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5 quick fire tips to enhance your PR activity
5 data sources you can use for PR campaigns
Analysis of 5 successful PR campaigns
Get the AI bots to read your press release
Press Releases for AI Bots
PR folks are discovering that press releases help you show up in AI search results, especially when they’re well‑structured and widely distributed. If they are written in an AI-optimized, specific format, that’s even better. Let’s take a closer look.
The Similarities of Traditional and AI-Optimized Press Releases
Lets first talk about the thing all press releases – AI-formatted or not – have in common.
Newsworthy
Take for example a few things that could be considered newsworthy.
✅ New product launch
✅ Mergers, acquisitions, significant expansions, company anniversary
✅ Crisis press release
✅ Major event press release
✅ Awards or recognitions
Objective and Tone
A press release should convey news in an objective, factual, and non‑salesy tone. It is an official statement from your company.
The Standard PR Skeleton
Create a strong press release with good bones, this still applies. This means a clear headline, dateline, strong lede (the opening sentence or paragraph) with the 5Ws, supporting paragraphs, quotes, boilerplate, and media contact details.
💫 Pro Tip: Unfortunately, there are fake press releases put out there to dupe investors, so many press release distribution platforms require an identity verification process. Choose wisely who on your team will be the person to submit their ID.
The Differences in Traditional vs AI-Optimized Press Releases
The difference is how you present and structure the information. AI models “like” certain formatting.
Headline and lede should state who is doing what, for whom, and with what outcome. Avoid vague terms like “revolutionary” “groundbreaking”.
Subheadings and sections in releases are broken into short, clearly labeled sections (e.g., “Product details,” “Availability,” “Pricing,” “About [Company]”), which helps AI and humans follow the logic.
Concise paragraphs that use bullet points make it easier for AI systems to pull out dates, features, metrics, and quotes without messing up the context.
AI-Optimized Press Release Structure
Follow this structure for AI-friendly press releases, and readers will like it too.
Headline: Clearly state the main point of the announcement.
Summary: Provide one or two sentences that highlight key facts.
Q&A Section: Include a few core questions with brief answers.
Supporting Details: Add quotes, data or background for context.
Closing Section: End with next steps or links for more information.
Essential Strategy
Use plain, precise and consistent language
Spell out product names, features and organizations.
Ditch the acronyms and buzzwords
Avoid words like “next month’s gathering” instead use evergreen phrasing
Have a FAQ’s
Clear brief definitions of specialty words if needed
Links to authoritative pages
Now, you can publish your press release on your website’s newsroom, distribute it via a newswire service for a fee, and send it directly to a reporter who covers your type of news.
“Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word - paper. They’ve got to be defined by the first word - news.”
Do this now: Take an existing press release and rewrite it with AI style in mind.
Term to Learn
Newswire (or wire service) is a company that distributes press releases directly to journalists. Wire services are also known as press release feeds or press release distribution services. Some of the bigger players are PR Newswire, Business Wire, Marketwire, Cision, Muck Rack, and Reportable.
FAQ
Q: Does my press release need to follow AP style rules?
A: It’s not a requirement, but it makes it easier for journalist to take your press release and directly publish it with minimal editing. Press releases are generally expected to follow news-style writing rules. In the U.S. that means AP style (Associated Press).
Q: If you’re outside of US do you use a different style than AP when writing press releases?
A: Here’s what I learned from Nick Gaudio: “Nope!
Practical rule of thumb: U.S. audience? AP style International? Reuters or neutral house style Marketing content? Consistency matters more than compliance to a style, AP or not. :)
(But you definitely want to be cognizant of say, different spellings – color vs. colour for instance, especially given much of the world is educated by the Brits, who spell stuff differently :) )”
Useful PR Resources.
🧰 TOOLKIT — 2 for 1 special, this week only!
#1 – InBox Hero
A game for PR nerds and you should try it too!
Get taste of what it’s like to be a journalist with a crazy inbox to manage. This should help emphasize why you should always pitch to the correct journalist. Other wise you get deleted, or even worse, blocked!
Thanks to Vince Nero of BuzzStream for the fun. They also have a cool service that uses AI to get you a media list with the right journalists for your campaign, ListIQ.
#2 – Is My Pitch S#!T (Another Game for PR)
Another fun game for PR folks is the Is My Pitch S#!T (I didn’t make up the name, so excuse my french) web site.
Get a feel how your pitch is going to land by entering it and see how you score.
We’ve covered pitching extensively in the Attention Seeker series, so now you can test out how much you’ve learned!
Attention Seeker(s) of the Week🐈⬛🐈
Smokey and Misty
Smokey, 3, a light gray short hair tabby, and his little sister of 9 months, Misty are the bestest of snuggle buddies. Smokey jumps on counters, despite knowing he doesn’t belong there and stares at Human Mom Abby until she gives him the attention he requires. Where as Misty will sit directly in front of mom and meow and stare until attention is received. The cute flop down belly presentation for rubs and playful running back and forth are also tricks used by these cuties to get attention. Mom Abby is a personal trainer at Crosby Wellness Center. When she’s not teaching others how to be strong and fit, she can be found playing with these cuties.
Can we feature your furry attention seekers?
Thanks for reading and look forward to learning more about the challenges you face in regards to DIY PR and finding solutions with you.
Until next week, keep your shades on and stay cool.
Your fellow Seeker,
Keren
🕶️
