It’s no secret that the beauty industry is competitive. There are a lot of brands out there that are competing for the same customers and a lot of beauty brands that are looking to make themselves heard.
While social media, influencer outreach and paid ads can work wonders when it comes to gaining customers. It’s important not to forget about public relations (aka PR).
PR helps you to raise the profile of your brand, get in front of new audiences, build authenticity and trust, pick up backlinks and manage your public image. It also helps you to connect with journalists, future employees and industry experts – basically PR can set you over and above the competition. Digital PR can even help you with
One of the ways to do this is to send out a press release to journalists and business contacts – particularly if you have something that’s newsworthy and interesting to say, such as an exciting new launch, groundbreaking collab or exciting business win.
What Is A Press Release?
A press release is a short news story that is sent out to the media to gain interest, press coverage and publicity for your brand, business or product. It needs to be compelling, interesting and relevant – you’re trying to capture the interest of a journalist who probably receives hundreds of press release every single day.
A press release should include the essential information that a journalist to write a story independently, without having to come back and check out a thousand details with you. This is the who, what, where, when and how – along with images and brand details.
It doesn’t usually cost anything to send a press release out, though if you pay a freelancer to write one for you or you use a distribution service then this will come with an additional cost. Some publications may come back and offer paid advertising or a paid feature but this isn’t usually necessary if your story is right for the publication.
How To Write A Press Release
When it comes to writing press releases, I was taught the ‘inverted pyramid method’. To be honest, that sounds way grander than what it actually is.
It basically means that you start off with the most important stuff first then get to the less important stuff by the end. This means that you can hook your reader with the headline and first paragraph, then leave the nuts and bolts stuff for when you’ve got them hooked.
That’s where the ‘inverted pyramid’ comes in as a way to structure your press release:
What To Include In A Press Release?
There are a few things that you definitely need to include in your press releases before you send them out. Making it as straightforward as possible can be the difference between your press release being published or just hanging out in an inbox with a thousand others.
Attention-Grabbing Headline
The headline is usually the first thing that grabs attention. This goes for email newsletters, pitches, proposals and presentations. Don’t just think “it’ll do” because it could be the difference between your press release being read or being ignored (unless your brand recognition is really strong).
Which of these headlines would capture more of your attention?
New Product Launch from X Brand
or
X Brand Launches The World’s First AI Lipstick
Many press releases also include a sub-heading that gives a little more detail to the headline, provides a key stat or adds context. This isn’t always included but can be good to continue to engage the reader.
The Key Info
Now it’s time for the newsworthy bit. This is the who, what, where, when, why bit. This is the part that shows why it’s exciting and why it’s news that definitely needs to be published and seen by the world. You don’t need to pack it full of detail but stats usually work well, as do the reasons why it’s exciting and it’s a story.
You can include a quote from someone in the business there too if it’s relevant and useful to your story. This is great to raise the profile of your business and add authenticity in your industry.
General Brand Info
This is where you add in a little bit of company blurb just to provide info about what your company does, stats or awards and where the reader can find out more about your brand. This should be a few lines, and is the type of thing that you’ll use throughout the business in reports, proposals and on your company website.
Some people include this right at the end as part of their “notes to editor” after the main body of the press release. Some people just include it towards the end of the release.
Contact Details
Include your contact details (that means email, phone number and any other direct means of contact) along with your job title at the end of the press release. This means that there’s no hunting around or waiting for details if they’re needed.
Your aim here is to make the journalist’s life as easy as possible to ensure that they publish the story. Leaving them digging around or as something that they’ll get to later might mean your well-crafted press release never sees the light of day.
Include Images
Make sure that you include some links or attachments that contain story-relevant images. Again, it’s about making life easier for the journalist so that they can publish your story. Every publication, website and social network uses images or video so you should provide this where possible.
Top Tips for Writing Press Releases
Here’s a really quick run down of some key tips for writing press releases, to increase your chances of getting picked up and to make it as stress-free as possible.
You might find it handy to set up a checklist that you take a look at while you write and send, to make sure you’ve got everything – especially if you don’t write them often.
- Make your headline interesting. A journalist’s inbox will fill up with emails about new launches and products all day long. Why is yours different? Sell it in with the headline.
- Put the most interesting/relevant information first. Same reasons as above, journos don’t have time to read your press release or email throughout.
- Proofread and self edit. Before you send, just re-read your press release (get someone else to if that’s useful for you) to pick out any typos, waffle or anything that shouldn’t be there like a placeholder. Before you hit send, just check that you’ve included everything you need to.
- Keep it concise. A press release is meant to be a short, snappy and relevant overview or comment on something specific and focused. It isn’t meant to be an encyclopedia of everything that your brand has ever done. Keep it waffle-free and clear.
- Include information about the brand. This can be useful to provide context to the story and means the writer doesn’t need to do a lot of rummaging around to find out a few lines about your brand.
- Add a quote from someone relevant in the business. Add in a relevant comment from someone in the business who’s linked to the story. This can help bulk up a press release and add interest. Always include their name and title at the organisation so no-one needs to follow up. (Writer Hack: sometimes I write the comment and send to the relevant person for approval rather than waiting for them to do it themselves. People are busy and can completely overthink it if they’re not used to writing – you can make sure it’s on-brand and hits the relevant points if you do it).
- Include your contact details. Sometimes journalists are on a deadline and don’t have time to email back and forth to get details when a quick phone call can do the trick in minutes. Make it easy for them to get in touch with you
- Make images available. Whether you link to a Dropbox, WeTransfer or Google Drive, or you just attach photos to your release, make grabbing good pics to go along with the story as easy as possible. Most digital content needs images (online and offline), so add yours to avoid missing out. Try and offer a few different options, sizes and orientations.
Sending Your Press Release
Your press release doesn’t end with the writing part either. Here are some quick hacks for sending your press release out, and what to do after you’se sent it out:
- Use the BCC email field. If you’re sending out a press release to several journalists at once, for the love of data protection, use the BCC address field for their email addresses. This means that you’re not inadvertently sharing other people’s email address without their permission.
- Respond to any questions quickly. If a journalist comes back with a question or clarification about your release, try and get back to them as soon as possible. They’re often juggling deadlines, stories and contributors. Once the moment’s gone, your story might have missed the deadline to be published.
- Send it to the right people. A tech journalist isn’t likely to pick up on a story about a new lipstick range (unless it’s something like an AI lipstick, if such a thing exists) and a food journalist is unlikely to care about skincare in a professional context. Make sure the journalists and publications you send your press releases to are relevant to the story.
- Follow up but don’t go OTT. A quick follow up email to make sure that a journalist has seen your email (and if there’s been anything timely or newsworthy that would help the story to fit in the meantime) can be useful to job someone’s memory. However, following up for weeks when a journalist has never replied is probably annoying. If they haven’t replied, it’s probably not the right story.
- Say thanks and share. Your story got picked up and published by a journalist. Yay! It’s great for relationship building to drop them a line and say thanks, as well as share the story on your brands networks. This also serves to enhance your brand reputation in the eyes of your audience.
- Add your press release to your website and link on social. This can help with SEO, brand recognition and raise the profile of your brand with your target audience.
Need Help Writing A Press Release?
Still have questions on how to write a press release? Or whether your press release is actually worth sending? Feel free to drop me a message on Linkedin.
If this all sounds like far too much work and you need help to write a press release for your brand, get in touch to find out more about my press release writing service.
I’ve written press releases and handled outreach for brands in beauty, education, health, finance and hospitality and can help you to craft a release that gets your brand noticed.