How to End a Press Release: Best Practices & Common Mistakes

Many people focus on crafting the perfect headline or opening paragraph, but knowing how to end a good press release is just as important. A strong press release ending ensures your message is clear, provides next steps, and increases your chances of media coverage.

An effective press release should be concise, informative, and compelling, ensuring it serves as a vital tool for generating media attention and building credibility. It needs to make it easy for journalists to take the next step.

This guide will walk you through the key elements of a strong press release ending, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to make the process easier with tools like Prezly.

Oh and by the way, using a press release tool like Prezly makes this process way easier, ensuring your press releases are formatted beautifully – and professionally.

With Prezly, you can create stunning press releases in two shakes of a cat's tail without worrying about structure or formatting. Prezly even supports all the latest multimedia bells and whistles, as well as reusable snippets and AI translation.

And the best part? You can try Prezly free right now, no credit card required.

A great press release doesn’t just start strong – it needs to finish strong, too! The ending is where you tie everything together, guide journalists on what to do next, and make sure your story sticks.

Nail these three key elements, and your press releases will end on a high note – clear, professional, and ready to grab media attention.

The final paragraph of your press release should tie everything together and guide journalists toward their next steps. Think of it as your mic-drop moment. Your last paragraph should sum up the key takeaway of your press release and nudge journalists towards their next move.

If it makes sense for your story, use this opportunity to sneak in a CTA – that's a "call to action" to marketing folk, or in other words, a suggestion that the reader does something after reading this press release.

This can be to cover the story, request additional details, or simply visit your website for more information. For example:

For more details about [product/event], visit [website] or contact [name].

And remember, a CTA should be direct and deeply compelling. Kind of like this one:

A press release boilerplate is a standardized paragraph that provides background information about your company. Think of it as your brand’s quick intro – it helps establish credibility, ensures brand consistency, and gives journalists essential context about who you are.

Basically, a strong boilerplate:

• Builds credibility: A well-written boilerplate reassures journalists that your company is reputable and experienced
• Ensures brand consistency: By using the same standardized description across all releases, you maintain a unified message
• Provides key company details: It should briefly highlight your company’s mission, core achievements, and industry expertise

When writing your boilerplate, it's best to keep it straightforward and free of fluff – limiting yourself to three or four sentences is a good rule of thumb. Use it to highlight your company’s mission, key achievements, and expertise, for example:

Founded in 2010, [Company Name] is a leader in [industry], providing innovative solutions for [target audience]. Learn more at [company website].

Journalists are busy, so quick and easy access to a press contact is crucial for news media outlets. If they are interested in covering your story, they will likely need additional information, quotes, or interviews. Without clear contact details, they may just move on. Don’t let that happen!

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to set this up for your press releases, or even your whole newsroom. Here's how that works:

What to include in your contact section:

• Name of the media contact
• Actively monitored email address
• Phone number for direct communication
• Website link for more information

Why clear media contact information matters:

• Facilitates journalist follow-ups: Making it easy for journalists to reach out increases the chances of your story being picked up
• Improves credibility: Providing direct contact details signals professionalism and transparency
• Saves time: Journalists work under tight deadlines. If they have to dig for your contact details, they may move on to another story. Providing clear contact details improves your chances of media coverage

Formatting matters! A clean, professional structure makes your release easier to read and ensures journalists get all the key info without the guesswork, which means more likelihood of media coverage.

A little oldschool, but adding "###" or "-END-" to the end of your press release is a widely accepted industry standard that signals to journalists, “That’s all folks!” so they know they’ve got the full story. It prevents confusion and ensures they don’t mistakenly think content is missing. No awkward cut-offs here!

Got extra details, disclaimers, or background info that aren’t essential to the main story but could be useful? Include a brief note at the end to provide additional background information, legal disclaimers, or other relevant details. This can enhance press coverage by giving journalists more context and helping them craft a more comprehensive story.

Journalists skim fast. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and adequate white space to make the release easy on the eye. When writing press releases, ensuring readability is crucial to effectively communicate your message and capture media attention.

