Effective Press Release Headlines

What to say when you announce a sponsorship, so people actually pay attention. This ain’t the run of the mill press release. You’re building the story that your partners, execs, and media will build from. For context: I co-write messaging with sponsors and service providers across sport. From the first post to the follow-up that actually drives momentum. Here’s the 13-part checklist I use with sponsors to make sure that happens: 1/ Headline POV Lead with perspective. Not the deal. → “Why [Brand] is backing [Athlete/Team]” → “This is what [Series] got right about the future” 2/ Opening line that earns attention Start with a stat, insight, or belief. Not a logo. Not a thank-you paragraph. 3/ Logo placement with purpose Use it once, early, and tie it to meaning, not just exposure. 4/ Strategic pull-quote from exec No boilerplate. No fluff. One line from the CEO/CMO/CTO that frames the why of the deal. 5/ Athlete or team reference Tie their style, performance, or history to your brand’s values. This is where sports meet story. 6/ Photo or visual asset Use race-day imagery, behind-the-scenes shots, or real team integration, not stock images. (More to be said on this) 7/ Internal link to company POV or press release Bridge to the deeper story. Let them explore the details, but don’t shove it in the feed. 8/ Quote or POV from second voice Let the CTO or Head of Innovation speak to tech. Let a customer reference the impact. Add depth through voice layering. 9/ Race-week timing Don’t post in the void. Align to the race calendar, qualifying hype, or post-podium conversations. 10/ Pre-baked reshare language Give execs and partner teams a 1-line summary to repost with intent. No “We’re thrilled...” reshares. (Please) 11/ Hashtags with purpose (or none at all) Avoid the hashtag soup. Use one or two that shape narrative, not reach. 12/ Tagged collaborators (if useful) If you tag the team/athlete, it should add context or bring new eyeballs. Never tag out of obligation. 13/ Soft CTA that drives alignment End with clarity: → “What’s something you want to see more of in sponsorships?” → “We’re just getting started. More from this journey soon.” Final note: You’re writing a reference point that sales, PR, and investors will return to all season. Don’t publish and vanish. Publish and position. Photo by Darren Heath.

Most PR campaigns fail because they start with strategy docs instead of headlines. If your headline sucks, your campaign will too. Here's why the traditional approach falls apart: Most PR teams start with audience analysis, publication research, and messaging hierarchies. Then they try to reverse-engineer a story that journalists actually want to write. It doesn't work. Traditional strategies treat all product features as equally newsworthy. They emphasize what companies want to say instead of what journalists want to cover. The headline-first approach flips this completely. Start by writing the exact headline you want to see in your target publication. Everything else flows from there. "New dog food is making millennials go crazy over the nostalgia of its packaging" immediately tells you which publications to target, what angle to develop, and which product features matter most. Compare that to "This new dog food brand is using natural ingredients no one has ever used before." Same product, completely different strategy. Different publications, different messaging, different everything. The headline becomes your North Star for every campaign decision. Once you have that headline, you can prioritize which messages actually support the story. You can identify the right publications and journalists. You can build campaign elements that all point in the same direction. Instead of creating strategy documents that try to be everything to everyone, you create focused campaigns with clear journalistic value. Try it on your next campaign. Write the headline first. Make it compelling. Build everything else around that. Your pitches will be sharper, your targeting clearer, and your coverage better.

The #1reason journalists ignore your press release Most founders write headlines like they’re drafting a spec sheet: “We launched a new platform with faster processing and lower fees.” Clean, technical. And ignored. Because the stories that travel aren’t about specs. They’re about what happens after someone uses your product. And you're not that big to make the headlines, yet! Compare these two: Old: “Startup raises $2M seed to build Web3 wallet.” Outcome: “Farmers in Vietnam finally get paid on time thanks to new digital wallet.” The second version spread across three media outlets. The first one sat unread in someone’s inbox. I’ve seen this pattern with clients again and again. The moment we shift the angle from “what we built” to “what it changed,” the pickup rate goes up. Journalists bite. Communities share. Even investors notice. Here’s a simple rewrite framework you can steal: Start with the human or business outcome: what changed? Add evidence: numbers, quotes, before/after snapshots. Only then bring in the product as the enabler. Why this works: Media outlets don’t want to educate people on your features. They want a hook that already matters to readers. Outcomes create relatability - they connect product to people. And stories scale better than specs. No one forwards a feature list. So the real question for your next announcement isn’t “What did we launch?” It’s “What changed because of it?” That’s the headline worth writing. Your next PR headline shouldn’t be about product. It should be about outcome.

