The job of a release is to attract and pique reporter to read on. Keep “head” and “lead” snappy – and short. Make them compelling, intriguing, and grabbing. (But still true, please. This is no time to emulate a supermarket tabloid. Do not claim, for instance, that famous stars are among your clients, just because former quarterback of high school football team uses your services.)

To get best chance for publicity from your press release, put as much time into carefully crafting these two inches of your masterpiece as you allot to writing entire rest of release. I am not kidding!

Unfortunately, many people have a tendency to put less important information in first sentence of a release. For example:

"Chet Thompson, CFM, a financial planner located in Glendale, today announced a new service called 'PlanWise.'"

What's more important? Your name, your location, and name of your service, or fact that it will provide a better retirement? All of your contact information is important, and should be in release, but it's not as interesting as what your service will do.

Reporters scan a release quickly: burying your "best" stuff near bottom always backfires. A press release isn't a mystery novel—you aren't going for a surprise ending.