How to write quotations for press releases

Keep your readers’ eyes from glazing over with these techniques.

Do you have to include a quotation in a press release?

No.

Then why bother to include one, other than that it’s a PR custom?

No canned messaging, please

Adding a quotation to a press release gives you an extra opportunity to gain relevance in the lives of the recipients. Unfortunately, most companies squander this opportunity by slapping quotation marks on either side of canned messaging.

Credible? No. Compelling? No. Likely to induce the MEGO effect (My Eyes Glaze Over)? Yes.

Instead, consider quotations the perfect spot for tying your announcement to external context—that is, something happening outside your company that’s on your audience’s mind. Make your commentary opinionated or interpretive.

Here’s an excerpt from a press release announcing that a top news exec is joining my employer’s executive team. Richard Sambrook, previously the BBC’s director of global news, has become Edelman PR’s global vice chairman and chief content officer.

The italics and parentheses in our CEO’s quote below are mine:

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