How to Write a Press Release Headline

A press release headline states the news in one sentence: who did what, in that order, using a strong present-tense verb and cutting every word that does not carry a fact. Long, adjective-heavy, or vague headlines get skipped before anyone reads the lead paragraph that follows them.

Length

Aim to keep a headline under 15 to 20 words, and preferably one line when set in a normal font, roughly 80 to 100 characters. Inboxes and wire feeds truncate long headlines, so the words that matter most need to be visible without scrolling or expanding anything.

Word order: who did what

Put the subject first, then the action, then the object: Company launches product for audience. This order matches how people scan text; a reader gets the actor and the action before anything else. Avoid opening with a subordinate clause, a date, or a location, since that pushes the actual news past the point where most readers stop paying attention.

Verbs carry the news

Use one strong, specific, present-tense verb: launches, acquires, raises, opens, appoints, closes. Avoid vague verbs like “announces” stacked on top of a second phrase that explains what was announced; if the verb needs an explanation, the headline is doing the work twice. Present tense also reads as more immediate than past tense, which is one reason it shows up so often in this kind of headline.

What to cut

Cut adjectives that state an opinion instead of a fact, such as “revolutionary,” “cutting-edge,” or “excited to announce.” A headline is a claim of fact, not an opinion, and an editor is likely to remove opinion words before running the story regardless. Cut internal project names the reader has not heard of, company slogans, and punctuation used for emphasis such as exclamation points or capital letters, all of which read as promotional rather than newsy.

Subheads

A subhead is optional. Use it to carry a second fact the headline could not fit: a number, a date, a location, or the reason behind the news. Keep it to one line and avoid repeating a word already used in the headline. If the headline names the news, the subhead should answer the next question a reader would naturally ask.

Weak-to-strong rewrites (illustrations)

The examples below are illustrations written for this guide, using clearly fictional companies. They are not real headlines from any company.

1. Weak: “Brightloop Is Thrilled to Announce a Game-Changing New Platform!” Strong: “Brightloop Launches Inventory Platform for Small Retailers”

2. Weak: “Cascade Robotics Continues Its Journey of Innovation and Growth” Strong: “Cascade Robotics Raises $18 Million to Expand Warehouse Robots”

3. Weak: “Exciting Leadership News at Marlowe Foods” Strong: “Marlowe Foods Names Priya Anand as Chief Executive”

4. Weak: “Vantage Analytics and Petal & Twine Are Proud to Team Up Together” Strong: “Vantage Analytics Partners With Petal & Twine on Retail Data Tool”

5. Weak: “A Message to Our Customers About a Recent Issue” Strong: “Northfield Bank Confirms Data Incident, Begins Customer Notifications”

Each strong version names an actor, a specific action, and enough of an object to tell a reader whether the story concerns them, in roughly the same number of words as the weak version it replaces.

Putting it together

Write the headline last, after the lead paragraph, since the lead already forces you to identify who did what. Read the finished headline next to the lead: if the headline promises something the lead does not immediately deliver, tighten one or the other until they match. Once the headline and lead agree, the rest of the release has an easier job, since the reader already knows what the story is about.