By Dan S., Co-Founder and CEO of gik.ai
A press release is a short factual announcement written in a fixed format that journalists recognize on sight: headline, dateline, lead paragraph answering who, what, when, where and why, two or three body paragraphs, one quote, a boilerplate about your company, and a contact block. Write it as news, not as marketing. Send it to named reporters who cover your subject. Its job is to get a journalist to write about you, not to rank in Google.
Key takeaways
- Cision's 2026 State of the Media Report, a survey of 1,899 journalists across 19 markets, found 66% say PR-provided content is where their story ideas come from.
- Google's spam policies name press releases directly as a place link spam appears, so a release is not a ranking asset.
- Propel's Q2 2024 Media Barometer, built on more than 405,000 real pitches, found journalists responded to 3.43% of them, 59.05% of those within four hours.
- Cision's 2026 report found 82% of journalists reject a pitch first for being irrelevant to their audience or coverage area.
- Write one when you have a fact that changes something for someone outside your company.
What is a press release, and does it still work?
Yes, but not in the way most guides imply. A press release works as raw material a journalist turns into coverage, and Cision's 2026 State of the Media Report found 66% of journalists say PR-provided content is where their story ideas come from. It is neither an SEO asset nor an AI-visibility asset.
Hold those facts apart. The document is the most-used input in journalism and a near-worthless page on your own site, so generate a press release for your announcement and put the saved hours into the list of reporters.
Cision's 2025 State of the Media Report, surveying more than 3,000 journalists, found 72% call press releases the most useful resource PR teams offer.
The search side is the opposite. Google's spam policies name press releases directly, defining link spam to include "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites." Google's John Mueller, in a 2018 video hangout reported by Search Engine Roundtable: "So we try to ignore links from things like press releases."
AI visibility is contested, so take both readings. BuzzStream, with Citation Labs, analyzed 4 million citations across 3,600 prompts in one week from 27 January 2026 and found press releases on syndicated news channels made up 0.32% of news citations and 0.04% of the entire dataset, with newswire citations such as PR Newswire at 0.21% of the analysis. BuzzStream sells digital PR software, so that is vendor research. Semrush, studying more than 230,000 prompts and 100 million citations over 13 weeks, reported that "the biggest winners on ChatGPT? PRnewswire, Forbes, and Medium."
Plan on the release earning nothing directly. Write one when a journalist could build a story from it.
What goes in a press release, part by part
Each part does one job, and reporters read them in order. The headline decides whether the email gets opened. The lead decides whether it gets read. The quote decides whether it gets used. The boilerplate and contact block decide whether the story runs without a phone call.
The press release format at a glance
The order runs: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, headline, optional subhead, dateline, lead, body, quote, boilerplate, contact block, end marker.
Headline
Write a sentence a newspaper could print: the company, the action, and the detail that makes it news.
Dateline
The dateline is the city, state abbreviation and date opening the first paragraph. Use the city where the news happens.
Lead paragraph
The lead carries who, what, when, where and why in two or three sentences. Assume the reporter reads only this paragraph.
Body paragraphs
Body paragraphs add context in descending order: scale, background, what changes, what happens next. Anything cut from the bottom should not damage the story.
The quote
One quote from one named person is plenty, and it should say what neutral voice cannot: a judgment, a reason, an experience.
Boilerplate
The boilerplate is the standing paragraph about your company at the bottom of every release, and it is compressed About-page copy. Cut your About page copy to two sentences: what you do, who you serve, where you are, when you started.
Contact block
The contact block names one person, a title, a direct email, and a phone number that gets answered. Skip the info@ address.
The ### end marker
Three hash marks under the contact block signal the end, and tell an editor you have done this before.
How long should a press release be?
Keep it short enough to read in one pass. No public dataset measures ideal press release length, so use the pitch data: Cision's 2026 State of the Media Report puts the sweet spot at 100 to 200 words, and Propel's Q2 2024 Media Barometer found pitch bodies of 51 to 150 words drew the highest response rate, 7.51%.
Cision's respondents were not unanimous. Asked how long a pitch for a feature or story idea should be, 11% said under 100 words, 26% said 100 to 200, 32% said 200 to 300, 17% said 300 to 400, 5% said over 400.
Propel found subject lines of 1 to 5 words drew the highest response rate, 4.73%, while 10 to 15 word subject lines were the most commonly sent, at 36.54%.
5 press release examples you can copy
Five complete releases follow: an opening, a product launch, an event, a new hire, and a nonprofit program. Every company, person, address and phone number below is invented. Swap in your own facts, keep the structure, and delete anything you cannot verify.
A new business opening
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bramble & Co. Opens Wholesale Bakery in Northeast Portland, Supplying 11 Cafes
PORTLAND, Ore. — March 3, 2026 — Bramble & Co., a three-person bakery, opened a
wholesale kitchen at 4218 NE Killingsworth Street on March 2. It supplies bread
to 11 independent cafes across Portland and opens a retail counter in June.
The kitchen triples daily output to roughly 600 loaves, letting the bakery take
accounts it used to turn down.
