A museum’s guide to writing a press release

A guest post from Emily Heath, Marketing & Events Assistant for Stafford Borough Council, which manages three heritage sites: The Ancient High House, Stafford Castle and Izaak Walton’s Cottage.

This fantastic step-by-step guide will help museums without in-house marketing expertise to write engaging and effective press releases.

A museum’s guide to writing a press release

Stafford Castle; image courtesy of Stafford Borough Council.

When it comes to writing a press release, the key initial focus is content. Get as much information as you can about the exhibition or event. You ideally want too much information, so you have lots of content to pick from and edit.

It’s an oldie but a goodie, follow the Who? What? Where? When? Why? rule. When you read your content, ask yourself those questions. If you can answer them, you’re well on your way to writing a strong press release.

The next crucial point is structure, so let’s start from reading order and list what you need

A Snappy Headline: This can sometimes be the hardest part of a press release, as you need a headline that’s intriguing enough to get people to want to read more, but you also don’t want a title that tells the whole story, otherwise people won’t think that they need to read on.

‘Shugborough Museum to commemorate First World War’

The All Important First Paragraph: Most people won’t read past the first paragraph, so it’s important that you put all of the key details in straight away. What is the exhibition? When is the exhibition? Where is the exhibition? Why is the exhibition happening? These questions should all be answered in the first paragraph.

‘Shugborough Estate in Staffordshire is set to commemorate the First World War with an exhibition that opens on the 21^st March 2014. The exhibition aims to explore key First World War themes, primarily focusing on The Home Front in Staffordshire’.

Sell the event further: For the next few paragraphs, elaborate on the exhibition. Write about the plan for the exhibition, the key activities, the things that people can take part in. These paragraphs are your way of making people really want to go to your exhibition or event. Talk about the history of key artefacts, anything that will intrigue the public and make them feel like this is something that they really need to attend.

A Professional Quote: Approach someone with professional links to the Museum to be quoted for the exhibition, further selling the reasons to attend. Quotes work as a direct communication with the general public and they can be very effective.

One Last Push: After the quote, write another small paragraph about the event or exhibition, just wrapping up the press release, possibly commenting on expectations for the launch/exhibition.

‘The exhibition promises to be a fascinating and informative day for the whole family’.

Find Out More: A press release should always end with you telling your reader how they can find out more. List a web address, a phone number or a social network site. This encourages people to register their interest in your exhibition and follow updates.

Compelling images: Include one or two photographs with your press release. These need to be a suitable resolution for printing, i.e. a minimum of 300 dpi. Consider what is appropriate for your feature and will attract attention, for example a photograph of families doing activities shows you offer lots to do. Make sure you have the necessary permissions to use the photograph.

Write In Plain English: My final point would be to write in plain English, don’t confuse your message. Keep to your point and keep it simple.

These are the basics to hopefully get you on your way to writing your very own press releases. Remember: Content Is Key!

You can find out more about Stafford Borough Council’s Heritage Sites

on Facebook at Stafford’s Heritage Sites