To find a newsworthy topic about yourself, imagine what a news article about you might say. It’s easy for you to be excited about your most recent accomplishment or activity, but your press release must discuss something that a wider audience finds interesting.
You could have much to gain from a press release. It could inspire one or more news outlets to publish a story about you. This would increase your visibility and advance your personal or professional goals.
Someone who appears in the media gains greater credibility. It could lead to more media coverage because a reporter or blogger might reach out to you for a quote or a whole interview.
Press coverage supports other marketing efforts. Your website or blog could showcase media outlets that featured you. Advertisements sometimes mention news coverage as well.
Pay attention to times when something happens that would be worthy of a press release. This could be receiving a professional award, publishing a new book, or receiving a patent.
If you are an expert in your field, you may also look for opportunities to comment on high-profile current events. This tactic lets you piggyback on a big story.
Lawyers and professors often do this to raise their public profiles during large court cases because the media will be looking for expert commentary.
Regardless of your content, the press release needs to observe best practices for media communications. At a minimum, use third-person language and avoid technical jargon.
Facts must form the backbone of the content. You need to have something concrete and valuable to add to the conversation. Your quotes may contain opinions, but your statements should be grounded in factual material.
What Should A Press Release About Yourself Say?
The right message will capture and keep readers’ attention. Your news can succeed in this way if it is novel, controversial, exciting, or valuable to the audience in some way.
Your news will likely be based on expertise or achievement. Your expertise might be the basis of news if your leadership or service has produced positive results.
Achievements encompass things like receiving grant money, making a scientific discovery, publishing results from a study, or attracting a large following or customer base.
In the example of receiving a grant, a press release could highlight how the funds will allow you to help more people. An announcement about a scientific discovery should focus on how this will lead to innovation or solve a problem.
If you conducted a study or survey and have results to share, find the result that will be most intriguing to people. It will be either something that validates opinions or is surprisingly counterintuitive.
Your press release will be expected to answer the five W-questions of what, who, when, where, and why. This information ensures that your press release delivers enough information to explain your news and feel like a worthwhile read.
As you identify your precise news message and answer these questions, craft the statements to give value to readers. Media professionals and their audiences want to learn something new, marvel at a unique story, or solve a problem.
To keep your content valuable for the reader, avoid promotional language. Although your underlying goal is to sell something or motivate another action, you don’t want to sound like you’re selling something.
You need to say informative things that make people view you as a useful expert.
Creating A Press Release About Yourself
Write a short list of your answers to the W-questions. Check them off as you write to make sure that you don’t miss a vital detail.
Since this press release is about yourself, you can write quotes to include. Place your first-person statements in quotation marks to separate them from the third-person content.
Your quotes are an opportunity to draw conclusions from the facts that you share. Your statements can help readers identify with you or understand how your news could impact their lives.
Obtain a good-quality head shot portrait of yourself to include with the press release. Alternatively, you might want a picture of you engaging in your work or receiving an award depending on the topic.
A press release begins with a headline. This single sentence or phrase will determine if you get any attention whatsoever.
Spend some time writing different versions of your headline to see which one stands out. It needs to introduce the “what” of your news and entice people to want to know more.
If possible, have other people look at your headlines. Their outside opinions could reveal the best version.
Now that you have a headline, work on the summary section that goes between the headline and the body of the press release. It’s good to put an interesting fact in this part and touch on the “why” of your news.
For the rest of the press release, you must rank the importance of each thing that you have to say. Your number one item goes in the first sentence. It should clearly state what the news is.
Like a news article, a press release presents information in descending importance. That means that you fill in the announcement with your remaining facts in the order that people need to know them to understand your news.
As you write the rest of your information, insert your quotes. Wrap up the content with a strong conclusion that invites people to learn more about you.
At the very bottom, provide your contact information, or that of your representative, so that the media can follow up with questions. Develop a boilerplate statement about yourself to put at the end. This is a brief biography that highlights your skills and accomplishments.
Why Write A Press Release About Yourself?
- Position yourself as an expert with the media
- Advance your career or business
- Support your other marketing efforts
Tips For Writing A Press Release About Yourself
- Focus on how your news is useful to society
- Write multiple headlines to find the best version
- Do not use self-promotional language