• ❌ Forgetting a CTA – Don’t leave journalists wondering what to do next! Always include a clear call to action (cover the story, visit your website, request an interview, etc.)
• ❌ Leaving out contact details – Honestly, you'd be surprised how common this error is. If journalists have to hunt for your contact details, they probably won’t bother. Make it as simple as possible for them to reach you
• ❌ Writing a weak or unclear boilerplate – A boilerplate should be concise and informative. Avoid marketing fluff and stick to the essentials to ensure it clearly conveys your company’s mission, industry position, and key offerings
• ❌ Overloading the ending with too much information – The closing section should be punchy, not a novel. Avoid unnecessary details that could distract from the main message. Keep it focused: summary, CTA, boilerplate, and contact details.

Additionally, knowing when to send press releases is crucial. Only distribute them when there is relevant and newsworthy information to share to maintain credibility and avoid over-saturating your audience.

Avoid these mistakes with Prezly’s structured press release software. With built-in contact cards, boilerplate info, and media galleries, Prezly ensures that each release is professionally formatted, so you can focus on getting your story out! Start your free 14-day trial today →

Want your press release to actually get noticed? The secret ingredient is multimedia and AI translation! Adding images, videos, and smart translations makes your release more engaging, shareable, and accessible to a global audience. Reviewing press release examples can also provide valuable guidance on crafting an engaging press release. Let’s break it down:

Multimedia enhances engagement by making your press release more visually appealing and shareable. Studies show that press releases with images or videos get significantly more views and shares than text-only releases.

• Visual elements capture attention: A striking image or engaging video can immediately draw interest and make your story stand out
• Enhances storytelling: Photos, infographics, and embedded videos provide additional context and support the narrative of your press release
• More shareable: People love sharing eye-catching content!

With Prezly, you can easily drop in images, videos, and even social media posts to use again and again with your team.

Ever find yourself copying and pasting the same company description, call-to-action, or disclaimer over and over? There’s a better way: Reusable snippets!

• Ensures brand consistency: Reusing the same boilerplate, disclaimers, and CTA keeps messaging cohesive across all communications
• Saves time: Instead of rewriting common elements, you can insert pre-approved snippets with just a click

Prezly’s reusable snippets let you store and drop in essential details instantly, so you can spend less time on busywork and more time crafting killer stories.

Want to reach an international audience without hiring a team of translators? AI-powered translations make the whole process of translating your story far faster, though of course we still recommend any AI translation serves as a draft for a human to work on and review.

In a nutshell, using AI translation help you to:

• Expand your reach: Translating your press release into multiple languages allows you to connect with journalists and media outlets worldwide
• Increase accessibility: AI translation ensures that your message is accurately conveyed to different audiences without losing its original meaning
• Save time and resources: AI-powered tools eliminate the need for expensive and time-consuming manual translations

Prezly’s built-in AI translation lets you publish press releases in multiple languages with just one click. Easy, right?

Translate your press release in seconds with Prezly

Publish your press release with Prezly and translate it into 30+ languages with our integrated DeepL AI auto translation feature, available in your 14-day free trial.

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Looking at press release examples can help you understand different styles, tones, and structures that work well. Studying these examples can also give you ideas for formatting, language, and multimedia elements to make your press release more engaging.

The following are all real-life press releases published and distributed through Prezly. Scroll to the bottom of each to see some of the best practices from this article in action.

Example: Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival Mexico 2019 Moves to the Beat of PK Sound

See full example

Example: A bold new series from National Geographic

See full example

Example: We Rate Dogs: The Card Game

See full example

A strong press release closing ensures your message is clear, professional, and actionable. By following best practices, you increase your chances of securing media coverage and ensuring journalists take the next step.

To make sure your press release shines, follow these key tips:

• Clear boilerplate – Reinforce your brand credibility
• Proper formatting – Keep it professional and easy to read
• Media contact details – Make it easy for journalists to reach you

Start your free trial of Prezly and get creating in less than 5 minutes, no credit card info required.

Need more convincing? Take a look at some of our press release builder features:

• Multimedia integration – Easily add videos, images & social media embeds.
• Reusable snippets – Keep messaging consistent across all press releases.
• AI-powered translation – Publish in multiple languages with one click.
• Built-in contact management – Ensure journalists always have the latest info.

Ready to level up your press releases? Try Prezly free for 2 weeks now :)