"We were turning away four or five cafes a month because we could not bake
enough," said Dana Okoye, founder of Bramble & Co. "This kitchen is the
difference between a side business and a real one."
About Bramble & Co.
Bramble & Co. is a wholesale sourdough bakery in Portland, Oregon, founded in
2024, supplying independent cafes across the metro area.
Media Contact
Dana Okoye, Founder
dana@brambleandco.example
(503) 555-0142
###
Why this works: the headline carries a place and a countable fact, so a local editor can judge it in one line.
A new product launch
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thornhill Instruments Releases Soil Sensor That Runs a Full Season on One Battery
The SM-4 targets small vineyards and orchards priced out of wired irrigation.
BOISE, Idaho — April 14, 2026 — Thornhill Instruments today released the SM-4, a
soil moisture sensor for growers working plots under 40 acres. It reports over
cellular, runs a season on one battery, sells for $189, and ships May 5.
Each unit covers roughly one acre and needs no trenching. Thornhill tested the
SM-4 across 14 farms over two seasons.
"Every grower we talked to priced a real irrigation system, got a five-figure
quote, and went back to a shovel," said Priya Raman, cofounder of Thornhill
Instruments. "We built what they described."
About Thornhill Instruments
Thornhill Instruments designs field sensors for small-acreage agriculture.
Founded in Boise, Idaho, in 2021, it builds hardware for growers below
commercial scale.
Media Contact
Priya Raman, Cofounder
press@thornhillinstruments.example
(208) 555-0188
###
Why this works: price and ship date sit in the lead, the two facts a product reporter needs first.
An event
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cedar & Ash Bookshop Hosts Free Repair Fair, Pairing Neighbors With Volunteer Fixers
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — August 20, 2026 — Cedar & Ash Bookshop will host a free repair
fair on Saturday, September 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 118 Haywood Road.
Volunteers will repair appliances, lamps, bicycles and clothing at no charge, and
no registration is required.
At the shop's April fair, 22 volunteers repaired 174 items owners had planned to
throw out. Residents may bring three items each.
"People bring in a toaster expecting to be told it is garbage, then watch someone
fix it in eight minutes," said Marcus Bell, owner of Cedar & Ash Bookshop. "Most
of this stuff is not broken. It is just unattended."
About Cedar & Ash Bookshop
Cedar & Ash Bookshop is an independent bookstore in West Asheville, North
Carolina, open since 2019 and running free community events year-round.
Media Contact
Marcus Bell, Owner
marcus@cedarandash.example
(828) 555-0119
###
Why this works: date, time and address sit in the first sentence, the minimum a listings editor needs.
A new hire
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Halverson Freight Names Port Operations Veteran Renata Vives Director of Logistics
DULUTH, Minn. — June 2, 2026 — Halverson Freight Co. has appointed Renata Vives
as director of logistics, effective June 15. Vives spent nine years managing
terminal operations at a Great Lakes port and will oversee Halverson's 34-truck
fleet and two Minnesota warehouses.
The appointment follows a year in which Halverson added refrigerated capacity.
Vives will lead a move to overnight routing.
"Renata has run a dock at four in the morning in February. That is the job," said
Erik Halverson, president of Halverson Freight Co. "We hired someone who has
already solved the problems we are about to have."
About Halverson Freight Co.
Halverson Freight Co. is a family-owned trucking and warehousing company in
Duluth, Minnesota, hauling freight across the Upper Midwest since 1998.
Media Contact
Sofia Lang, Marketing Manager
press@halversonfreight.example
(218) 555-0173
###
Why this works: it says why the hire matters, not just that it happened.
A nonprofit announcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Riverbend Literacy Project Expands Free Adult Reading Program to Three Counties
A two-year grant funds tutor training and evening classes in rural southern Ohio.
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — February 10, 2026 — Riverbend Literacy Project will expand
its free adult reading program into Vinton, Jackson and Pike counties this
spring, funded by a two-year grant from a regional community foundation. It adds
evening classes in six locations and training for 40 tutors.
Riverbend has tutored adults in Ross County since 2016 and served 212 people last
year. Interviews with learners can be arranged with their consent.
"They are not children who fell behind. They are 43-year-olds who hid this for
decades and finally decided to stop," said Angela Ford, executive director of
Riverbend Literacy Project. "Every one shows up after a full shift."
About Riverbend Literacy Project
Riverbend Literacy Project is a nonprofit adult literacy organization in
Chillicothe, Ohio, founded in 2016, providing free tutoring across southern Ohio.
Media Contact
Angela Ford, Executive Director
angela@riverbendliteracy.example
(740) 555-0164
###
Why this works: the closing line offers interview access, which most nonprofit releases forget.
How to send a press release (and who to send it to)
Send a press release by email, to individual journalists, one at a time. Cision's 2026 report found 97% of journalists prefer to receive pitches by email. Paste the release into the body under a short pitch, address the reporter by name, and use the first line to say why the story fits their beat.
