Check that the launch is news first
A product launch is an angle the wires accept. EIN Presswire lists “timely information about a new product or service” among the common ones in its editorial guidelines. It also sets 2 rules for every release: “The news announcement must be clearly stated in the headline”, and “EIN Presswire requires a clear news source to be identified in the headline”.
That makes the headline your first test, before any draft. Write it as 1 plain sentence that says who ships what, for whom and from when. If you can’t, you don’t have a release yet.
A version with 6 small fixes fails that test. So does a rebrand. These pass: a machine that cuts your customer’s cycle from 40 minutes to 25, and a module a buyer couldn’t purchase last month.
Five people read a B2B launch release
We write a B2B launch release for 5 readers, and only 1 of them is a journalist.
- The trade editor wants the spec, the date and who it’s for.
- An engineer at an existing customer checks it against what they already run.
- Procurement looks for a part number, a lead time and how it’s priced.
- A distributor wants to know when they can quote it.
- Your sales rep forwards the link to a buying committee that missed the launch.
The editor decides whether it runs. The rep decides whether anyone inside the buyer reads it. We draft for the editor, then check each paragraph against what the rep would forward, the test we set out in what sales teams actually forward.
Each of those 5 readers looks for a different fact, so each fact gets its own line in your release.
The skeleton, in the order an editor reads it
Business Wire’s template guide names 3 required parts: “headline, dateline city, and media contact information”. Anything else is what its editors may suggest adding. Here’s the order we write it in. The company and product in our example are made up.
HEADLINE
who ships what, for whom, from when
(Business Wire: 250 characters max)
Made-up example:
[Company] ships [Model] clamp-on
flow meter to water utilities
from 3 November
SUBHEAD
the figure, and how it was measured
Made-up example:
Reads 2- to 48-inch pipe to within
1% of reading without cutting it,
tested on 14 line sizes
DATELINE
[CITY], [date] -
LEAD
what it is, who it's for, from when,
where to order: 2 sentences
PROOF
the figure, the test behind it,
who ran the test
QUOTES
1 or 2 named people,
wording approved in writing
DETAIL
specs, standards, compatibility,
part numbers
AVAILABILITY
date, regions, lead time,
price or how it's quoted
BOILERPLATE
what the company makes, for whom,
where it's based: 50 to 80 words
CONTACT
name, email, phoneFor the dateline, Business Wire says the city is often the company’s headquarters, or a local one for news about a specific event.
On length, the wires don’t agree. EIN asks for 300 to 800 words, and Newswire.com puts its standard at about 250 to 600. We write 400 to 600. That leaves room for your detail paragraph and stays short enough to be read whole.
Keep it in the third person
EIN’s rule on tone is plain: “Direct address is a flag that the content is an advertisement rather than a news release.” “You” and “we” belong inside a named person’s quote, and nowhere else in the release.
The same page won’t distribute a release written to sell: “If your press release is primarily aimed at selling a product or service, then it is an advertisement and not a press release.”
Superlatives get flagged too. EIN counts “hyperbolic product/service claims” among its hype flags. Swap “fastest” and “first” for your figure and the test behind it, as the subhead in our example does.
Jargon is where B2B needs care. EIN asks you to “include definitions for industry jargon”. Define each term once in the lead, then use it.
Get written approval for every outside name
Your launch release will often name a pilot customer, an integration partner or a distributor. Newswire.com “requires any press release mentioning third-party individuals, companies, or organizations in a meaningful way to be explicitly authorized by said third parties”. It wants written approval for third-party logos too. Other wires set their own terms, and Newswire.com’s is the safe default.
A customer’s or partner’s quote can carry a second rule. If the release works as advertising, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides can treat that quote as an endorsement. They say it can’t be “reworded so as to distort in any way the endorser’s opinion or experience with the product”. Our rule is simpler: the person named approves the exact wording.
Pilot customers add 1 more check. Under the same Guides, a discount, free product or “early access to a product” can be a material connection. If your pilot was free, ask counsel whether the release has to say so.
Start the customer’s approval first, because it’s the step you don’t control. Our post on collecting case study material lists the 3 permissions to ask for.
Link the product page, by its name
EIN caps links at “1 per 100 words”. PRWeb’s FAQ recommends 1 to 3 and adds nofollow to every link automatically. We use 2: the product page and the datasheet, each anchored on the product’s name.
Google cares about anchor text too. Its spam policies list “links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites” as an example of link spam. A keyword anchor such as “ultrasonic flow meter supplier” is the pattern that example describes.
If you’re listed, the release is a disclosure
For a US public company, a launch can be material information. Then the rules change.
When the SEC adopted Regulation FD in 2000, it said acceptable methods of public disclosure “will include press releases distributed through a widely circulated news or wire service”. If you’re listed on Nasdaq, the exchange adds a step for material news: notify it at least 10 minutes before release between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET. “New products or discoveries” is on its list.
Future ship dates and roadmap lines can be forward-looking statements. The statute’s definition covers “plans or objectives relating to the products or services of the issuer”. One route into its safe harbor is to identify them as such and add “meaningful cautionary statements”, which is the paragraph at the foot of many listed companies’ releases. Your investor relations and legal teams own that part.
Set the dates backwards from the wire
Wires have their own lead times. PRWeb’s default turnaround is 24 hours on US business days. If you release in several languages at once, PR Newswire’s Asia-Pacific desk wants the text 3 days before release time.
Then set the order yourself. Brief key accounts through their account manager the day before release. Send distributors the price list before the wire. If trade editors get the release early, put the embargo date and time on it in writing. If you’re listed, clear that order with IR first.
Seven checks before you send it
- The headline names who ships what, for whom and from when.
- No “you” or “we” outside the quotes.
- Every superlative is now a figure with its test.
- Every outside company and person named has approved the text in writing.
- 2 or 3 links, anchored on product names.
- Part numbers and standards sit in the detail paragraph, lead times under availability.
- If you’re listed and the launch is material, IR and counsel have signed off and any exchange notice is booked.
Our part of the launch
We write the release: 400 to 600 words, headline and subhead, your boilerplate, 1 or 2 quotes agreed with the people named, facts checked before delivery. It’s 3 working days as standard and quoted per project. It costs more when quotes need interviews or a partner’s sign-off.
You get a release ready to send through your own contacts or a wire service. We don’t distribute it, and our press release page says why.
Sources
- EIN Presswire editorial guidelines, version dated 2 December 2025, for the news angle, the headline rules, direct address, hype flags, jargon, advertisements, length and the link cap at EIN only.
- Business Wire press release template guide, read 6 October 2026, for the 3 required parts, the dateline city and the 250-character headline at Business Wire.
- Newswire.com content guidelines, read 6 October 2026, for third-party and logo authorization and its length range.
- PRWeb FAQ, read 6 October 2026, for 1 to 3 links, nofollow on every link and the 24-hour default turnaround.
- PR Newswire APAC FAQ, read 6 October 2026, for the 3 days it asks for multi-language releases.
- Google spam policies, updated 28 August 2026, for the link spam example.
- FTC Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR 255, as revised in July 2023, for distortion in 255.1 and material connections in 255.5, which cover advertising only.
- SEC Release 33-7881 of August 2000, Nasdaq Rule 5250 and IM-5250-1 and 15 U.S.C. 78u-5, for listed companies only.
Send us your headline and ship date. Within 1 working day you get a scope and a price, or our view that it isn’t news yet.