Why You Should Have Four W’s In Your Press Release! Who, What, Where, When, and Why
By now you probably have a good idea of what your topic is about, and how to write it for the eyes and ears of your audience.
Now comes the easiest part of developing your press release – the main content.
It doesn’t matter if your client is wanting press for an event, product, or service – the formula remains the same.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, you’ll need to sit down and detail the Five W’s of your subject. Who? What? When? Where? Why? (Or How, if Why isn’t applicable).
Once you know the basic answers to these questions, and arrange them in order of importance in your lead sentence, you’ll want to follow that order when fleshing out your story.
If the Where is ultimately more important than the Who, then start with the Where first. For our example here, let’s assume they rank in order as it appears above.
Now, we can approach each issue and learn how to make the most out of each answer.
The Who
Normally, this is the most important factor that your audience will be concerned with.
If a product is launching, they want to know who’s putting it out – Microsoft, or Sam’s Software?
If a fundraiser is being organized – is it for the Democratic, or Republican Party candidates?
Answering the Who is perhaps the easiest item to detail.
There are concrete facts and data about the Who – their name, location of headquarters, size of the company or organizations – all of the facts that make up who they are as an organization.
More specifically, the Who of a company also entails the individual people associated with it.
Everyone from the maintenance worker to the CEO has a vested interest in what goes on in, and what happens to, the company.
In a press release, it’s important to hear directly from those who initiated the news in the first place.
Did the President of the Company sign a deal to add 1,500 jobs to the workforce? Then quote him on the Why and When the jobs will materialize.
Has a local volunteer for your organization raised an important sum of money, or is she trying to for a specific cause?
Highlight her in the story, attributing quotes to her as well in order to add credibility, and a human element to the piece.
The What
What is happening? Is it happening to someone? Then the audience needs to know.
Is your organization fighting to save a homeless shelter from being destroyed for a new parking lot?
Items that affect others are of great interest to all of us – even if we’re not directly involved. When writing about the What of a topic, you’re usually talking about a verb.
Something is happening, will happen, or did happen. Whenever possible, use an active verb instead of a passive one.
For example: Instead of saying: “XYZ will hold a meeting Monday night.” Say: “XYZ will meet Monday night.”
And always avoid prepositional phrases whenever possible.
Don’t say “Mr. Doe, the Vice President of XYZ Corporation, says…” Simplify it by writing “XYZ Vice President Doe says…”
When the client has many possible “Whats” coming up, don’t try to cram them all into one press release.
Meet with them and try to find a balance between what they think is most important, and what an editor would want to see based on audience appeal.
Point out to your client that not everything they send in is going to be published in all likelihood.
You don’t want to write a press release telling the public that John Doe was promoted to CEO, and the company is opening a new plant soon, and they’re having a picnic that will open to the public, and it happens to fall right around the time the new product is being introduced.
This isn’t destination – information, it’s information overload!
Your readers will walk away dazed and confused about what they just read – unsure of what the intended message was because of its jumbled nature.
Focus on the best points, and stick to them! The What in your story is the item you want your reader to act upon.
Fundraising? You want donations. New product or services? You’re looking for a sale.
New jobs? Get those applicants in the door, not to mention grab some positive public relations for your press for your client.
For the What answer, use the most interesting angle to your audience.
If an 89-year old volunteer is devoting sixty hours a week to raise money so that the organization can purchase enough turkey’s so that every needy family can celebrate Thanksgiving, center your piece around her, not the organization itself.
The press release will still get its message across – that they should help her meet her goals, and you will have used a human interest angle to do it.
The When
Timeliness is everything (well, almost everything) to the editor you’re approaching with your press release.
First, he’s going to make sure your subject is audience appealing. But second, he wants to know if it’s relevant at this time.
Always report on events or products as close to the release date or launch date as possible.
Give the editor enough time to review the press release, and revise it, so that he can publish it the day before or the day of your event.
Don’t send in an announcement that tells his readers that last month, the organization raised enough money to buy a new computer.
Timeliness would require you to announce that particular bit of information as you’re trying to raise funds.
Same with products and services. Don’t try to have a publication tell its audience that your client released two new items last year.
