page harder to paste into a newsroom system, and most of the formatting will be stripped anyway. Plain text survives copy and paste. If you need images, put them on a page and link to it.

How to write the headline and the first sentence

The headline and the lede do most of the work. A reporter scans the first line, then the first sentence, then decides whether to keep reading. Put the actor and the action at the front. Do not make the reader decode a slogan.

For the lede, use the same order as the table: actor, action, object, date. "Acme today opened its scheduling tool to teams of up to five, starting 1 November." That sentence can be repeated, quoted or checked. A sentence that begins with "In an era of..." cannot.

What to leave out

Cut the following, even when the internal team likes it. Each one adds length without adding a checkable fact.

1. Adjectives the reader cannot verify: leading, innovative, world-class, disruptive. Replace them with a number, a date or a named customer.
2. Internal project names. If the name means nothing outside the company, it belongs in an appendix, not the headline.
3. Claims about the market with no source. If you did not commission the research, say who did and link to it.
4. Quotes that only express excitement. A quote should explain a decision, a trade-off or a reason.
5. Long company history before the news. Put the history in the boilerplate, after the fact.

One exception: a short sentence about why now. A launch that responds to a new rule, a deadline or a visible change in the market has a real reason to exist today. That reason belongs near the top.

How to send it without spraying it

Distribution is a separate job from writing. Send the release to the people who already cover the subject, not to every address you can buy. A short personal note above the release does more than a mass email with a hundred recipients in the blind-copy field.

• Build a list of ten to twenty writers, editors or communities that have covered the problem before. Read the last three pieces before you send.
• Put the release on a public URL with a date, so the reader can check it later.
• Offer one concrete follow-up: an interview, a data cut, a demo or a comment on a trend. Do not ask for "coverage".
• Send once. If there is no reply, one short follow-up after a few days is enough. More than that is spam.

QueryWin can help you prepare the product facts and the copy for each channel, but it does not send releases, contact journalists or guarantee placement. You still choose the list, send the email and decide what to do with a reply. That boundary is deliberate: a press list is a relationship, not a form field.

What we have not measured

We have not measured how many journalists open, read or use a release. We have no newsroom sample and no controlled test, so we will not put a pickup rate on this page. The advice above is a writing and verification method. The outcome depends on the news, the list and the relationship, and those three things are outside this template.

Common questions

How long should a press release be?

One page. Enough to state the fact, support it, quote one person and give a contact. If the reader needs more, link to a page with the full detail. Length is not credibility.

Should I use a wire service?

Only if you need distribution to a broad list and you understand what a wire does and does not buy. A wire sends the release; it does not make a reporter care. For a small product launch, a short targeted list usually beats a wide blast.

Can I write a press release for a product update?

Yes, if the update changes something a customer can measure or a reporter can describe: a new market, a new integration, a price change, a published dataset. A visual refresh on its own is a changelog entry, not news.

Where should the release live?

On a public page you control, with the date visible and a stable URL. Send that link in the email. If you publish the same text in five places with five dates, you have created five versions of the fact.

Next step

Write the one-sentence fact first. If you cannot, stop and fix the announcement before you write the page. When the sentence is solid, fill the seven blocks and send it to a short list you have actually read.

The same reader-first discipline applies when you adapt a product description for every channel and when you prepare a Show HN post. If you want the distribution plan, the assets and the follow-up in one place, keep the promotion workflow in one place.