Build the list before writing anything, because this step decides the outcome. Cision's 2026 report found 82% of journalists reject a pitch first for not being relevant to their audience or coverage area.
Keep the pitch email tiny, on a fixed skeleton: why this reporter, the news in one sentence, two supporting facts, what you offer, contact details. If you want a frame rather than a blank page, pitch email templates give you one.
Offer what reporters say they want. Muck Rack's 2026 State of Journalism survey of 897 journalists found 70% want clear relevance to their beat, 58% interview access to sources, 40% original data or research, 37% high-resolution images, 14% pre-written quotes, and 3% social media copy.
Attach images, with a caveat about who counted. PR Newswire, which sells distribution and is owned by Cision, analyzed more than 160,000 of its own releases in 2020 and reported that releases with multiple images get roughly six times the engagement of text-only ones, one image twice and one video three times. That is vendor data measuring engagement, not coverage, cross-checked by Muck Rack's independent 37% wanting high-resolution images.
Then wait. Propel found journalists opened 50.29% of pitches within one hour and sent 59.05% of responses within four hours. Placements run slower: in the same report, 65.82% of placements published within 7 days and 88.78% within 30. Tuesday is when most pitches are sent, at 33.22%, while Thursday draws the most responses, at 24.17%.
What journalists say makes them delete your email
Most rejected pitches fail for reasons unrelated to writing quality. The email reaches the wrong person, buries the news, arrives without what the reporter needs to publish, or reads as something nobody edited before sending. Each mistake below says what goes wrong and what to do instead.
Sending to a beat that does not cover you. This is the top stated reason for rejection, at 82% in Cision's 2026 report. Instead, read three recent stories by every reporter on your list and cut anyone whose work is unrelated to your subject.
Writing marketing copy instead of news. Phrases like "leading provider" tell a reporter you have nothing verifiable. Instead, replace every adjective with a number, a date, or a name you can prove.
Sending a generated draft nobody read. Journalists can usually tell a release nobody edited, and Cision's 2026 survey already has 82% of them rejecting pitches that are irrelevant to their beat. The gik.ai position is straightforward: a generated release is a professional-quality draft, not an asset that ships without a human read-through. Instead, edit every line, rewrite the quote so it sounds like you said it, and verify every fact.
Judging the release by the wrong outcome. Publishing it on your own site and waiting for rankings wastes the effort, given that Google's spam policies name press releases directly. And the repeated line that only 3% of press releases get picked up is a garbled echo of Propel's pitch response rate, the share of pitch emails that drew any reply: 3.43% in Q1 2024, in Propel's data from more than 405,000 pitches. Instead, judge results on replies and published stories.
Following up in a way that burns the contact. Volume is why. In Cision's 2026 report, 17% of journalists receive 50 or fewer pitches a week, 43% receive 51 to 100, 29% receive 101 to 150, and 11% receive 151 or more, meaning 83% get more than 50 and 40% get more than 100. Instead, follow up once, after several days, with one new fact.
FAQ
These are the questions small businesses ask most often about press releases: what one is, how long it should be, what it looks like, what a boilerplate does, how to submit it, whether it helps SEO, and whether an agency is required. Sources are named wherever a number is involved.
What is a press release? A short factual announcement written in a standard news format and sent to journalists. It states one piece of news in the first paragraph, then supports it with detail, a quote, and contact information.
How long should a press release be? Short enough to read in one pass. No public dataset measures ideal press release length, but Cision's 2026 State of the Media Report puts the pitch sweet spot at 100 to 200 words, and Propel's Q2 2024 Media Barometer found pitch bodies of 51 to 150 words drew the highest response rate, 7.51%.
What does a press release look like? Like a news brief: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" at the top, a plain headline, a dateline, a lead paragraph, two or three body paragraphs containing one quote, a boilerplate, a contact block, three hash marks.
What is a boilerplate in a press release? The standing paragraph about your company at the bottom of every release. It states what you do, who you serve, where you are based, and when you started. Change it only when a fact inside stops being true.
How do you submit a press release? Email it to individual journalists who cover your subject. Cision's 2026 report found 97% prefer to receive pitches by email. Paste it into the message body under a short personalized pitch.
Do press releases help SEO? No. Google's spam policies name press releases directly, defining link spam to include "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites." A release earns value only when a journalist writes an article from it.
Can a small business send a press release without a PR agency? Yes. LocaliQ's Small Business Marketing Trends Report 2026, a survey of 300 small business owners, found 52% have monthly marketing budgets under $1,000 and 50% have no employees dedicated to marketing. Doing it yourself is the normal case.
Write the release, then spend your time on the list
Drafting is the cheap part. A press release takes a fixed shape, and filling it in is not what stands between you and coverage. The list of reporters who cover your subject is the expensive part, and nobody can build it for you, because it rests on facts about your business a stranger does not have. If you want the document off your plate so the hours go to the list instead, the gik.ai press release service returns a formatted release for a flat one-time fee, no subscription. What comes back is a professional-quality draft. Read it end to end, rewrite the quote so it sounds like you said it, confirm every fact, and send it under your own name.