How to Send a Press Release by Email to Journalists [Example]
Writing a great press release about your story is only half the battle. Getting it published is just as difficult, if not more so. Knowing how to pitch journalists (which means sending them an email about your press release) correctly is crucial to getting your news spread by the media.
Table of contents
- Double-check if your press release is written correctly
- Who do I send my press release to?[5]
- When should I send my press release?
- Press release email format
- How to send a press release via email example[16]
- Press release follow-up
- Conclusion[19]
Double-check if your press release is written correctly
It’s no use trying to find the best way to email journalists if there’s something fundamentally wrong with your press release.
Structure – check if you have the following:
Make sure your press release follows the proper press release structure:
- Headline – a taster of what you can expect.
- Lead – a brief overview of the story, including answers to the questions: Who? What? When? Why? With what effect?
- Body – an explanation of the information provided earlier in the lead, starting from the most newsworthy info to other less important, background info.
- Dateline – to confirm that you’re providing the most up-to-date information.
- Company info – a short paragraph about your company to help journalists understand the nature of the business and make writing about it easier.
- Media contact information – author or company’s/agency’s contact information.
Make sure your topic is newsworthy
This is something that’s forgotten about, especially if you’re new to writing press releases. If you want to ask a journalist to write about you, it’s worth asking yourself these two questions:
- Is my news actually newsworthy?
- Is my news presented in an exciting way that people will get people interested?
If it’s not, it might be worth waiting until you have something that actually is newsworthy, or you could make a bad first impression with the media contacts you send your press release to.
Additionally, support your story with rich media[20] such as photos and videos to make your news more attractive and eye-grabbing.
Note: if you’re using a “wire” type of press release distribution service[21], adding images may cost extra.
Grammatical errors and typos
Even if your press release contains everything it should, a typo—or even worse—a major grammatical mistake, can seriously damage the trustworthiness of you and your news.
Double-check your press release with a grammar-checker such as Grammarly,[22] or ask someone from your team that you trust to have a second look.
Who do I send my press release to?
Theoretically, this is obvious, but in practice, you get the impression that some PR companies send notes randomly without any plan or consideration.
The fact that a journalist is on your media contact list does not mean that you have to send everything to him or her.[23]
Only industry-related information should be sent to editorial offices covering particular industry-related topics, while the ones related to a city or region should be sent to local editorial offices.
In the media, individual journalists have their own specializations and therefore instead of sending your press release to the general email address of a news outlet, it is best to address it to the person most interested in whatever subject you’re writing about.
What if your list of relevant media contacts that that could be actually interested in your story is lacking—or even worse—empty?
Prowly’s media database lets you find relevant media contacts[24], from a database counting over 1 million journalists & media influencers. It has free search access for 7 days, so you can try it yourself and see if it’s worth paying for.
When should I submit my press release?
If you’re writing a press release about an event or a product launch, remember to submit your press release to the media early enough so you have time to get coverage before your event or product launch. Keep things in mind such as when your ticket sales end and time your release accordingly.
It’s also important when journalists receive your press release email[25]. Recently we analyzed over 55470 press releases sent in 2018 and 2019 with Prowly and checked when respondents opened them.
The best day to send a press release
You’re probably thinking Monday when everyone is feeling crisp and relaxed after the weekend.
The best day to send a press release is on Thursday when the average open rate jumps to over 26%! The worst days are Wednesdays and Fridays when even 85% of your emails get lost in the journos’ inboxes.
Which hours are best for sending a press release?
The best time to send a press release is between 10 am and 2 pm—this is when editors open about one-third of all the emails they’ve received.
Early mornings are less effective: open rates drop to 20.5% between 6 and 10 am. If you do decide on the early morning, however, we recommend waiting at least until around 8 am or 9 am.
Press release email format
There are various approaches to constructing a pr pitch. Since I started my PR career, I’ve seen dozens of different email types: from overflowing with text to nearly empty, with just an email footer and a press release attached. No matter which format you decide on, a pr pitch email should always provide just enough information to engage the recipient.
Three methods of writing a press release email to journalists
Here are three easy ways of writing pr pitches that you should try out if your click rate is too low and you’re aiming for more media presence.
The short & concise method
Probably the easiest one, but often the most time-consuming—to make your email look authentic, it should never be based on the copied & pasted parts of your press release.
You should write your email from scratch, include all the key information (Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?) and throw in 1-2 quotes used in the press release (if possible).
Such an email is basically a condensed press release, allowing editors to start working on the piece of news right after reading the email body.
The bullet method
Some time ago, we’ve asked our fellow editors about their favorite formats of email pitches they get from PR people. One of the PR Week (UK edition) editors said that what works best for him is a short message with three-four bullet points presenting the key details about the news.