The Nitty Gritty Numbers of a News Release

In recent years, news releases, also known as press releases, have been said to be on the downfall. The more and more the digital age takes over, the less and less people are writing. Although the need for the traditional news releases may be coming to and end, aspiring PR pros still need to learn the basics. 

Formatting a news release, to me, is the most difficult part of the process for writing a news release. There are many different ways to format a news release. To get a a better understanding of the traditional news release format, keep these numbers in mind:

1. A news release should only focus on one topic.

2. Headlines should be a maximum 8 to 10 words. 

3. Use 25 words  or less in the first line of a lead paragraph.

4. A lead paragraph should be no more than three to five lines.

5. The boiler plate should be 100 words or less.

6. The maximum length of a standard press release should be 400 words or less. 

Can you think of any numbers to keep in mind when writing a standard news releases? Let us know!