A press release quote should say something the facts alone cannot: why the company made the decision, what it has seen in its data or from customers, or what changes for the people affected. It should come from a named person with a job title that makes them the right one to say it. A quote that only expresses excitement adds nothing a reader can use, so cut it or replace it.
What makes a quote worth including?
A release reads as news when a person speaks in it, and a quote is the one place where the company can interpret the facts rather than just report them. The facts in the body say what happened. The quote says what it means.
Test every quote by asking: if I removed this, would the reader lose any information? If the answer is no, the quote is not working.
Our press release guide gives the clearest pair of examples:
Weak: "We are incredibly excited about this milestone."
Better: "Flexible hoses are inexpensive components, but our service records show they appear disproportionately often in serious residential leak callouts."
The second quote gives an observation from someone with access to the data, and it tells homeowners something they can act on.
Why is "we're excited" dead weight?
Because every company is excited about its own news, so saying so tells the reader nothing. It also signals that the writer had nothing else to say, which makes the rest of the release look thinner.
Common newswire style and most editors treat words such as excited, thrilled, delighted and proud as filler in a news release. Our editors take them out. The same goes for superlatives inside quotes: putting "the best product on the market" in quotation marks does not make it a verified fact, it just attributes an unsupported claim to a named person. The post on turning vague claims into verifiable facts covers what to do with claims like that.
What can a good quote do?
There are four jobs a quote does well. Each example below uses a fictional company and invented details.
Interpret the data
For research and data releases, the quote explains what the numbers mean in practice.
Weak: "This report is a real milestone for Acme and we are proud of the team's hard work," said Jane Smith, Operations Director at Acme Plumbing.
Better: "Most of the hose failures we recorded were in units more than five years old, which suggests replacement at that point would prevent a large share of the callouts we see," said Jane Smith, Operations Director at Acme Plumbing.
The research and data release post covers how quotes and methodology work together.
Explain why now
For launches and expansions, the quote gives the reason behind the decision.
Weak: "We are delighted to be bringing Northwind to Manchester," said Tom Hale, Managing Director of Northwind Clinics.
Better: "About one in five of our Leeds patients last year travelled from Greater Manchester, so opening there was the obvious next step," said Tom Hale, Managing Director of Northwind Clinics.
Say what changes for customers
For product changes, the quote translates the feature into its effect.
Weak: "This is a game-changer for freelancers everywhere," said Priya Shah, Chief Executive of Acme Invoicing.
Better: "Freelancers told us the gap between a client paying and the money arriving was their biggest cash-flow problem. Same-day payouts close that gap for anyone on a UK bank account," said Priya Shah, Chief Executive of Acme Invoicing.
Give an expert view
For announcements that touch a wider issue, the quote adds a professional judgement a reader could not get from the facts.
Weak: "We are passionate about patient care," said Dr Amira Khan, Clinical Lead at Northwind Clinics.
Better: "Patients recovering from knee surgery do best when rehabilitation starts within two weeks. Seven-day appointments mean fewer people wait past that point," said Dr Amira Khan, Clinical Lead at Northwind Clinics.
Notice that each better quote contains a fact, a reason or a consequence. None of them uses an adjective to describe the company.
Who should you quote?
The person whose role makes them the natural source for what the quote says:
- the chief executive or founder for strategy and reasons;
- the head of a function for operational detail, such as an operations director on service data;
- a clinical, technical or research lead for expert interpretation;
- a named representative of each party in a partnership, so both sides say what they contribute;
- a customer, only with their written permission and only saying something they would stand behind.
Always give the full name, the job title and the company the first time. "A spokesperson said" is weaker because a reader cannot tell who is speaking or why they would know.
How long should a quote be?
One to three sentences is usually enough. One or two quotes per release is the norm; a partnership release might have one from each party. A long quote tends to drift into general statements, and several short ones from the same person read as padding.
Place the main quote after the key facts, usually in the third or fourth paragraph, so it interprets information the reader already has. The anatomy post shows where it sits in the full structure.
How should a quote be attributed?
Use "said" and put the attribution after the first sentence or at the end:
"Same-day payouts close that gap for anyone on a UK bank account," said Priya Shah, Chief Executive of Acme Invoicing. "We will extend them to euro accounts next year."
"Said" is neutral and reads cleanly. Alternatives such as "enthused", "exclaimed" or "shared" add colour the quote should not need.
Frequently asked questions
Can someone else write the quote for the spokesperson?
Yes. Quotes in press releases are commonly drafted by whoever writes the release and then approved by the person named. What matters is that the person agrees with it, would say it, and is happy to be held to it if a journalist calls. Never attribute a quote to someone who has not approved it, and never invent a person to quote.
Does every press release need a quote?
Not every newswire requires one, but a release without a named voice reads more like a notice than news. If you have someone who can say something useful, include them. If our editors write or edit your release and you name a spokesperson, the release will include a quote from them.
Can a quote include a number?
Yes, if the number also appears with its source elsewhere in the release, or the quote itself makes the basis clear. A figure that only exists inside a quote is harder to verify and easier to misread.
The quote is followed by the boilerplate, the paragraph that defines your company at the end of every release. The boilerplate post covers how to write it.
media:on Editorial. Written and reviewed by the media:on editorial team, who edit every release before it files.