10 ways to use press releases on the wire that actually have generative search impact we’re in a once-in-a-generation visibility window. right now, ai engines like chatgpt, gemini, and perplexity are still training on public web data, including press releases published on *certain* wire services. stop just thinking about wire releases for announcements. start thinking about them as training data for your brand. here’s how to use the wire to make that impact 👇 1️⃣ write for prompts only ai engines map headlines to questions. so when you write in the shape of a question, you’re creating a direct bridge between what people ask and what ai answers. this means you can use prompt-impact headlines in two ways: 1 - to influence a prompt so ai learns to associate your brand with that concept or topic (“what is ai pr?” → zen media) 2 - to promote something “common” — like a webinar, report, or announcement to impact ai search visibility at the same time. example: 🟥 bad: “zen media announces ai pr webinar.” 🟩 good: “how can brands future-proof for ai search? zen media hosts a free webinar on..." same event. same purpose. but the second headline connects your brand to a live prompt people are already asking. 2️⃣ build deep backlinks. don't link just to your homepage. that’s a waste. deep backlinks tell them where your brand’s expertise truly lives. what to link: -framework or product pages -leadership bios -data studies or research 3️⃣ add a short faq section. 3–7 q&as written in clear, natural language. these are machine-readable gold. they give ai structured context and language to reuse in answers. these are non-promotional but tied to your own prompt universe. 4️⃣ use clear section labels. WHAT / WHEN / WHY / QUOTE / ABOUT. headers are metadata. ai uses them to categorize content and understand structure. 5️⃣ make it evergreen. remove “today announced” or “breaking news.” ai doesn’t care about time. 6️⃣ always include visuals with alt text. llms use image descriptions to understand context. so, "unnamed.jpg" does nothing for you. 7️⃣ connect your topics. link older releases or related assets. repeated topics across multiple releases build what ai interprets as authority clusters. 8️⃣ craft quotable lines. add one or two statements that stand alone. those sentences often get pulled into summaries and generated content. 9️⃣ cross-link forward and backward. add “see related release” or “read next.” each link ties your releases into an interconnected network. 🔟 refresh every 30 days. most ai models update or “refresh” their web memory roughly every 4–6 weeks. publishing at least one structured, prompt-aligned release every 30 days ensures your brand remains in the active training window. the wire is one of the most powerful ai visibility tools you have right now. #generativesearch #ai #publicrelations #pr #visibility #answerengineoptimization

I recently analysed hundreds of referring page titles across Reach PLC publications, specifically Wales Online, using ahrefs and focusing on outbound links. While these numbers are from Wales Online (which we all know comes with a nice syndication now and again), some interesting patterns emerged that can help you craft more impactful PR headlines. Here’s what I found: Warn (393 mentions): Headlines with a warning create urgency and grab attention. Perfect for highlighting risks in topics like safety, finance, or health. Reveal (196 mentions): Audiences love discovering new information. Using "reveal" in your headline—especially for data or trend insights—instantly captivates readers. Say (459 mentions): Expert quotes build credibility. Using "say" ensures your PR headlines leverage thought leadership and authority, making them more impactful. Find (157 mentions): Discovery-based headlines resonate well. Showcasing findings from research or new studies drives curiosity and engagement. Urge (139 mentions): Calls to action are powerful! Urging your audience to take steps or follow advice increases interaction and trust. Data-driven insights like these can help you or your team craft headlines, so try using some of these words in your subject lines or press release titles and see how you get on!

One of the biggest challenges for creative agencies is standing out from their competitors.   As B2B buyers increasingly turn to Large Language Models (LLMs) that cite earned media rather than search engines for recommendations, a media relations strategy can make a significant difference.   That strategy includes making sure that your press release headlines are actually feeding the new AI-powered search engines.  Otherwise, they may be getting lost in the feed.   The days of text-only releases with long, wordy paragraphs are no longer sufficient to get noticed. To create an engaging story, formatting is as critical as the content itself.   According to key insights from Cision’s most recent “State of the Press Release” report, news that stands out and is cited by LLMs tends to be crafted with the following attention-grabbing components:   ●     Optimal Headline Length: The highest viewership now lands for releases with headlines between 76 and 100 characters. A slightly longer count provides LLMs with more keywords and context to analyze.   ●     Strategic Verbs: While "announce" and "launch" are commonly used, try utilizing verbs that invoke intrigue, like "reveal" or "unveil," to compel a higher click rate.   ●     Go Multimodal: Tools like Gemini or Claude not only deal with text, but they also process images, videos, and audio. This makes including multimedia more important than ever to feed these new engines data. Note: 44% of communicators always include multimedia.   According to the report, PR professionals rank the Headline, Subhead, and Executive Pull Quote as the top three elements for success.   What are you doing to grab attention and stand out? #creativeagency #PRstrategy #earnedmedia #pressreleasetips

