Create Your Headline

Effective press releases are issued with newspaper-like headlines. This is important for two reasons: 1) it helps members of the media decide at a glance when a press release is worth reading and, 2) it provides the issuing company or organization a space to focus on what it considers to be its most important message.

In the sample informational press release a significant accomplishment is announced and the issuing company draws attention to it with a newsworthy headline.

Keep in mind that a newspaper will hardly ever copy the headline that you provide. What you supply is only temporary, so there is no need to make it snappy or sensational. What you write will often serve as a model for the headline the media will eventually produce, however.

To learn more about press release headlines, click on the exercise button below.

Format your own press release and then create a headline. Make sure it is clear and concise. This is an opportunity in which to use a news hook to focus the reader's attention on the most important part of your message. Try writing several headlines as you begin working on the lead paragraph and body of your press release.