Alternately, editors don’t want to announce something that’s too far down the road, either.
Save your impending news for a time when it’s going to actually affect the readers. Keep in mind the question “What have you done for me lately?”
That question answers that type of information an editor is seeking.
While you want to be specific in telling the audience when something is going to happen, don’t feel you have to go into too much detail.
If a meeting will be held Monday night, August 6th, at 8:15 pm, simply write it as: Monday the 6th, at 8:15 pm.
If a product is being launched, stick to the day, month, and year.
Unless it’s an item that customer’s are going to line up for at a retailer’s door in the wee morning hours, it’s not necessary to tell the exact time you plan to put the
product on the shelves.
If the When in your story would nicely complement another community event, try to arrange with the client to ensure that the two happenings coincide if at all possible.
For instance, if a highly publicized rodeo is coming to town in November, ask your client if it’s feasible to shoot for a launch date of October for his new line of leather apparel.
Any edge you can use to leverage the power of the press in your favor is worth considering when the publishing of your press release is like getting free advertising space in the publication.
The Where
Another important aspect the editor is going to look for in your press release is does it concern his readers?
Localization is an important factor in getting your news out to the public.
If your company is opening a new office, 1,000 miles away, chances are, the readers are going to say, “So what?”
But if the current office, located in their town, is moving to another city 1,000 miles away, thus increasing the unemployment rate dramatically, it becomes instant news.
It is possible for news to happen elsewhere, and still affect the local community.
If your company’s headquarters located across the country, held a blood drive that found a match for a rare blood type that is going to save a local girl’s life, it’s newsworthy.
The closer your news hits home, the greater its chances of being published, and maintaining interest among your audience.
Even if the news itself isn’t localized, try to attach some sort of local angle to it.
If the event is happening elsewhere, and the event itself is the main news, state that first, but don’t bury the fact that it’s also going to affect those in the community.
Bring that information to the forefront, directly after the What of your story.
For example: XYZ Corporation (who) has been sold to its sister company in Japan (what), resulting in ten domestic plants shutting their doors, including the one here
in X City (where).
The main news is that the company has been sold and that most of the domestic plants will close.
But by adding the fact that their own plant will close as well, you’ve succeeded in localizing the news for your audience.
Many press releases will not have a specific local angle at all, and that’s fine as long as it will still somehow be of interest to the publications’ readers.
If your client is a household name, and something big is about to happen, they want to know about it just like the rest of the country.
If, however, your client is opening a franchise in another town, hundreds of miles away, and it has no visible effect on your immediate community, send your press release to the editor of the primary publication in the new location for maximum coverage.
The Why (or How)
Often, the Why (or How) is the first item to be trimmed from the press release if it isn’t relevant to the rest of the story.
So how do you know what should and should not be explained?
Look at it from a reader’s point of view.
If a company is hiring 20,000 new employees, and all you know is it’s “because the President of the Company said so,” either contact him for a more in-depth explanation, or forgo it altogether.
Most of the time, the press release will offer an explanation as to why an event is occurring.
“The PTA (who) is accepting donations (what) to raise money for a new library (why).”
or
“The PTA (who) is trying to raise funds for a new library (what) by having a bake sale (how).”
How comes into affect much more prominently when the audience is supposed to act upon the information.
You want to tell them how they can help, how they can participate to bring about positive change in their community, how they can make a difference.
Once you master the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of your press release, you can begin to revise it and tighten the wording so that it appears to be reader friendly, while ensuring that all of the questions your readers will want to know have been answered.
As a review, develop your content in this order:
- Write down the answers to the Five W’s.
- Arrange the W’s in order of importance.
- After writing your lead, start to flesh out the answers in more detail.
- Be as detailed as you need to be without congesting the content.
- Write your text so that it provides a way the reader can take action.
The editor of each publication will most likely rewrite some or all of your content, so your job is to provide him with the finest story you can, so that you lessen his workload and ensure the most important facts (to your client) make it into the publication.
Write, Rewrite, and then Review.
Go To Profit from Press Releases Part 1
Go To Profit from Press Releases Part 2
Go To Profit from Press Releases Part 3
Go To Profit from Press Releases Part 4