“We’re excited to announce…” is where attention dies. It’s PR’s version of beige wallpaper. Comfortable. Safe. But invisible. In a world that scrolls fast, Your lead must hit like a headline. Not like a press release intro. Clichés aren’t just lazy—they cost you reach. They signal "skip this." They bury the story beneath fluff. Swap vague for bold. Swap polite for punchy. Swap tradition for tension. Here’s what to ditch, and what to use instead: ❌ “We’re thrilled to announce…” ✅ “After 6 months of setbacks, we finally nailed it.” ❌ “We’re proud to launch…” ✅ “This changes how our customers experience X—forever.” ❌ “Today marks an exciting milestone…” ✅ “This is the moment our team almost gave up on.” 3 quick tips to un-bore your PR copy: 1. Start mid-action → Cut the intro, dive into the moment. 2. Use tension or contrast → “What we thought would flop… became our #1 product.” 3. Write like a human, not a brand → Emotion beats polish, every time. The bottom line? Safe copy won’t go viral. But real stories might. What’s the most overused line you see in announcements?

"We're excited to announce..." Stop. 🛑 Ask yourself: "So what?" I've read hundreds (thousands?) of press releases in my career. Many fail one simple test: They don't answer why anyone should care. Here's the brutal truth: - Your new hire isn't news - Your office move isn't news - Your product update isn't news Unless... You can answer "So what?" Try it: "We're launching a new feature." So what? "It automates financial compliance reporting." So what? "Banks can spot fraud patterns in real-time." So what? "In 2023, the UK saw £2.3 billion of fraud. We're going to protect thousands of people from scammers." Now that's a story. 😎 The "so what?" test changes everything: - Press releases that journalists actually read - Pitches that get responses - Messages that stick Remember: Your news isn't about you. It's about why others should care. Next time you write anything: Ask "So what?" three times. If you can't answer, start over. That's how you find your real story. The one worth telling.

50+ press articles in one day. No PR agency. A €100M deal. Last Monday, our deal announcement generated 50+ press articles, including top-tier outlets like Les Echos, a TV segment on @BFM Business, and 500,000+ LinkedIn impressions. All of that without a PR agency. Here’s exactly how we did it — and the real takeaways. 1️⃣ Start with a story people actually care about In an LBO, the usual playbook is: - Don’t communicate the valuation - Share as little as possible - Stick to financial press only We did the opposite. We chose to lead with the valuation and the story behind it: A company built 100% bootstrapped, reaching €100M. That’s what made it interesting. Journalists don’t want codes they want stories. A clear narrative beats “safe” communication every time. 2️⃣ One clear headline. Everywhere. We used one simple, repeatable headline across: Press emails, Subject lines, LinkedIn, Interviews Something anyone could immediately understand: "Bootstrapped to €100M" If your headline needs explanation, it’s not a headline. 3️⃣ Incarnate it. Do it yourself. We Wrote the press release ourselves, Contacted journalists directly, Leveraged personal relationships cc Alexandre Berriche Reached out not only to media, but also creators, operators, and influencers When founders tell their own story, it’s more human, more credible, and far more likely to get picked up. 4️⃣ Distribution is not just “the press” Earned media today is a mix of: - Traditional press - Web media - Podcasts - LinkedIn - Direct journalist outreach And yes — sending the emails yourself matters. It’s more personal, more engaged, and it shows. 5️⃣ Be ultra-available before D-Day Before and on announcement day, you need to be fully available for interviews, calls, podcasts, follow-ups Most journalists publish after they’ve spoken to you. A press release alone rarely converts. Accessibility = coverage. 6️⃣ Execution still matters Last but not least: having someone like Baptiste Petelle internally, running: -A tight PMO - Perfect sequencing - Follow-ups - Coordination across channels …makes all the difference. Story + distribution + execution. No shortcuts. If there’s one lesson: You don’t need a PR agency to get reach. You need a story, clarity, and ownership. Hope this helps other founders thinking about earned media 🚀

Headlines like “The all-in-one solution for [insert industry here]” aren’t working. And it’s because they’re: -- Vague -- Not interesting -- And honestly, kind of fake-sounding I know it’s meant to cast a really wide net for the software or platform. But it usually ends up doing the opposite since no one understands what you do or who you do it for. So instead of casting a wide net with enormous holes… Go narrow. Try one of these 3 approaches for your next headline: 1. Explain the heart of your offer in plain language using one sentence. 2. Highlight the ONE feature your users/customers love most. 3. Draw attention to an emotion people feel when they use your product (OR one they feel when they work with your competitors) Your headline really doesn’t need to say it all. It just needs to say enough to get your readers interested in learning more. Cast a smaller, tighter net and watch what happens 👊 #messaging #positioning #copywriting #B2Btech