How to use AI to write press releases that journalists actually read

The editor opened 47 emails before noon. Twelve were press releases. She read two of them — the ones that told her something specific in the first line. The rest went to trash. Not because they were poorly written. Because they were written for the company, not for her.

That's the problem with most AI press release writing: the output sounds fine, but it's aimed at the wrong audience. A press release isn't content for your website visitors. It's a pitch to a person who deletes 80% of what lands in their inbox before coffee gets cold.

Why journalists ignore most press releases — even well-written ones

The structure isn't the issue. Every press release follows roughly the same format: headline, dateline, lead paragraph, body, boilerplate, contact. Journalists know this. They're not looking for creative formatting.

What they're looking for is a newsworthy angle that matters to their readers. Not your readers — theirs. A tech journalist covering enterprise software doesn't care that you updated your dashboard. They care if that update solves a problem their audience has been complaining about.

Most press releases fail here because the writer doesn't know enough about the brand to find the angle that actually matters. They write about the announcement. The journalist needs to write about the story.

What AI gets right — and where it falls apart

AI tools are fast. They'll give you a press release structure in 30 seconds. Headline, quote from CEO, three paragraphs of context, boilerplate at the bottom. Grammatically correct. Professionally bland.

The problem is the bland part. When AI doesn't know your specific product names, your actual customer base, or how your company talks about itself, it defaults to industry-speak. "Leading provider of innovative solutions" instead of "the scheduling tool 400 veterinary clinics use to manage same-day appointments."

Journalists can smell the generic version immediately. It reads like every other release they've deleted that morning. No prompt fixes this problem because the AI simply doesn't have the information it needs to be specific.

How to write a press release with AI that actually works

Start with what makes this news. Not what makes it an announcement — what makes it matter to someone who doesn't work at your company. If you can't answer that in one sentence, you're not ready to write.

The newsworthy angle comes first. Your product update isn't news. The problem it solves might be. The trend it responds to could be. The specific customer outcome it enables — that's probably the story.

Once you have the angle, AI becomes useful. Feed it the specific details: product names, customer segments, numbers that mean something. "Revenue increased" means nothing. "Revenue grew 34% in Q3 after launching the contractor portal" gives a journalist something to work with.

Getting the brand voice right in PR content

Press releases have a formal tone, but formal doesn't mean lifeless. The best releases still sound like the company that wrote them. A law firm's release reads differently than a startup's — not just in content, but in rhythm, word choice, and how much personality shows through.

This is where most AI tools fail quietly. They produce text that sounds like a press release, but not like your press release. The boilerplate describes a company that could be anyone in your industry.

The fix is giving AI access to how your brand actually communicates. AI content that sounds like you requires the tool to understand your existing voice before writing anything new. That's why BrandDraft AI reads your website URL first — it pulls your actual product names, your terminology, and how you describe what you do before generating a single word. The press release it produces references your real offerings instead of generic placeholders.

Structuring for journalists, not search engines

The lead paragraph does 90% of the work. If the journalist doesn't find the story in the first two sentences, they won't read the third. Put the news first. Not the company history. Not the industry context. The news.

A structure that works:

First paragraph: What happened and why it matters. One sentence on the announcement, one sentence on the significance to the journalist's audience.

Second paragraph: A specific detail that makes it concrete. A number, a customer name (with permission), a timeline.

Third paragraph: A quote from someone at the company — but only if the quote adds something the facts didn't already cover. "We're excited about this launch" adds nothing. "We built this after 200 customers asked for a way to track contractor hours separately" adds context.

Final section: Boilerplate that actually describes your company. Not what you aspire to be. What you are, specifically, today.

The journalist pitch isn't the press release

Here's what most companies miss: the release itself is the backup documentation. The email subject line and first sentence are the actual pitch.

Journalists decide whether to open based on 8–12 words. They decide whether to keep reading based on the first line of the email. The press release is what they reference after they're already interested.

Write the email pitch separately. Make it specific to that journalist's beat. Reference something they've written recently if you can. Then attach or link the full release for details.

What to check before sending

Read the first sentence out loud. Does it tell someone outside your company why this matters? If it starts with your company name and an action ("[Company] announces..."), rewrite it to start with the impact.

Check every product or service name. Are they your actual names, or generic descriptions? "Our project management platform" should be "Taskline Pro" or whatever you actually call it.

Count the jargon. One industry term is fine if it's precise. Three in a paragraph and you've lost them.

Finally — send it to someone who doesn't know the news already. Ask them what the story is. If they can't tell you in one sentence, the release isn't ready.

The releases that get read aren't longer or more cleverly written. They're specific. They're aimed at the journalist's audience. And they sound like they came from a company that knows exactly what it does — because the writing proves it in every line.

Generate a brand-specific article with BrandDraft AI — start with your website URL and see the difference specificity makes.