How to write a press release a journalist reads to the end
Put the news in the first line, the proof in the second and the quote where it earns its place (sample briefing).
We help you say one clear thing, and get it heard.
Wrenfield Communications (sample) is a PR agency for organisations with news to share or a problem to explain.
Media relations
Journalists hear it from you first
Releases, story pitches and interviews with the reporters who cover your field.
Crisis and issues
A plan before the bad day
A 24-hour line, holding statements and a spokesperson who is ready.
Content and channels
Your own channels say it too
Newsletters, reports and social posts that tell the same story in your voice.
Since 2017: 140 campaigns for councils, charities, transport, food and leisure, from one office in Springfield (sample).
This is our own message house, the one-page plan we write before every campaign. The roof is the one thing people should remember, the pillars hold it up, the foundation is the proof.
What we do
Four services, on their own or together. Every one starts with a message house you sign off.
Releases, story pitches, interviews and briefings with the journalists who cover your subject.
Campaigns of 4 to 12 weeks
From $4,500
A 24-hour line, holding statements, spokesperson preparation and a plan written before you need it.
Monthly retainer
From $1,200 a month
Newsletters, annual reports, website news and social posts in the same voice as your coverage.
Monthly or by project
From $2,000
A day in front of a camera and a microphone, with a former journalist asking the hard questions.
One day, up to four people
From $1,800
Example prices. Every quote is fixed before work starts.
Recent campaigns
Three campaigns from the last year (sample). Under each name, the message that sat in its roof.
Twenty local kitchens under one roof, open from seven in the morning.
41 pieces of coverage in the opening week, six on regional TV and radio (sample).
Passengers hear about the winter timetable from us, weeks before the pier.
Calls to the ticket office about the change fell by a third in the first month (sample).
Anyone can start climbing here, and the first session costs $12.
1,900 first sessions booked in the launch month (sample).
Coverage log
What our clients’ stories turned into last month. We list outlets by type, the way our monthly reports do.
Date
Outlet
Headline or subject
Type
2 Oct
Regional daily, business pages
Twenty kitchens move into the old mill
Print and online
3 Oct
Local breakfast radio
Interview with the food hall’s founder, six minutes
Broadcast
8 Oct
Trade weekly for caterers
How a shared kitchen keeps rents low for new cooks
Feature
14 Oct
Regional TV, evening news
Ferry winter timetable: what changes for passengers
Broadcast
21 Oct
Outdoor sports magazine
Ten walls to start climbing this winter
Mention
Coverage log (sample). Clients get the full log every month, with links, audience figures and the message each piece carried.
How a campaign runs
The same five steps for a product launch, a new service or a difficult announcement. Most campaigns take five to six weeks.
1
Week 1
Listen
We interview you and two or three people who know the story best, and read what has been written so far.
2
Week 2
Message house
One roof message, three pillars and the proof. You sign it off before a word of copy is written.
3
Weeks 3 and 4
Materials and media list
The release, briefing notes, photos and a list of the journalists who cover the subject.
4
Launch day
Launch
Embargoed briefings the day before, the release at 07:00, interviews through the day.
5
Four weeks later
Report
Every piece of coverage, what it said, and what we would change next time.
“They made us write our message on one page before anything else. It was the most useful hour of the whole launch.”
Sample client, founder of a food hall
The 24-hour issues line
If something goes wrong out of hours, call us. A senior consultant answers or calls back within 15 minutes, every day of the year (sample).
For clients on an issues retainer; others are helped when a consultant is free (sample).
The first hour
0 to 15 min
We call you back and listen
A senior consultant, not a call centre. What happened, who knows, who is asking.
15 to 30 min
The facts on one page
What we know, what we do not know yet, who is affected and what is being done.
30 to 45 min
A holding statement
Three or four sentences you approve, ready for the first journalist who calls.
45 to 60 min
People told in the right order
Staff and the people affected first, then the media; your spokesperson briefed.
Eleven people, one floor on Kiln Street
Consultants, writers, a former news editor and a former radio presenter (sample). We take on a small number of clients so that the person you brief is the person who calls the journalists.
Founded
2017
People
11
Clients now
18, most on monthly retainers
Office
22 Kiln Street, Springfield
Agency facts (sample).
Briefings
What to say in the first hour of a bad day
A holding statement buys you time without saying anything you will regret (sample briefing).
Five questions to practise before a radio interview
The questions that catch spokespeople out, and how to answer them in under thirty seconds (sample briefing).
Send us the story in five lines
We read every brief the same day and reply within one working day with questions, a first idea or a time for a call (sample).
- What is happening, and when
- Who needs to hear it
- What you want them to do or think
- Who can speak for you
- Anything that could go wrong
Or email [email protected]