Press release and news release are terms that often confuse both the average person and marketers alike. While some people use the two terms interchangeably, that shouldn’t be the case. After all, there’s a significant difference between the two. If you own a business, understanding the difference between a press release and a news release is vital. Knowing how to use the two can make a world of difference in the success of your PR strategies.
Different members of the Pressfarm team have drawn on their PR knowledge and experience to develop a guide that will help you learn how to use these tools in different situations.
Furthermore, we’ve also demonstrated how you can leverage each to boost your business.
What’s a news release?
A news release directly ties into a trending news topic. If you want to cover a current or previously trending topic that’s newsworthy, then you should consider using a news release. Their role is to inform audiences about current events from an objective point of view. By commenting on a hot topic via a news release, you can establish a reputation for yourself as a thought leader in that topic.
To write the best news release, you should follow the following format:
- The motive behind the incident
- Where the event or incident is taking place or took place
- People or audience who were involved
- When it’s happening or when it happened
- What exactly took place
A news release allows you to explore various topics. For example, you can cover crime reports, politics, and inspiring stories about the good deeds of Samaritans. However, in order for your content to reach the right audiences, you must write your press release to target those specific audiences. This requires you to take time to learn about your audience members and what matters to them. In order to do this right, use key aspects like interests, geographical locations, and age. Moreover, you can leverage this knowledge to personalize the news for your readers.
While these pieces of information may look insignificant, they play a critical role in the gaining of readers. For instance, the news release format that millennials prefer is often different from the preferred format of baby boomers. Therefore, you must customize your content to ensure you meet your readers’ needs.
A news release can also come in handy if you’ve hosted or participated in a recent industry event, especially a local one like a charity event. It’s also a helpful tool if there has been a change in your business operations, especially the working hours. You’ll need a news release to inform your customers about this change.
What’s a press release?
A press release is a document that covers a story that is significant to the company or person writing it. While this doesn’t have to be headline news, it still needs to be a newsworthy story. The main objective of a press release is to address the “how”, “why”, “when”, what, and “who” aspects of a story. It’s a creative, indirect way to deliver a sales pitch without your audience necessarily realizing that you’re making a sales pitch.
After preparing this document, you need to present it to target media outlet reporters and convince them it’s newsworthy content. If it meets the threshold of newsworthy content, the journalist will publish it on their media platform(s).
Besides persuading the news representatives that your story is newsworthy and your brand is credible, a press release also plays other important roles. For starters, it plays a key role in capturing the general audience’s attention and introducing your project to them.
If you write your press release well, it will turn out to be a powerful tool for business marketing. However, it can also be a poor marketing tool if you don’t prepare it well. In fact, a badly-written press release won’t see the light of day. It won’t even go past the desk of the journalist.
If you own a small business and you’d like to generate some publicity for it, a press release can be a resourceful tool. For instance, you can use it in product promotions. Additionally, you can use press releases to make announcements if you have upcoming events.
Press release vs. news release: contrasts
There’s a critical factor that distinguishes the press release and news release as PR tools. That’s time. For instance, a news release would either cover any newsworthy event that is ongoing or one that has already happened. On the other hand, a press release covers an upcoming event or development, specifically in your business. In this way, a press release focuses on developments planned for the future.
While the term “press release” has been in existence for eons, the term “news release” has only emerged in the last few years. While not exclusive to media outlets, press releases and news releases are closely linked to news channels and online platforms.
When you have a small business, the news release will help you report past business events. On the other hand, the press release is the perfect tool to announce upcoming events or projects.
Why small businesses need PR services and tools
When you’ve launched a new business, it’s easy to push public relations activities of any kind aside. After all, there’s usually so much to worry about when you’re simply trying to establish a robust business before you even think about public relations functions. You need to develop valuable products, hire an effective team, and find customers to sell to. This is all very vital to the survival of your new business. In reality, so is PR.
Through public relations, your business can generate publicity and flourish in the marketplace. Public relations is the way you build relationships with those same customers who you need. It’s the way you keep them satisfied and ensure they stay loyal to your brand. It’s also the way you connect with media professionals and prove to them that your business is worth writing about so that you can connect with new clients. As you can see, without PR, growing in the industry is impossible, regardless of the size of your business.
PR services target, build, and promote a positive brand reputation in your industry. The right PR professionals can make sure your brand remains top of mind in the marketplace, therefore ensuring you have a growing customer base. Whether you choose to do your PR in-house or hire an agency of PR experts, your PR efforts will always boost the success of your business. For a startup, hiring the services of a PR agency can give you access to a worldwide network of media professionals who can help you share your brand story with the world.
How Pressfarm can help
Do you need help with writing your press release? Check out our press release templates. You can also sign up for a Pressfarm PR package and let us worry about writing your press release.
In addition to writing professional press releases, the PR specialists, expert writers, and certified designers at Pressfarm are skilled at developing winning guest posts and eye-catching media kits. With this content, you can capture media attention and win your target audience over.
We’ve also built a content distribution strategy that has proven successful for hundreds of brands. By submitting your content to the right media outlets and startup directories, we can boost your online visibility and ensure your brand ranks in relevant search results across different search engines. Our media database can also help you connect with over 1 million journalists across different industries and share your brand story with the world.
At Pressfarm, we can build a customized campaign that puts your brand in front of the right eyes.
Capture the attention of prospective clients with your news releases and press releases
Understanding the distinction between a press release and a news release is vital when you’re doing PR. Regardless of the size or type of business, understanding how every aspect of your PR strategies works is essential for publicity and brand reputation.