It’s a well known fact that one of the common ways a business receives free publicity and builds its expertise attracting media attention. Although it takes time and work to get noticed by reporters, the basis of a great publicity campaign is the media release. If you desire to build a working relationship with news editors, often times a media release is the most efficient way in.

However, not all media releases are created equal. The majority of them end up in the trash. If you want the media to contact you about stories you pitch, or the stories they are already working on, you must send the appropriate message in your media releases. The following five elements should help you communicate your message effectively:

1. The Basics of Journalism – Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How

Facts are the foundation of every news article, and when reporters need fundamental, facts they often turn to media releases. This is the why who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story are so important. When creating your media release, take a few moments to organize the facts about the news you hope to communicate. This information will be the foundation for the entire document, and you will reiterate it in the first paragraph of your release so news editors don’t have to read more than a few lines to get the gist of your message.

2. A Concise, but Clear Headline

The headline of your news release should communicate what the story is about, capture the attention of the reader, and so in ten words or less. Your headline present the news in in a catch, but informative manner, such as “Teen Smoking is On The Rise” “Despite Improves in Technology, Productivity is Down”.

3. You Need to Entice the Reader.

Once you’ve gotten your readers’ attention, you need to hook them. It should be something to compel the reader to continue reading, such as a startling fact or statistic, a compelling question, or a common problem. This hook often communicates a common problem and a startling statistic, such as “This year 40 percent of high school students will try tobacco” or “At least 30% of adult males have an undiagnosed learning disability.”

4. A Quotable Quote or Two

As you go into more detail about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your news, providing as much detail as you can in the least amount of words as possible, you will start writing the main body of your media release. In doing so, you should also include quotes that the journalist can pull right from your release. The media loves getting quotes directly from the source of the news and by giving them a quote or two, you make the reporter’s job that much easier, greatly improving your chances of getting mentioned in the paper. If possible you should use quotes that really highlight the impact of your news.

5. A Call to Action

Even though you got your main points in, you still have to close your media release with a call to action. If you want reporters to book you for an interview, you should say so. If you want them to cover your event, make that your call to action. Don’t forget to include your contact information.

Remember the goal of your press release should be to get media mentions for your company. It’s like free advertising and it establishes you as the expert in your field. Remember, even if you don’t get written up in a full length story, media professionals may keep your information on file for when the do need your expertise. So the better your press release is, the greater your chances of receiving that free publicity, you are seeking.