What Is a Press Release For Behavioral Health and Health Care?

Press Releases for our purposes and the purposes of our clients typically live on a service called Press Advantage. This service allows us to periodically release these pressers in a way that can benefit a clients SEO as well as establish authority in the field. In general, a good rule is to think of these as short announcements intended to inform publishers of a newsworthy event.

Keep in mind that when it comes to health care and behavioral health it is important that every single piece of content no matter how big or small is factually correct, supportive of science, and matches client/company voice and branding.

We want the topic to be “newsworthy” so that it gets syndicated. We aren’t worried about creating Pulitzer prize material here, we want the constant barrage of links to the site. Additionally, the PRs help us stay relevant with Google since we are always popping into the “news”.

The Circle Social Way: Press Releases

We create press releases for our clients that address relevant and important topics to them and the field.

These pressers are a way for us to help clients connect with their local community and stakeholders, similar in role to a newsletter, so they need to be professional and engaging in voice or tone.

The best press releases are stories. Think about articles you read in the paper. Do you care if Company X hired a new CEO? Probably not. What content is valuable or interesting to the reader? Make sure the press released is geared towards them.

They also can feature important events for clients such as open houses, features in local news, volunteer/staff or alumni spotlights, community service events, latest blog articles, and more.

It is important to include some sort of link to the client's site whether it is a blog or service page or other content.

Structure of the Press Release

The release should be around 600-800 words.

Here is a list of potential topics:

Customer Reviews
New Products or Services
Specials or Promotions
Blogs Posts or Videos
New Employees
Awards or Recognition
Sponsorships

Example of Press Release With Structure Above

More info can be found here.

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Punchy Headline Created to Make Them HAVE to Read More

City, State:The first paragraph needs to cut right to the chase of the story. Include your 5 W’s and H: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Don’t bury the story in the middle of the article if you have any plan to forward this on to a real news reporter. They won’t read the whole thing. If you don’t care about news reporters and it’s just for ranking in Google, then just tease the reader along. Make it interesting and include your main keyword in the paragraph for SEO.

In the second paragraph, it’s easy to insert a strong quote. People like to read quotes, their eyes are drawn to them. That’s why the second paragraph is the perfect spot. If you can get the reader to read into the second paragraph, there’s a decent amount of science that says your readership level won’t drop off much after that point. In copywriting, the general rule of thumb is that the only purpose of the headline is to be interesting enough to get the reader to read the sub headline… and the only purpose of the sub headline is to get the reader to read the first sentence… and so on. You get the point. Every sentence at the beginning of a piece has to be interesting. (By the way, my paragraphs here are actually longer than they should be in the actual release. 2-3 sentences are enough for most paragraphs in a real press release.)

Use the third paragraph to include a link to your site along with your first soft call to action. Remember not to make it too salesy, because your reader is trained to detect that kind of stuff and click away. Try as well as you can to maintain that impartiality, and save your selling for when they click through to the next page. If they click through, they’ll expect to be sold to. Just don’t ruin everything you’ve built up to this point with an overblown call to action.

In the fourth paragraph, you can introduce another quote from a different source, and add another link if you have more than one. This is also where, if I’m trying extra hard to sound impartial, I may pull a quote or link from an impartial third party source, like a government official or a scientist or something that backs up my argument.

Use the fifth paragraph however you like. Maybe talk about the potential consequences of the topic of your piece. I often make a prediction for the future based on the topic of the story.

About Your Company: This is a placeholder for a short, 3-4 sentence description of your company along with a call to action link to your homepage. Make sure the first sentence clearly describes your business in an unbiased way that a reporter could use for their own story.

Example of Press Releases Published on Press Advantage

Current Business Pages:

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/vertava-health

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/serenity-lane

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/pathways-recovery

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/sun-behavioral

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/sun-behavioral-delaware

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/sun-behavioral-kentucky

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/bricolage-behavioral-health

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/hope-healthcare-services

https://www.pressadvantage.com/organization/shadow-mountain-recovery

Press Release Content Checklist

Is it at an 8th-grade reading level?
Is the title interesting/engaging? Is the subject line engaging and encouraging for clicks?
Does the end of the presser contain a link to a company page?
Was Grammarly, Linguix or Outwrite used to do spelling and grammar checks?
Does the presser match client voice and brand guidelines?
Did the Content Editor/Content Manager review the content and make edits?
Is the release written objectively, without the words "you" or "I"?
Ensure there are no lists, bolding, or italics in the release.

Optimizations

Always use the main keyword in the press release title
Always make clear in the first paragraph the exact identity of the organization that is announcing the news. Include the main keyword in the first paragraph as well
2 links are allowed per release
1. Link 1 = Brand Name anchor text to website - NOT the very first words in article. The link should be at a minimum, 2 sentences into the PR. It can’t be the first couple words.
2. Link 2 = Brand Name anchor tex to GMB listing, web2/top citation, or previous press release if relevant
We can include an image but it isn’t an upload. Thus, we need the URL of the image on the company website
A video can be included as well - must be hosted on YouTube or Vimeo. We provide URL

Some Other Rules

Keep an unbiased, reporter like tone rather than salesy
Include a “soft” CTA. Yes, we want to guide the user to the site but don’t throw it in their face
Include quotes from the business owner/rep. If we can’t get them, just write them and make sure we get them approved/verified. Quotes help with credibility and may be used by other sites/reporters
Remember, the purpose of these is for SEO. We want to entice a click if a given release might happen to rank for a keyword. Beyond that, these are for link building. We want all SEO juice to come to our web properties so don’t create the need to link to any other site (such as a source)

Written in Proper Press Release Style

Releases should be 100% objective and free of hype, big claims, exclamation points, uppercase letters, and sales messages. Releases using the words "I," "You," or other non-third-person styles will not be accepted. Neither the headline nor the body copy should include any questions. Grammar and spelling should be 100% correct.

Releases should be written as if they could appear verbatim in a newspaper. To get used to the way news should be written, just check out any quality paper (such as the New York Times or Washington Post.)

Content Should Be 100% Original

We do not accept releases which contain content that is either duplicate or highly similar to other publicly released information. Do not plagiarize or misappropriate text. Submitting a Release using "Spun Content" is grounds for termination of your entire account.

No References to Inappropriate, Illegal or Sexually Explicit Material

News organizations are highly professional, and if they wouldn't be allowed to print it as a front-page story, it doesn't belong in a press release.

The following is a partial list of topics that are banned:

mortgage, payday, cash, short-term or long-term loan services
sexually explicit/adult
escort services
sexual enhancement products or supplements
radical or political opinion/view
radical religious opinion/view
intent to harm or defame or enact revenge
use of the words "scam", "fraud", etc
stock ticker symbols in any form
online gambling
health supplements, pharmaceuticals, or any release making health claims of any kind
psychic services
electronic cigarettes, alcohol, tobacco
advertisements
personal opinions, blog posts, or opinion pieces
anything that seems inappropriate along the lines of what is mentioned above will also likely be rejected.