The first 100 words of a press release should let a reader, a search engine or an AI assistant answer six questions without reading further: which company, what kind of company, where, what happened, when, and why it matters. The first sentence should define the company as well as name it. Everything that does not help answer those six questions can wait for the second paragraph or go.
Why do the first 100 words matter so much?
Because most readers stop there. A journalist scanning a newswire reads the headline and the opening, then decides. A search snippet shows a line or two, and systems that retrieve passages to answer a question often lift a short section rather than the whole page.
In each case, the opening is what gets used. If it contains the facts, the release is understood. If it contains a warm-up, the facts may never be seen. Our press release guide puts it simply: the opening should contain the main entities and facts, with no introductory filler.
What are the six things the opening must answer?
| Question | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Which company? | The full name, as it appears on your website | Northwind Clinics |
| What kind of company? | Its category, in the words a customer would use | a physiotherapy group |
| Where? | The place the company is based and the place the news happens | based in Leeds; opening in Manchester |
| What happened? | The event, with a verb | will open its first clinic outside Yorkshire |
| When? | The date, with the year | on 3 November 2026 |
| Why does it matter? | The reason or consequence, as fact | adding sports-injury rehabilitation for patients in south Manchester |
These overlap with who, what, where, when, why and how, the questions every release must answer. The difference here is placement: all six belong in the opening.
How do you define the company in the first sentence?
Name it and say what it is in the same breath. The pattern is:
[Company], a [location]-based [category] for [audience], today [did something specific].
For example:
Acme Invoicing, a London-based invoicing software company for freelancers, today launched same-day payouts to UK bank accounts.
That one sentence tells a reader who has never heard of Acme Invoicing what it is, where it is and who it serves. It also tells a search engine or assistant that the name refers to a software company in London, not to any of the other businesses that might share the word.
Take the category and location from your website's own description, so the release and the site say the same thing. If they disagree, one of them is wrong.
What does a weak opening look like?
Most weak openings share three habits: they start with a general statement about the world, they announce that an announcement is happening, and they describe the company with adjectives instead of facts.
Weak: In an increasingly competitive healthcare landscape, patients are demanding more from their providers than ever before. That is why Northwind Clinics, a leading and innovative provider of patient-centred care, is delighted to announce an exciting new chapter in its growth story.
That is 41 words, and a reader still does not know what Northwind Clinics is, where it is, what is happening or when.
Strong: MANCHESTER, UK, 3 October 2026 — Northwind Clinics, a Leeds-based physiotherapy group founded in 2017, will open its first clinic outside Yorkshire on 3 November 2026. The clinic, on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury, will offer sports-injury and post-surgery rehabilitation with five physiotherapists. The group currently runs three clinics in Leeds and says demand from patients travelling from Greater Manchester led to the choice of location.
That is 64 words. It answers all six questions and leaves room for the next paragraph to add detail. Northwind Clinics is a fictional company, and the details are invented for the example.
Which phrases should you cut from the opening?
These phrases use words without adding facts. Cutting them almost always makes the opening clearer.
| Cut | Replace with |
|---|---|
| In today's fast-paced world… | Nothing. Start with the company |
| …is pleased to announce that… | The verb: launches, opens, appoints, publishes |
| …a leading provider of… | The category: a physiotherapy group, an invoicing software company |
| …innovative solutions for… | What it sells: invoicing software, emergency plumbing |
| …an exciting new chapter… | The event itself |
| …soon / this autumn… | The date |
| …our customers… | Who they are: freelancers in the UK, homeowners in Dubai |
How should names appear in the opening?
In full, the first time. Write the company's full name, the product's full name, and people's full names with their job titles. Name partners and places explicitly instead of saying "a major retailer" or "a new region".
Weak: The company has teamed up with a well-known logistics firm to trial its robots in Europe.
Strong: Northwind Robotics and Acme Logistics began a 12-week trial of Northwind's warehouse picking robots at Acme's Rotterdam distribution centre on 1 September 2026.
After the first mention, short forms such as "Northwind" or "the trial" are fine.
Where do the dateline and first link go?
The dateline comes first: the city, then the date, then a dash, then the opening sentence. It is part of the first 100 words and it answers "where" and "when" before the sentence begins. The dateline, contact and end mark post covers the format.
The first time the company is named, link its name to the company's homepage. It is the most useful link a reader can have at that point: it lets them check who you are in one click. The links post explains what to link after that.
How do you test your opening?
Cover everything after the first paragraph and ask a colleague who does not know the news to answer these questions from what is left:
- What is the company called?
- What kind of business is it?
- Where is it based, and where is this happening?
- What happened?
- When?
- Why does it matter to anyone outside the company?
If any answer is a guess, rewrite the opening. If an answer needs information you do not have yet, such as a confirmed date, the release may not be ready to send.
Frequently asked questions
Does "today" belong in the first sentence?
Use it when the event happens on the release date, because the dateline gives the date and "today" connects the two. For future events, give the actual date instead, and for past events, say when they happened.
What if the company name does not say what the company does?
That is the most common reason to define it. A name such as Northwind or ExamplePay gives no clue to the business. The category phrase after the name, "a physiotherapy group" or "a payments software company", is what makes the opening understandable to a stranger.
Once the opening is clear, the next element to get right is the quote. The quotes post covers how to make one add information rather than enthusiasm.
media:on Editorial. Written and reviewed by the media:on editorial team, who edit every release before it files.