A press release is a powerful way of taking your news to the media, your industry or the general public. It provides an ideal forum to communicate an event, your success, or a story to the media.
To ensure that your press release meets the required criteria and gets maximum exposure, there are some important do's and don'ts that you should bear in mind.

Don'ts
Don't use press releases as a way to sell anything. A press release should have something newsworthy for the public. It should address specific issues in the public domain. It should be interesting and relevant.
Don't repeat something you have already covered earlier in the press release even at the cost of stressing on a point.
Don't use jargon and acronyms specific to your industry. Make the information easily understandable by the general public.
Don't send a lengthy press release in excess of 600 words.
Don't use colorful language with too many adjectives. Avoid the fluff if you can.

Do's
Do focus on the top benefit or value of the event, product or service and build the rest of the write-up around it.
Do start with a catchy headline. Limit the headline to 50-70 characters and keep it formal in title case.
Do try to tell a compelling story. Your press release should have real emotion and involvement of real world scenarios.
Do write in a simple and engaging tone. Keep your sentences short and punchy.
Do address the public directly, trying to solve some of their problems.
Do cite the sources. It is important that you provide the citations of the data or statistics collected from an outside source.
Do mention the date and location. Start the first paragraph with your city, state and date followed by a dash.
Do provide a media contact complete with email addresses and phone numbers for ease of communication with the media.
Do write in third person.
Do make it search engine friendly by adding keywords at appropriate places.
Do proof read your press release for grammar, spellings and punctuation.