A Few Simple Ways to Make the “Working Backwards” Press Release Work for You
One of the not-so-hidden secrets for developing new products or features is called “working backwards.” This practice involves writing a press release before you even start to develop a new product or feature. The idea is that the process of writing a press release will help you to put your customers first and focus on the most essential aspects of your product.
This sounds great—who doesn’t want to be more customer-centric and focused?
The problem is that many product teams go through the motions of this activity but somehow lose out on the benefits. I’ve seen this happen on countless product teams and I think there are a few tricks product leaders can employ to make sure their teams get the most out of the working backwards tactic.
A simple template
Let’s start with a quick overview. Here are the key sections to include in your press release:
Heading: Name the product in a way the reader (i.e. your target customers) will understand.
Subheading: Describe who the market for the product is and what benefit they will get. Limit this to one sentence and place it underneath the title.
Summary: Give a summary of the product and its benefit. Assume the reader will not read anything else, so make this paragraph good.
Problem: Describe the problem your product solves.
Solution: Describe how your product elegantly solves the problem.
Quote from your company: Include a key quote from a stakeholder at your company. This quote should help put the product in context or explain its significance. Consider the best person to get the quote from. It will likely be from one of your peers in a customer-facing team like sales or customer service. Remember that for the purposes of this exercise, though, it’s perfectly fine to make up the quote.
How to get started: Describe how easy it is to get started.
Customer quote: Provide a quote from a hypothetical customer that describes how they experienced the benefit. As above, it’s totally fine to make up a quote for the purposes of this exercise.
Closing and call to action: Wrap it up and give pointers on where the reader should go or what they should do next.
Trick #1: Spend more time thinking about the writing
A press release is simple. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to write. If your team’s press releases aren’t compelling, it’s often because they neglect the writing part or they rely too much on internal abbreviations or company lingo.
There are a few tools out there that can help your team improve their writing skills.
The free version of Grammarly checks for grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Paid versions also offer guidance on things like clarity, tone, and formality.
Hemingway is another tool that can help writers simplify and clarify their work. It scans writing for long sentences, adverbs, and passive voice. It makes suggestions for simpler ways to phrase difficult words. And it assigns a grade level to each piece of writing. Score anything above 10th grade and you’ll probably want to spend some time revising your draft.
Trick #2: Make it look like a press release
Typing out the text in Google Docs or Word is fine for your first draft. But it really helps to make your press release look like an actual press release.
There are a few benefits to this approach. Laying out the press release in the correct template can help you quickly see if you’ve got the right length for each section. But there’s also a psychological aspect of seeing the press release in its final format. I think it helps us to truly visualize the product. And this is how we get those benefits this exercise is supposed to deliver.
Here is an example press release I wrote about the company profiles feature at XING. I strongly believe that formatting your press release will help you get more out of this exercise.
I hope these tips make the “working backwards” approach work better for you and your team.
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