On this page11
- Where the release sits in the campaign
- Who actually reads a press release?
- What goes in a fact-sheet release
- When does the release ship relative to embargoed pitches?
- What a good versus a bad release looks like inside a campaign
- When the release is more than a fact sheet
- FAQ
- Should I attach the press release to my first pitch email?
- How long should a press release be when it's used as a fact sheet?
- Is a press release still needed if I'm only doing one exclusive?
- Who should own the press release inside a startup?
In a PR campaign, the press release is the fact sheet that sits behind your pitches. It holds the confirmed facts, numbers, quotes, names and spellings a reporter needs once they've already decided to write the story, and it becomes the public record when the news goes live. It doesn't persuade anyone to cover you. The pitch does that, and the release is what the pitch points to.
Getting this order wrong is the single most common reason I see crypto announcements land flat. Founders write the release first, treat it as the campaign, blast it out, and wonder why no reporter picked it up.
Where the release sits in the campaign
Think of a campaign as layers, from the one that does the most persuading to the one that does the least.
- The storyline. Why this news matters beyond your company. Without it nothing else works.
- The pitch. A short, personal note to one reporter, built around the angle that fits their beat.
- The briefing. The call or interview where the reporter gets their own quotes and asks hard questions.
- The release. The reference document: facts, figures, quotes, boilerplate, contacts.
- Distribution. Your newsroom page, your channels, and optionally a wire.
The release is fourth. It's important, the way a fact sheet is important in a deal. But it's a supporting document, and it can't do the job of the layers above it.
The reason is volume. A reporter covering crypto doesn't have time to read releases to find stories. They read subject lines and the first lines of pitches, and they decide fast.
journalists get tons of pitches everyday! sometimes it's more that what an average investors get!! Shilika Jain on X, 10 Nov 2023
So the release only gets read once the pitch has done its work. By the time it matters, the hard part is already done.
Who actually reads a press release?
Fewer people than founders imagine, and different ones. Each reader wants something specific from it.
| Reader | When they read it | What they need from it | What annoys them |
|---|---|---|---|
| A reporter who said yes to your pitch | After accepting the embargo, while drafting | Exact numbers, investor names, product names spelled right, a usable quote, timing | Adjectives, vague claims, figures that don't match the pitch |
| Their editor | During edit and fact-check | Something to verify the reporter's figures against | Contradictions between release and website |
| Reporters who didn't get pitched | After the news is public, if at all | A quick way to confirm facts for a roundup or follow-up | No contact person, no date, no link to more |
| Investors, partners, hires | After launch, often linked from your site | A clean, official statement they can forward | Hype they'd be embarrassed to share |
| Search engines and AI assistants | Whenever they crawl your newsroom | Clear entity facts: who, what, how much, when, where | Missing basics, conflicting numbers across pages |
Notice what's missing: the reporter who hasn't decided yet. That person reads your pitch, not your release, and usually only the first two lines of it.
What goes in a fact-sheet release
Because the release is a reference tool, I judge every line by whether a reporter would copy it into their notes. If not, it goes.
- A headline that states the news. Who did what. "Project raises $XM to build Y" beats anything clever.
- A dateline and an embargo line. The embargo date and time with a time zone, at the very top, in plain text.
- The first paragraph as the whole story. Who, what, how much, why now, in three sentences.
- Numbers with context. Round size and lead investor; user count and the date it was measured; TVL and its source. A number without a source is a number a careful reporter won't use.
- Two quotes, at most. One from the founder that says something a reporter would actually want to print, one from a partner or investor if it adds a different view.
- Names spelled exactly. People, companies, products, tokens, tickers. Reporters lose patience fastest here.
- Boilerplate. Two or three factual sentences about the company. No superlatives.
- Links to assets. Logos, founder photos, product screenshots, a one-page backgrounder.
- A named media contact. A real person with an email and a reply time.
What doesn't go in: the story you're hoping the reporter writes. You've pitched that already. If the release tries to argue the angle, it reads as marketing, and reporters write around it. For the full structure, my guide to writing a crypto press release has templates, and what journalists need in a press kit covers the assets that sit alongside it.
When does the release ship relative to embargoed pitches?
This is the part founders most often get backwards. The release isn't the first thing a reporter sees. It's what they get after they've agreed to the embargo.
My launch sequence has used this ordering for years.
wanna activate PR for a major launch/announcement? here's a quick strategy: - Create active thought leadership 1-2 month before the launch - Secure 1-2 podcasts/interviews 1 month before the launch -AMA - 15 days before the launch - Embargo press outreach: week before the launch Shilika Jain on X, 11 Oct 2024
Inside that final week, the release moves like this.
| When | What happens to the release | What goes to reporters |
|---|---|---|
| Around 10 days out | Facts locked. Numbers, names, investor approvals and quotes signed off internally | Nothing yet |
| 7 days out | Release final, under embargo, held back | A short pitch with the angle and an offer to share details under embargo |
| 5 to 2 days out | Sent only to reporters who accepted the embargo, with assets and a briefing slot | Release, assets, founder availability |
| Embargo lift, T-0 | Published on your newsroom first, then your channels, then an optional wire | Thank-you note to everyone who covered it, with any final links |
| 1 to 3 days after | Becomes the reference for follow-ups and roundups | Release link for reporters who missed the first wave |
The point of holding it back is control. A release sent cold, with an embargo line nobody agreed to, isn't an embargo. It's a leak waiting to happen. And a release on a wire before your pitches are out uses up the news. I go deeper on choosing between formats in press release, pitch or exclusive and on embargo mechanics in my embargo and exclusive decision framework.
What a good versus a bad release looks like inside a campaign
Same news, two releases.
The bad one opens with "We are thrilled to announce", spends three paragraphs on vision, buries the round size in paragraph five, quotes the founder saying the company is "redefining" a category, and goes out on a wire the same morning the pitches do. The reporter you pitched sees it on a press release feed before they've opened your email. Your exclusive angle is now public.
The good one reads like notes. Headline with the number. First paragraph with the investor, the use of funds and the market. A founder quote that offers an opinion. A clean list of facts. It sits in a shared folder until reporters accept the embargo, then goes to them with a briefing slot. At lift, it publishes on your site and becomes the version everyone links to.
The second release isn't better written in a literary sense. It's better suited to its job.
When the release is more than a fact sheet
There are a few cases where the release carries more weight than I've described.
- Regulated or listed companies. Disclosure rules can make the release the primary, legally significant statement. Treat it accordingly and let legal shape it.
- Small news with no pitch. For an integration or an event appearance that no reporter will cover, the release on your newsroom is the whole communication. That's fine. Just don't call it a campaign.
- Exclusives. If you've given one outlet an exclusive, the release usually waits until their story runs, then goes out as the record for everyone else. Sending it early breaks the deal.
- Non-English markets. In some regional media, a well-localised release is closer to what reporters actually work from. I'd still pair it with a pitch, but the release matters more there than in English-language tier-1 crypto media.
If you're unsure which of these applies to your next announcement, that's the kind of call I make on Web3 PR campaigns before a word of the release is written.
FAQ
Should I attach the press release to my first pitch email?
I don't. The first email should be short and personal, with the angle and an offer to share details under embargo. Attaching the release to a cold pitch makes it feel like a mass send, and it hands over embargoed details to someone who hasn't agreed to anything.
How long should a press release be when it's used as a fact sheet?
Around 400 to 600 words usually covers it, plus boilerplate and contact details. If it runs much longer, it's probably trying to argue the story instead of supporting it.
Is a press release still needed if I'm only doing one exclusive?
Yes, but it ships after the exclusive runs. It gives every other reporter, investor and partner one official version of the facts, and it gives search engines and AI assistants a clean page to read.
Who should own the press release inside a startup?
Whoever owns the pitching. When the release and the pitches are written by different people, the numbers drift and the angle in the release stops matching the angle in the pitch, which is exactly what makes a reporter hesitate.
Planning an announcement and not sure where the release fits? Book 30 minutes with me and we'll map the week before launch.
