Press Release Example: The Exact Format (and the Mistake That Gets Zero Replies)

By Zach Schleien

Learn the standard press release format with an example you can copy, and discover why a personal pitch is more effective for earning media coverage.

• A press release is a document of record with a fixed structure: headline, subheadline, dateline and lead paragraph, body, one quote, boilerplate, and a media contact. The template below is copyable.
• A press release rarely earns coverage on its own. I sent 20 to 40 of them early on and got zero replies.
• What earns coverage is a pitch written for one specific reporter. That is how I earned 200+ placements without ever hiring a PR agency.

You want to see a press release example before you write your own. Smart. Below is the exact format, piece by piece, plus a sample you can copy.

But I owe you some honesty first. Early in my career, I sent somewhere between 20 and 40 press releases and got zero replies. Since then I've earned 200+ media placements, including The New York Times, BBC, TechCrunch, and The Washington Post, without ever hiring a PR agency.

The difference wasn't a better press release. It was learning what a press release is for, and what to send instead when you want coverage.

Let's start with the format.

What Goes in a Press Release

A press release has a standard structure. Journalists expect it, so don't get creative with the layout. Save the creativity for the story.

1. Headline. State the news in one line. What happened, and why it matters.
2. Subheadline. One sentence adding the most important detail the headline couldn't fit.
3. Dateline and lead paragraph. City, date, then the first paragraph answers who, what, when, where, and why. A reporter should be able to read only this paragraph and still get the story.
4. Body paragraphs. Two or three short paragraphs of context. Numbers beat adjectives here. A real user count, revenue figure, or growth rate says more than "rapid growth."
5. A quote. One quote from a founder or executive that adds opinion or stakes, not a restatement of the facts above it.
6. Boilerplate. One short paragraph about the company. What it is, what it does.
7. Media contact. A real person's name and email.

A Press Release Example You Can Copy

Here's a bare-bones template. Replace the brackets and cut anything you don't need.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [Company] Launches [Product] to Help [Audience] [Get Specific Outcome] [One sentence with the most newsworthy detail: a number, a first, or a name people know.] [CITY, STATE], [Date]. [Company], a [one-line description], today announced [the news]. [One sentence on why this matters right now.] [Second paragraph: the proof. Traction numbers, customers, funding, or results.] "[A quote with a real opinion or a stake in it]," said [Name], [Title] of [Company]. "[Second sentence of the quote, if it earns its place.]" [Boilerplate: one short paragraph on the company.] Media contact: [Name], [email]

That's the whole document. Now the part I had to learn the hard way.

My First Press Releases Went Nowhere

Years before my video dating app got acquired, I co-founded a dating publication called Top Romp. I didn't know how to pitch media. I sent roughly 20 to 40 generic press releases through company contact pages. Each one took hours of work. I got zero replies. I wrote a step-by-step guide in How to Get Press Coverage Without a PR Agency (The Founder's Guide).

The turning point was my friend Michael, who knew how to pitch press. I watched how he did it, asked a ton of questions, and started doing it myself. The myth that died for me: you do not need to know people in the press to get press. The pitch and the angle land coverage, not connections.

Press Release vs. Pitch: Which One Gets You Covered

A press release is a document of record. It puts the facts of your announcement in a standard format so anyone can reference the date, the names, and the numbers. It belongs on your website, and it's useful to attach once a reporter is interested.

A pitch is different. It's a short, personal email to one specific reporter, offering them a story that fits the beat they already cover.

A press release blasted to a general contact inbox asks a stranger to care about your announcement. A pitch offers a specific reporter a story shaped for their readers. That's why my press releases got zero replies and my pitches built my whole track record.

The System That Replaced My Press Releases

Over three years I wrote 100+ master pitches. The workflow: write one master pitch per campaign, which takes 1 to 2 hours. Vary only the journalist's name and publication. Then send it to 200 to 1,000 journalists who cover that beat. Reply rates stay high because every journalist gets a pitch that fits what they write about.

The system rests on three pillars:

1. Angles. The story hook that makes a reporter care. Proven angle types include newsjacking (attaching your story to news reporters are already covering), subject matter expertise, data angles, cultural moments, and notable investor or partnership news.
2. Targeting. The unit is the reporter and their beat, never the outlet. Your press universe is every reporter who covers your niche. That can span 100 outlets, and even up to about 20 reporters at a single outlet.
3. Deliverability. The best pitch on earth does nothing from a spam folder. Your emails have to reach the inbox, which means sending them properly, not blasting from a tool that gets your emails marked as spam.

This Works Before You Think You're Ready

My first real press win wasn't for my dating app. The Washington Post featured 18percent, my mental health community, when it had about 150 members.

Later, the BBC technology show CLICK featured Filteroff, my video dating app, when we had around 500 users and a team of two. From pitch to publication took under 2 weeks. The piece ran worldwide, we exploded overnight in London, and the servers crashed under the surge.

And when my dad recovered from a severe case of COVID in 2020, I sent roughly 70 pitches to New York Times writers covering that beat. One of them forwarded it to the op-ed editor. The op-ed ran, and Fox News, Good Morning America, CNN, and CBS followed. I wrote a step-by-step guide in How to Find a Good Morning America Email Contact and Get Featured.

Write the press release so the facts of your news live somewhere official. Then put your hours into the pitch, because that's the email that gets opened.