Writing a good quote for your press release can be quite tricky. Businesses make the mistake of adding a quote just “because a press release needs a quote”. But actually adding a quote that doesn’t bring anything to the story is almost as bad as not including any.

Quotes are here to add a human angle to the press release – they need to add value.

If you’re sending a release to announce a product launch, for example, a classic mistake would be a quote like ‘We’re delighted to have launched a new product’. It looks good but actually doesn’t say anything or add anything to the story.

The key word when it comes to quotes is ‘Insightful’. It should always provide some sort of insight. Don’t use your quote to say something that you could simply say in your content (what, who, where, and when). Use it to bring a personal or emotional angle to your story.

Because you might need some concrete examples I’ve put together a list of good quotes from our customers to help with your next press releases.

Explain the reason why

Explaining the why of your story in a quote can be really good as long as you keep it succinct. You can develop in a paragraph or two of course but you should try to keep the main idea for your quote. It will make your story look way more personal and engaging.

Look at the examples below:

“We hope that making the loan’s interest-free for a month will provide that extra bit of breathing space. Quick action like this is needed to safeguard jobs and develop new business opportunities.”
Just Loans Group ^[1]

“This is a great brand to bring under the Bigjigs Toys banner and offers us potential in all the markets we serve. The Tidlo range will bolster our core offering and further defines our footprint in retail.”
Bigjigs Toys

“We could see a big ambition to grow the business, but a need for capital to facilitate it. By working with James from ABN Amro we’ve been able to make the MBO possible and together with the follow on growth finance through NPIF, there’s a positive outlook for the year ahead and it’s been a great start to the year for the company.”
Business Enterprise Fund^[2]

Why now?

Sometimes the reason why is not that easy to explain in a quote. Another interesting angle though could be to explain why now? It’s always a big plus to add some context and some external elements to your story. It binds it to the reality and to the market. That’s what journalists are after, stories that are connected to the news and to the market. So by explaining why you’re doing what you’re doing now, you immediately bring context to your release. See the examples below: