The 10 Commandments of B2B Press Release Writing

Jan. 14, 2008
How to ensure that your press releases get read (and followed up on) by members of the B2B media

The average professional in any industry is deluged with competing marketing messages.  So, of course, is the editor covering their industry.  To avoid having your materials end up on the cutting room floor, please follow these simple guidelines:

1.  Email it!  We still receive a number of press releases by mail, and most of them end up being rejected.

2.  Email information to the team mailbox, rather than to individual editors.  Please send it to [email protected] or, for discovery and R&D information, to [email protected].

3.  Graphics should be low-resolution jpg attachments.  If we need the high resolution photos, we will get in touch with you.  Your sending them proactively to every editor on our staff only clogs up our email boxes.

4.  The subject line of the email should some information about the product or news involved.  Subject lines that read: “Press Release” don’t help us streamline the evaluation process.  Subject lines that read:  “New crystallization process eliminates polymorphism” (a hypothetical example) do.

5.  Send information about technologies and equipment that have been approved for use in or designed specifically for use in pharmaceutical plant environments. Multi-purpose equipment that works in a number of industries is fine, but it must be approved for pharma use. Nothing for a bakery, refinery, or nuclear power plant, please. 

6.  Please paste the body of the release directly to your email, and also include an attachment Word file.

7.  Remember to include the telephone number and email address of the relevant PR or marketing communications person, but also the subject matter expert involved in creating the news or the product.   Please include location and telephone numbers of contacts on your web site.

8.  Please write the release in clear, simple English, in complete sentences.  Please do not include any of the following words (or their relatives), which will only provoke a Pavlovian eye-rolling response from most editors:

  • unique
  • “best of breed”
  • revolutionary (with or without its partner, ‘new’)
  • breakthrough
  • paradigm shift
  • sea change
  • transformative
  • groundbreaking
  • superior
  • unmatched
  • unparalleled
  • unsurpassed
  • ideal

9.  Make quotes count.  Having company officials say “We and our products are the best in the business” in however many words or paragraphs it takes will not make the release valuable to any editor, or reader. 

10.  Please remember that our readers are all trained engineers and scientists.  They need real information, particularly on potential cost savings or specific design improvements.  What makes this product or technology better than what came before it?  Please provide measurable units (speed, accuracy, precision, financial data, time required, operating costs) and details.

We hope you find this information helpful, and look forward to hearing from you.

The PharmaManufacturing and KnowPharma editorial team