McAllister goes on to share a sample outline for an internal press release:
Heading: Name the product in a way the reader (i.e., your target customers) will understand.
Subheading: Describe who the market for the product is and what benefit they get. One sentence only underneath the title.
Summary: Give a summary of the product and the benefit. Assume the reader will not read anything else so make this paragraph good.
Problem: Describe the problem your product solves.
Solution: Describe how your product elegantly solves the problem.
Quote from You: A quote from a spokesperson in your company.
How to Get Started: Describe how easy it is to get started.
Customer Quote: Provide a quote from a hypothetical customer that describes how they experienced the benefit.
Closing and Call to Action: Wrap it up and give pointers where the reader should go next.
In addition to the above template, McAllister advises that you should keep the press release simple, a page and a half or less, with paragraphs made up of no more than three to four sentences.
Part of keeping it simple means writing for mainstream customers, a technique McAllister calls “Oprah-speak.” “Imagine you’re sitting on
Oprah’s couch and have just explained the product to her, and then you listen as she explains it to her audience,” he writes. “That’s ‘Oprah-speak,’ not ‘geek-speak.'”
If the product actually makes it into development, the press release can then be used as a touchstone.
