Learn how to write a press release for my business that journalists actually open. Real examples, a five-part structure and Sage Writers can draft yours.
Nine out of ten press releases we read at Sage Writers open with a paragraph about the company sending them. Not the news. The company. Somewhere on page two, buried under three flavours of corporate throat-clearing, the actual story sits patiently. Nobody reads that far.
If you’re figuring out how to write a press release for my business — a founder, a marketing manager, or whoever got handed the job this week — this is a teardown of why most releases fail, plus the five-part structure we use to make journalists actually reply.
The press release problem most businesses have
Most SME press releases read like internal announcements dressed up in a suit. The lede is buried. The headline is a boast. And the top of the release is three paragraphs of “leading provider” boilerplate that the sender’s own team wouldn’t finish.
Journalists get roughly 200 pitches a day. They scan the subject line, glance at the first sentence, and hit delete. That’s the game. If your opening line doesn’t tell them what happened and why anyone should care, the rest of your release might as well not exist.
The 8-second test
Read your headline and first sentence aloud. In under 8 seconds, can a stranger tell you what happened, who did it, and why it matters? If not, rewrite the top before you touch anything else.
What counts as actual news
Journalists filter ruthlessly. Roughly speaking, they’ll open a pitch for:
- Funding rounds — with a real number, not “significant investment”
- Product launches — tied to a date and a customer angle
- Senior hires — usually only if the name is one the trade press recognises
- Partnerships — only if the partner is bigger or unexpected
- Original data or research — a survey, a stat, a study you actually ran
- Milestones — 10,000 customers, 100th shop, a decade in business
- Awards — sparingly, and only for awards the audience knows
- Reactions to breaking news — you have an expert view on this morning’s headlines
Apply the “so what” test. If a stranger in the pub wouldn’t care, a journalist won’t either.
Weak angle: We’ve updated our website.
Strong angle: We surveyed 500 UK founders about their website copy. 62% haven’t touched it in three years.
Same event, sort of. Second one gets opened. The PRCA publishes solid guidance on what qualifies as a story worth pitching — worth ten minutes if you’re new to this.
The five-part structure we use
Every press release we ship at Sage Writers uses the same five-part skeleton. Nothing clever. It just works.
1. Headline that reads like a news story
Not a slogan. Not a pun. A sentence a subeditor could paste straight into a paper. Under 12 words. Includes a name and a verb.
Before: Big News from Acme Ltd This Autumn!
After: Birmingham accountancy firm hires former HMRC lead as head of tax.
Quick tip — write the headline last, not first. You don’t know what your strongest angle is until you’ve drafted the body. Write the release, then let the sharpest fact become the headline.
2. Dateline and one-sentence lede
BIRMINGHAM, 7 July 2026 — then one sentence answering who, what, where, and when. Thirty words maximum. Anything a journalist needs to file a two-line news brief goes in that sentence.
3. Two-paragraph body with the strongest quote on top
The best quote sits in paragraph two, not paragraph five. Quotes should sound like a human said them — no “We are thrilled and excited to announce” nonsense.
4. Boilerplate — three sentences maximum
Yes, three sentences. Not three paragraphs. Who you are, who you serve, one proof point. That’s it.
5. Media contact block
A real person. Real mobile number. Real email that gets checked the same day. No press@ inbox that nobody monitors.
If you want a full worked example, our press release templates guide has the layout you can copy today.
Three real examples (anonymised)
Three rewrites from the last twelve months, permissions granted, names changed. Same event each time — a different angle depending on who we were pitching.
Example 1 — A regional accountancy firm
Before: Acme Accountants Ltd is pleased to announce a strategic new hire that will strengthen our tax advisory capabilities across the Midlands region.
After: Birmingham-based Acme Accountants has hired former HMRC investigations lead Sarah Chen, ahead of April 2027 IR35 rule changes.
Local trade press picked it up. The hook was the timing.
Example 2 — A DTC food brand
Before: We are delighted to launch our new premium range of artisanal condiments, expanding our product portfolio.
After: Norfolk hot-sauce maker sells out first 5,000 bottles in 48 hours after Great British Menu chef posts recipe.
The chef mention was the news. The launch was context.
Example 3 — A B2B SaaS startup
Before: Our platform now offers enhanced enterprise-grade features for larger organisations.
After: Manchester SaaS firm signs first FTSE 250 client, six months after £1.2m seed round.
Business desk opened it. The numbers did the work.
Same shape every time: kill the corporate voice, promote the concrete fact.
The bit almost everyone gets wrong
Boilerplate at the top. Three paragraphs of it. The classic version reads like this:
Acme Ltd, established in 2011, is a leading provider of innovative solutions to businesses across the UK and Europe. Our mission is to empower our clients through cutting-edge technology and unrivalled customer service. Founded by a team of industry veterans, we have grown to serve over 400 businesses across multiple sectors.
Three paragraphs in and the journalist still doesn’t know what happened today. That block belongs at the bottom of the release, trimmed to three sentences, under the words “About Acme Ltd”.
How long should a press release be?
Between 300 and 400 words. Any shorter and you look thin; any longer and nobody finishes it. One page, one screen, no scrolling. If you can’t say it in 400 words, you don’t have a story yet — you have a company update. Save that for the newsletter.
Should I embargo my press release?
Only if you have a genuine reason: a coordinated launch, a stock-sensitive announcement, a story tied to a specific hour. Embargoes signal “this matters” when used sparingly. Used casually, they annoy journalists, who’ll ignore the embargo and print early anyway. Default to no embargo. Send when it’s ready.
How Sage Writers handles press release writing
We write press releases the way journalists want to read them. A senior UK writer reads the brief — not an AI mill, not an offshore team, not an intern with a template. First draft in five days. Fixed price agreed before we start. Two revision rounds included. No upsells to a “premium distribution package” you don’t need.
One regional client last year — a Midlands manufacturer we’d never worked with before — got picked up by three trade publications and the local BBC news website inside a week. The story hadn’t changed. The lede had. That’s the whole game.
If you’d like context on how we work, our About page tells the story. And for the wider owned-media question, our take on writing a business blog post that actually gets read applies the same principles to your own channels.
Distribution, follow-up and the boring bits that matter
A press release nobody reads is worse than no press release at all. Distribution is where most SMEs waste their budget.
| Do this | Not this |
|---|---|
| Build a list of 10-20 named journalists at outlets your customers actually read | Blast a “press@” inbox at every national news desk |
| Pitch the story in the email subject line | Use the headline verbatim as the subject |
| Paste the release in the email body | Attach a PDF nobody will download |
| Follow up once after 48 hours | Chase every 24 hours for a week |
When is the best day to send a press release?
Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday morning between 9am and 11am. Mondays are drowning in weekend catch-up; Fridays get filed for Monday and forgotten. Avoid bank holidays and school half-terms. Journalists have quieter Tuesdays, and quieter journalists open more emails. Send at 9:15am, follow up at the same time on Thursday if you’ve had no reply.
What to send tomorrow morning
You don’t need a PR agency retainer to send a release this week. Here’s the 30-minute version:
- Pick one real news hook. Not two. One.
- Write the lede in under 30 words.
- Cut every sentence that doesn’t add a fact or a quote.
- Send it to three named journalists — not news desks.
- Follow up once after 48 hours, then let it go.
That’s it. No wire service. No distribution package. Just words that earn their place at the top of an inbox.
If you’d like a senior writer to draft the release for you — or a second pair of eyes on what you’ve already written — get a free quote and we’ll come back within one working day.